<P> When the Ottomans departed, the Arabs proclaimed an independent state in Damascus, but were too weak, militarily and economically, to resist the European powers for long, and Britain and France soon re-established control . </P> <P> During the 1920s and 1930s Iraq, Syria and Egypt moved towards independence, although the British and French did not formally depart the region until after World War II . But in Palestine, the conflicting forces of Arab nationalism and Zionism created a situation which the British could neither resolve nor extricate themselves from . The rise to power of Nazism in Germany created a new urgency in the Zionist quest to create a Jewish state in Palestine, leading to the Israeli--Palestinian conflict, see also History of Palestine . </P> <P> On the Arabian Peninsula, the Arabs were able to establish a number of independent states . In 1916 Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, established the Kingdom of Hejaz, while the Emirate of Riyadh was transformed into the Sultanate of Nejd . In 1926 the Kingdom of Nejd and Hejaz was formed, which in 1932 became the kingdom of Saudi Arabia . The Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen became independent in 1918, while the Arab States of the Persian Gulf became de facto British protectorates, with some internal autonomy . </P> <P> The Russians, British, Italians, French, Greeks, Assyrians and Armenians all made claims to Anatolia, based on a collection of wartime promises, military actions, secret agreements, and treaties . According to the Treaty of Sèvres, all but the Assyrians would have had their wishes honored . Armenia was to be given a significant portion of the east, known as Wilsonian Armenia, extending as far down as the Lake Van area and as far west as Mush, Greece was to be given Smyrna and the area around it (and likely would have gained Constantinople and all of Thrace, which was administered as internationally controlled and demilitarized territory), Italy was to be given control over the south - central and western coast of Anatolia around Antalya, France to be given the area of Cilicia, and Britain to be given all the area south of Armenia . The Treaty of Lausanne, by contrast, forfeited all arrangements and territorial annexations . </P>

Where was an independent arab state created after world war i