119-699: The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordan – which had been part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuries – following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I . The mandate was assigned to Britain by the San Remo conference in April 1920, after France's concession in
238-774: A 1922 delegation to Ankara and then to the Lausanne Conference , where (after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk 's victories against the Greek army in Turkey ) the Treaty of Sèvres was about to be re-negotiated. The Palestinian delegation hoped that with Atatürk's support, they would be able to get the Balfour Declaration and mandate policy omitted from the new treaty. The delegation met with Turkey's lead negotiator, İsmet Pasha , who promised that "Turkey would insist upon
357-584: A Palestine Mandate incorporating the Balfour Declaration by 60 votes to 25 after the June 1922 issuance of the Churchill White Paper, following a motion proposed by Lord Islington . The vote was only symbolic, since it was subsequently overruled by a vote in the House of Commons after a tactical pivot and a number of promises by Churchill. In February 1923, after a change in government, Cavendish laid
476-869: A U.S. territory with its head of state being the President of the United States and federal funds to the commonwealth administered by the Office of Insular Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior . Remnant Micronesia and the Marshall Islands , the heirs of the last territories of the Trust, attained final independence on 22 December 1990. (The UN Security Council ratified termination of trusteeship, effectively dissolving trusteeship status, on 10 July 1987.) The Republic of Palau , split off from
595-499: A compromise between Smuts (who wanted colonial powers to annex the territories) and Wilson (who wanted trusteeship over the territories). All of the territories subject to League of Nations mandates were previously controlled by states defeated in World War I, principally Imperial Germany and the Ottoman Empire . The mandates were fundamentally different from the protectorates in that the mandatory power undertook obligations to
714-567: A country a policy to which the great majority of its inhabitants are opposed; and (3) the financial burden upon the British taxpayer ... His cover note asked for a statement of policy to be made as soon as possible, and for the cabinet to focus on three questions: (1) whether or not pledges to the Arabs conflict with the Balfour declaration; (2) if not, whether the new government should continue
833-553: A greater level of control by the mandatory power: "...the Mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the territory under conditions which will guarantee freedom of conscience and religion." The mandatory power was forbidden to construct military or naval bases within the mandates. Class C mandates , including South West Africa and the South Pacific Islands, were considered to be "best administered under
952-562: A meeting with 600 leaders in Salt , he announced the independence of the area from Damascus and its absorption into the mandate (proposing to quadruple the area under his control by tacit capitulation). Samuel assured his audience that Transjordan would not be merged with Palestine. Curzon was in the process of reducing British military expenditures, and was unwilling to commit significant resources to an area considered of marginal strategic value. He immediately repudiated Samuel's action, and sent (via
1071-734: A roughly equivalent status. In each case, the colonial power that held the mandate on each territory became the administering power of the trusteeship, except that of the Empire of Japan , which had been defeated in World War II, lost its mandate over the South Pacific islands, which became a "strategic trust territory" known as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands under U.S. administration. The sole exception to
1190-558: A series of ten letters were exchanged between Sharif Hussein bin Ali , the head of the Hashemite family that had ruled the Hejaz as vassals for almost a millennium, and Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry McMahon , British High Commissioner to Egypt . In the letters – particularly that of 24 October 1915 – the British government agreed to recognise Arab independence after the war in exchange for
1309-663: A single mandate from the Council of the League of Nations, but in the countries subject to that mandate, one can distinguish two distinct States: Syria and the Lebanon, each State possessing its own constitution and a nationality clearly different from the other. After the United Nations was founded in 1945 and the League of Nations was disbanded, all but one of the mandated territories became United Nations trust territories ,
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#17327726263981428-604: A temporary political committee, of which the Right Hon. Sir Herbert (then Mr.) Samuel , Dr. Jacobson , Dr. Feiwel , Mr. Sacher (of the Manchester Guardian ), Mr. Landman, and Mr. Ben Cohen were the first members. The later stage of the drafting negotiations were carried on by a sub-comimittee consisting of Messrs. Sacher, Stein and Ben Cohen, formed specially for the Mandate and frontier questions. Drafts for
1547-419: A third power; (2) the principal powers officially notify the council of the League of Nations that a certain power has been appointed mandatory for such a certain defined territory; and (3) the council of the League of Nations takes official cognisance of the appointment of the mandatory power and informs the latter that it [the council] considers it as invested with the mandate, and at the same time notifies it of
