The
McMahon–Hussein Correspondence, or the
Hussein–McMahon Correspondence, was an exchange of letters (14 July 1915 to 30 January 1916) during
World War I, between the
Sharif of Mecca,
Husayn bin Ali, and
Sir Henry McMahon, British
High Commissioner in
Egypt, concerning the political status of lands under the
Ottoman Empire. Growing Arab nationalism had led to a desire for independence from the Ottoman Empire. In the letters Britain agreed to recognize Arab independence after WWI "in the limits and boundaries proposed by the Sherif of Mecca", not including areas in which France had interests. This was in exchange for Arab help in fighting the Ottomans, led by Hussein bin Ali. The correspondence was a contradiction to the
Balfour declaration of 1917, in which Britain promised a Jewish National Homeland in Palestine.