128 A Short History of the Middle East
than would our military intervention in support of it'. Sir Ronald
Storrs declared that the passive resistance of the civil population of
Syria and Palestine to the Turks following the Revolt was worth
almost nothing to the British forces; on the other hand, the Ger-
man commander Liman von Sanders has recorded that after the
successful Third Battle of Gaza 'the British advancing towards
Jerusalem found themselves fighting in friendly country, while
the Turks were faced with a decidedly hostile population*. We
may, however, ask how far this was due to their enthusiasm for the
Arab Revolt, and how much to a natural desire to be in on the
winning side: Allenby now had a superiority in fighting strength
over the enemy of more than two to one. But whatever the
limitations of the value of the Arab Revolt as a military operation,
its importance in stimulating the aspirations of politically-minded
Arabs cannot be overstated, with effects that were to be immedi-
ately felt after the end of the War,