1666-465: Is growing movement of hostility, against Zionist policy in Palestine, which will be stimulated by recent Northcliffe articles. I do not attach undue importance to this movement, but it is increasingly difficult to meet the argument that it is unfair to ask the British taxpayer, already overwhelmed with taxation, to bear the cost of imposing on Palestine an unpopular policy. The House of Lords rejected
1785-650: Is made in the text of the mandate". Despite opposition from the State Department , this was followed on 21 September 1922 by the Lodge–Fish Resolution , a congressional endorsement of the Balfour Declaration. On 3 December 1924 the U.S. signed the Palestine Mandate Convention, a bilateral treaty with Britain in which the United States "consents to the administration" (Article 1) and which dealt with eight issues of concern to
1904-459: Is with the Mandate. —Speech by World Zionist Organization president Chaim Weizmann The Congress notes with satisfaction that Transjordania, which the Jewish people has always regarded as an integral part of Erez Israel, is to be again incorporated into the mandated territory of Palestine. The Congress deplores that the question of the northern boundary of Erez Israel, despite all the efforts of
2023-849: The 1918 Clemenceau–Lloyd George Agreement of the previously agreed "international administration" of Palestine under the Sykes–Picot Agreement . Transjordan was added to the mandate after the Arab Kingdom in Damascus was toppled by the French in the Franco-Syrian War . Civil administration began in Palestine and Transjordan in July 1920 and April 1921, respectively, and the mandate was in force from 29 September 1923 to 15 May 1948 and to 25 May 1946 respectively. The mandate document
2142-480: The 1936–1939 Arab revolt and the 1944–1948 Jewish insurgency . The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was passed on 29 November 1947; this envisaged the creation of separate Jewish and Arab states operating under economic union, and with Jerusalem transferred to UN trusteeship. Two weeks later, Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech Jones announced that the British Mandate would end on 15 May 1948. On
2261-631: The Battle of Beersheba on 31 October 1917. The release of the Balfour Declaration was authorised by 31 October; the preceding Cabinet discussion had mentioned perceived propaganda benefits amongst the worldwide Jewish community for the Allied war effort. The British government issued the Declaration, a public statement announcing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, on 2 November 1917. The opening words of
2380-578: The Federated States of Micronesia , became the last to effectively gain its independence, on 1 October 1994. Transjordan memorandum The Transjordan memorandum was a British memorandum passed by the Council of the League of Nations on 16 September 1922, as an addendum to the Mandate for Palestine . The memorandum described how the British government planned to implement Article 25 of
2499-558: The Indian Army that had been deployed in all major theatres of the wider war ). The area of Arab independence was defined as "in the limits and boundaries proposed by the Sherif of Mecca ", with the exclusion of a coastal area lying to the west of "the districts of Damascus , Homs , Hama and Aleppo "; conflicting interpretations of this description caused great controversy in subsequent years. A particular dispute, which continues to
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#17327726263982618-679: The Russian Empire and Italy) to define their mutually-agreed spheres of influence and control in an eventual partition of the Ottoman Empire . The primary negotiations leading to the agreement occurred between 23 November 1915 and 3 January 1916; on 3 January the British and French diplomats Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot initialled an agreed memorandum. The agreement was ratified by their respective governments on 9 and 16 May 1916. The agreement allocated to Britain control of present-day southern Israel and Palestine , Jordan and southern Iraq , and an additional small area including
2737-799: The Sharif of Mecca launching the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Whilst there was some military value in the Arab manpower and local knowledge alongside the British Army, the primary reason for the arrangement was to counteract the Ottoman declaration of jihad ("holy war") against the Allies, and to maintain the support of the 70 million Muslims in British India (particularly those in
2856-477: The 1922 memorandum which detailed its implementation. Article 25 of the Mandate for Palestine allowed for the exclusion of Transjordan from unspecified provisions of the Mandate. On 16 September 1922, Lord Balfour , representing the United Kingdom, reminded the Council of the League of Nations of Article 25 (which had been previously approved but had not yet come into effect). He then told the council that
2975-484: The Allied and Associated Powers would not be definitive until they had been considered and approved by the League ... the legal title held by the mandatory Power must be a double one: one conferred by the Principal Powers and the other conferred by the League of Nations." Three steps were required to establish a mandate: "(1) The Principal Allied and Associated Powers confer a mandate on one of their number or on
3094-474: The Allies on 7 May of that year. Ottoman territorial claims were first addressed in the Treaty of Sèvres (1920) and finalised in the Treaty of Lausanne (1923). The Ottoman territories were allotted among the Allied Powers at the San Remo conference in 1920. The League of Nations decided the exact level of control by the mandatory power over each mandate on an individual basis. However, in every case
