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Harold Beeley AI simulator
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Harold Beeley AI simulator
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Harold Beeley
Sir Harold Beeley KCMG CBE (15 February 1909 – 27 July 2001) was a British diplomat, historian, and Arabist. After beginning his career as a historian and lecturer, following World War II, Beeley joined the British diplomatic service and served in posts and ambassadorships related to the Middle East. He returned to teaching after retiring as a diplomat and stayed active in many organisations related to the Middle East.
Beeley was born in Manchester, England to an upper middle-class London merchant in 1909, and studied at Highgate School and The Queen's College, Oxford, gaining a First in Modern History. He began his career in academia; from 1930 he began to teach modern history as an assistant lecturer at Sheffield University, and the next year he moved to University College London also as an assistant lecturer. In 1935, he was appointed as a junior research fellow and lecturer at The Queen's College, Oxford and, during 1938 to 1939, Beeley lectured at University College Leicester. During his academic career, he wrote a short biography on British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli which was one of a series of Great Lives biographies published by Duckworth in 1936.
Beeley did not serve in the British armed forces during World War II because of his poor eyesight. Instead, he worked at Chatham House with Arnold Toynbee in 1939; he subsequently joined the Foreign Office's Research Department, and he finally worked on the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945, where he helped design the UN Trusteeship Council along with Ralph Bunche.
Before becoming a diplomat, Beeley was chosen to serve as Secretary of the Anglo-American Commission of Inquiry on Palestine in 1946. Beeley believed then and afterward that the founding of Israel would forever complicate relations between the United Kingdom and the Middle East, resulting in an enduring dislike of Beeley among leading Zionists and the Jewish Agency. According to The New York Times, his views on the issue may have helped persuade Ernest Bevin to try to limit Jewish immigration to the region.
In 1946, Beeley officially joined Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service, which at his age was later than most. His first posting was as assistant in the geographical department responsible for Palestine, which led him to advise Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin. Together with Bevin, he negotiated "the Portsmouth Treaty" with Iraq (signed on 15 January 1948), which was accompanied by a British undertaking to withdraw from Palestine in such a fashion as to provide for swift Arab occupation of all its territory. According to then-Iraqi foreign minister Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali,
"It was agreed that Iraq would buy for the Iraqi police force 50,000 tommy-guns. We intended to hand them over to the Palestine army volunteers for self-defence. Great Britain was ready to provide the Iraqi army with arms and ammunition as set forth in a list prepared by the Iraqi General Staff. The British undertook to withdraw from Palestine gradually, so that Arab forces could enter every area evacuated by the British so that the whole of Palestine should be in Arab hands after the British withdrawal. The meeting ended and we were all optimistic about the future of Palestine."[1] Archived 17 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
Beeley spent 1949 to 1950 as the Deputy Head of Mission in Copenhagen, moving on to Baghdad from 1950 to 1953 and Washington, D.C. from 1953 to 1955, where he worked closely with the US State Department. Following this he was appointed to his first ambassadorship, as UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia in 1955; yet within months he caught tuberculosis in Jidda, and was forced to return.
After he recovered, Beeley returned in June 1956 to be the Assistant Under-Secretary for Middle East affairs, where he remained until 1958, living in London's St John's Wood. During this time, he was not informed of the secret plans drawn up between Britain, France, and Israel that resulted in the Suez Crisis; this led him sincerely though mistakenly to tell to US officials that there were no plans for a British intervention. Beeley not only participated in efforts to end the international crisis, but also chaired the Suez Canal Users' Association in its aftermath.
Harold Beeley
Sir Harold Beeley KCMG CBE (15 February 1909 – 27 July 2001) was a British diplomat, historian, and Arabist. After beginning his career as a historian and lecturer, following World War II, Beeley joined the British diplomatic service and served in posts and ambassadorships related to the Middle East. He returned to teaching after retiring as a diplomat and stayed active in many organisations related to the Middle East.
Beeley was born in Manchester, England to an upper middle-class London merchant in 1909, and studied at Highgate School and The Queen's College, Oxford, gaining a First in Modern History. He began his career in academia; from 1930 he began to teach modern history as an assistant lecturer at Sheffield University, and the next year he moved to University College London also as an assistant lecturer. In 1935, he was appointed as a junior research fellow and lecturer at The Queen's College, Oxford and, during 1938 to 1939, Beeley lectured at University College Leicester. During his academic career, he wrote a short biography on British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli which was one of a series of Great Lives biographies published by Duckworth in 1936.
Beeley did not serve in the British armed forces during World War II because of his poor eyesight. Instead, he worked at Chatham House with Arnold Toynbee in 1939; he subsequently joined the Foreign Office's Research Department, and he finally worked on the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945, where he helped design the UN Trusteeship Council along with Ralph Bunche.
Before becoming a diplomat, Beeley was chosen to serve as Secretary of the Anglo-American Commission of Inquiry on Palestine in 1946. Beeley believed then and afterward that the founding of Israel would forever complicate relations between the United Kingdom and the Middle East, resulting in an enduring dislike of Beeley among leading Zionists and the Jewish Agency. According to The New York Times, his views on the issue may have helped persuade Ernest Bevin to try to limit Jewish immigration to the region.
In 1946, Beeley officially joined Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service, which at his age was later than most. His first posting was as assistant in the geographical department responsible for Palestine, which led him to advise Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin. Together with Bevin, he negotiated "the Portsmouth Treaty" with Iraq (signed on 15 January 1948), which was accompanied by a British undertaking to withdraw from Palestine in such a fashion as to provide for swift Arab occupation of all its territory. According to then-Iraqi foreign minister Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali,
"It was agreed that Iraq would buy for the Iraqi police force 50,000 tommy-guns. We intended to hand them over to the Palestine army volunteers for self-defence. Great Britain was ready to provide the Iraqi army with arms and ammunition as set forth in a list prepared by the Iraqi General Staff. The British undertook to withdraw from Palestine gradually, so that Arab forces could enter every area evacuated by the British so that the whole of Palestine should be in Arab hands after the British withdrawal. The meeting ended and we were all optimistic about the future of Palestine."[1] Archived 17 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
Beeley spent 1949 to 1950 as the Deputy Head of Mission in Copenhagen, moving on to Baghdad from 1950 to 1953 and Washington, D.C. from 1953 to 1955, where he worked closely with the US State Department. Following this he was appointed to his first ambassadorship, as UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia in 1955; yet within months he caught tuberculosis in Jidda, and was forced to return.
After he recovered, Beeley returned in June 1956 to be the Assistant Under-Secretary for Middle East affairs, where he remained until 1958, living in London's St John's Wood. During this time, he was not informed of the secret plans drawn up between Britain, France, and Israel that resulted in the Suez Crisis; this led him sincerely though mistakenly to tell to US officials that there were no plans for a British intervention. Beeley not only participated in efforts to end the international crisis, but also chaired the Suez Canal Users' Association in its aftermath.