up to the concentrated firepower of the ottoman army. crucial at this moment is the role of the british. >> the british badly wanted to control the holy land, to bring it under christian influence at a time of ottoman/islamic rule was enormously compelling. >> and britain believed itself to be still a very huge empire. it was nicknamed empire where the sun never sets. the british felt they need to have serious control in pretty much everywhere. >> they saw that palestine was an attractive site for a british imperial and colonial purposes. and it's the ports of palestine that created easy access to europe from the middle east. so the british wanted to set up stop in palestine to basically exploit the resources of palestine. >> the british send their top arab expert to meet prince