3213-603: The Arabs’ right of self-determination and ... the Palestinian delegation should be permitted to address the conference"; however, he avoided further meetings and other members of the Turkish delegation made clear their intention to "accept the post–World War I status quo". During the negotiations, Ismet Pasha refused to recognise or accept the mandates; although they were not referenced in the final treaty, it had no impact on
3332-469: The Asiatic countries under the British and French mandates. Iraq is a Kingdom in regard to which Great Britain has undertaken responsibilities equivalent to those of a Mandatory Power. Under the British mandate, Palestine and Transjordan have each an entirely separate organisation. We are, therefore, in the presence of three States sufficiently separate to be considered as distinct Parties. France has received
3451-760: The British Foreign Office and the Zionists, after the production of a full draft mandate by the British. The British draft contained 29 articles, compared to the Zionist proposal's five articles. However, the Zionist Organisation Report stated that a draft was presented by the Zionist Organization to the British on 15 July 1919. Balfour authorised diplomatic secretary Eric Forbes Adam to begin negotiations with
3570-473: The British government now proposed to carry out this article, as had always been intended by the League of Nations and the British government. He then presented a memorandum for approval. The Palestine Order in Council of August 1922 gave the High Commissioner authority to define the boundary between the territories of Transjordan and Palestine. The resulting definition was copied verbatim into
3689-536: The British initially chose to avoid a definite connection with Palestine. The addition of Transjordan was given legal form on 21 March 1921, when the British incorporated Article 25 into the Palestine Mandate. Article 25 was implemented via the 16 September 1922 Transjordan memorandum , which established a separate "Administration of Trans-Jordan" for the application of the Mandate under the general supervision of Great Britain. In April 1923, five months before
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3808-405: The British with the problem of how to maintain a controlling influence over Transjordan without including it in the "Jewish homeland", while at the same time being seen to keep promises made to the Arabs . The solution adopted was to include Transjordan within the scope of the mandate for Palestine while preserving its autonomous political entity. This led to Article 25 of the Mandate document and
3927-467: The December draft and commented, "... the Arabs are rather forgotten ...". When Curzon received the draft of 15 March 1920, he was "far more critical" and objected to "... formulations that would imply recognition of any legal rights ..." (for example, that the British government would be "responsible for placing Palestine under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure
4046-529: The Executive, has not yet received a satisfactory solution. —Congress Declaration, III. Boundaries. Excerpts relating to Transjordan's inclusion in the Mandate from the 1–14 September 1921 12th Zionist Congress , the first following the Balfour Declaration. Article 25 was presented as a Zionist victory, despite its intention to exclude Transjordan from the Jewish National Home, which
4165-571: The Foreign Office) a reiteration of his instructions to minimize the scope of British involvement in the area: "There must be no question of setting up any British administration in that area". At the end of September 1920, Curzon instructed an Assistant Secretary at the Foreign Office, Robert Vansittart , to leave the eastern boundary of Palestine undefined and avoid "any definite connection" between Transjordan and Palestine to leave
4284-441: The French removed Hashim al-Atassi 's newly proclaimed nationalist government and expelled King Faisal from Syria after the 23 July 1920 Battle of Maysalun . The French formed a new Damascus state after the battle, and refrained from extending their rule into the southern part of Faisal's domain; Transjordan became for a time a no-man's land or, as Samuel put it, "politically derelict". There have been several complaints here that
4403-771: The Hashemite family – in accordance with the British Government's amended interpretation of the 1915 McMahon–Hussein Correspondence. At discussions in Jerusalem on 28 March, Churchill proposed his plan to Abdullah that Transjordan would be accepted into the mandatory area as an Arab country apart from Palestine and that it would be (initially for six months) under the nominal rule of the Emir Abdullah. Churchill said that Transjordan would not form part of
4522-675: The High Commissioner, and with the condition that the Jewish National Home provisions of the Palestine mandate would not apply there. On the first day of the conference, the Middle East Department of the Colonial Office set out the situation of Transjordan in a memorandum. On 21 March 1921, the Foreign and Colonial Office legal advisers decided to introduce Article 25 into the Palestine Mandate to allow for
4641-580: The Jewish national home to be established west of the River Jordan: Trans-Jordania would not be included in the present administrative system of Palestine, and therefore the Zionist clauses of the mandate would not apply. Hebrew would not be made an official language in Trans-Jordania and the local Government would not be expected to adopt any measures to promote Jewish immigration and colonisation. Abdullah's six-month trial
4760-639: The Jordan River, while OETA East included a major portion of Transjordan. Local councils were established in Transjordan under British guidance in early 1920, but Transjordan had no unified administration until the arrival in November 1920 of Abdullah bin al-Hussein , who was appointed Emir of Transjordan in 1921. Meanwhile, the San Remo conference had awarded Great Britain the mandate for Palestine without defining its boundaries. This presented
4879-463: The Jordan river as laid out in the Sykes–Picot Agreement. That year, two principles emerged from the British government. The first was that the Palestine government would not extend east of the Jordan; the second was the government's chosen – albeit disputed – interpretation of the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, which proposed that Transjordan be included in the area of "Arab independence" (excluding Palestine). Regarding Faisal's Arab Kingdom of Syria ,
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4998-402: The League of Nations takes official cognisance of the appointment of the mandatory power and informs the latter that it [the council] considers it as invested with the mandate, and at the same time notifies it of the terms of the mandate, after ascertaining whether they are in conformance with the provisions of the covenant." The U.S. State Department 's Digest of International Law says that
5117-408: The League of Nations was responsible for establishing an arbitral court to resolve disputes that might arise and stipulated that its decisions were final. A disagreement regarding the legal status and the portion of the annuities to be paid by the "A" mandates was settled when an Arbitrator ruled that some of the mandates contained more than one State: The difficulty arises here how one is to regard
5236-399: The League of Nations." Three steps were required to establish a Mandate under international law: (1) The Principal Allied and Associated Powers confer a mandate on one of their number or on a third power; (2) the principal powers officially notify the council of the League of Nations that a certain power has been appointed mandatory for such a certain defined territory; and (3) the council of
5355-443: The League, the U.S. requested permission to comment before the mandate's consideration by the Council of the League of Nations; the Council agreed to the request a week later. The discussions continued until 14 May 1922, when the U.S. government announced the terms of an agreement with the United Kingdom about the Palestine mandate. The terms included a stipulation that "consent of the United States shall be obtained before any alteration
5474-436: The Mandate were prepared for the Zionist leaders by Professor Frankfurter and Mr. Gans. After consultation with various members of the Actions Committee and Palestinian [Jewish] delegates then in Paris, these proposals were handed to the British Delegation and were largely embodied in the first tentative draft, dated July 15th, 1919. —Political Report, 2. The Palestine Mandate Negotiations, 1919–1921. Excerpts relating to
5593-413: The Mandate, which had been drafted during the March 1921 Cairo Conference to include Transjordan in the Mandate without applying the provisions regarding Jewish settlement. In the aftermath of WWI , the Levant was divided by the British and French into three military regions known as OETA North, South and East. OETA South roughly comprised what became Mandatory Palestine , with eastern boundary at
5712-612: The Ottoman Empire that were deemed to "... have reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognised subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory." The second group of mandates, or Class B mandates , were all former German colonies in West and Central Africa , referred to by Germany as Schutzgebiete (protectorates or territories), which were deemed to require
5831-422: The Principal Allied Powers" at a later stage. Under the terms of the 1915 McMahon-Hussein Correspondence and the 1916 Sykes–Picot Agreement, Transjordan was intended to become part of an Arab state or a confederation of Arab states. British forces retreated in spring 1918 from Transjordan after their first and second attacks on the territory, indicating their political ideas about its future; they had intended
5950-438: The September memorandum: all territory lying to the east of a line drawn from a point two miles west of the town of Akaba on the Gulf of that name up the centre of the Wady Araba, Dead Sea and River Jordan to its junction with the River Yarmuk: thence up the centre of that river to the Syrian frontier. The memorandum listed as exclusions articles 4, 6, 13, 14, 22, 23, and parts of the Preamble and Articles 2, 7 and 11, including
6069-412: The South West Africa mandate. Eventually, in 1990, the mandated territory, now Namibia , gained independence, culminating from the Tripartite Accords and the resolution of the South African Border War — a prolonged guerrilla conflict against the apartheid regime that lasted from 1966 until 1990. Nearly all the former League of Nations mandates had become sovereign states by 1990, including all of
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#17327726263986188-438: The Treaty of Lausanne required the newly created states that acquired the territory detached from the Ottoman Empire to pay annuities on the Ottoman public debt and to assume responsibility for the administration of concessions that had been granted by the Ottomans. The treaty also let the States acquire, without payment, all the property and possessions of the Ottoman Empire situated within their territory. The treaty provided that
6307-438: The United States (including property rights and business interests). The State Department prepared a report documenting its position on the mandate. League of Nations mandate A League of Nations mandate represented a legal status under international law for specific territories following World War I , involving the transfer of control from one nation to another. These mandates served as legal documents establishing
6426-429: The Zionist Organisation on the draft of a Mandate for Palestine. In the drafting and discussion in Paris Dr. Weizmann and Mr. Sokolow received valuable aid from the American Zionist Delegation. Towards the end of 1919 the British Delegation returned to London and as during the protracted negotiations Dr. Weizmann was often unavoidably absent in Palestine, and Mr. Sokolow in Paris, the work was carried on for some time by
6545-400: The Zionist Organization. On the Zionist side, the drafting was led by Ben Cohen on behalf of Weizmann, Felix Frankfurter and other Zionist leaders. By December 1919, they had negotiated a "compromise" draft. Although Curzon took over from Balfour in October, he did not play an active role in the drafting until mid-March. Israeli historian Dvorah Barzilay-Yegar notes that he was sent a copy of
6664-410: The addition of Transjordan. The intended mandatory powers were required to submit written statements to the League of Nations during the Paris Peace Conference proposing the rules of administration in the mandated areas. Drafting of the Palestine mandate began well before it was formally awarded at San Remo in April 1920, since it was evident after the end of the war that Britain was the favored power in
6783-525: The administration of that territory in accordance with Article 25 of the Mandate shall be in no way inconsistent with those provisions of the Mandate which are not by this resolution declared inapplicable. From that point onwards, Britain administered the part west of the Jordan as Palestine, and the part east of the Jordan as Transjordan. Technically they remained one mandate covering 2 territories but most official documents nonetheless referred to them as if they were two separate mandates. In May 1923 Transjordan
6902-437: The area of Arab independence. The French privately ceded Palestine and Mosul to the British in a December 1918 amendment to the Sykes–Picot Agreement; the amendment was finalised at a meeting in Deauville in September 1919. Matters were confirmed at the San Remo conference, which formally assigned the mandate for Palestine to the United Kingdom under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. Although France required
7021-542: The area south of the Sykes–Picot line, we will not admit French authority and that our policy for this area to be independent but in closest relations with Palestine." Samuel replied to Curzon, "After the fall of Damascus a fortnight ago ... Sheiks and tribes east of Jordan utterly dissatisfied with Shareefian Government most unlikely would accept revival", and asked to put parts of Transjordan directly under his administrative control. Two weeks later, on 21 August, Samuel visited Transjordan without authorisation from London; at
7140-401: The area to become part of an Arab Syrian state. The British subsequently defeated the Ottoman forces in Transjordan in late September 1918, just a few weeks before the Ottoman Empire's overall surrender . Transjordan was not mentioned during the 1920 discussions at San Remo, at which the Mandate for Palestine was awarded. Britain and France agreed that the eastern border of Palestine would be
7259-453: The articles of the Mandate concerning a Jewish national home. It concluded with: In the application of the Mandate to Transjordan, the action which, in Palestine, is taken by the Administration of the latter country will be taken by the Administration of Transjordan under the general supervision of the Mandatory. His Majesty's Government accept full responsibility as Mandatory for Transjordan, and undertake that such provision as may be made for
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#17327726263987378-423: The civil and religious rights for the Palestinian Arabs , who composed the vast majority of the local population, and the rights of Jewish communities in any other country. The Balfour Declaration was subsequently incorporated into the Mandate for Palestine to put the declaration into effect. Unlike the declaration itself, the Mandate was legally binding on the British government. Between July 1915 and March 1916,
7497-434: The confidential appendix to the August 1919 King-Crane Commission report, "the French resent the payment by the English to the Emir Faisal of a large monthly subsidy, which they claim covers a multitude of bribes, and enables the British to stand off and show clean hands while Arab agents do dirty work in their interest." The World Zionist Organization delegation to the Peace Conference – led by Chaim Weizmann , who had been
7616-436: The continuation of its religious protectorate in Palestine, Italy and Great Britain opposed it. France lost the religious protectorate but, thanks to the Holy See, continued to enjoy liturgical honors in Mandatory Palestine until 1924 (when the honours were abolished). As Weizmann reported to his WZO colleagues in London in May 1920, the boundaries of the mandated territories were unspecified at San Remo and would "be determined by
7735-424: The core of the Mandate System, being non-annexation of the territory and its administration as a "sacred trust of civilisation" to develop the territory for the benefit of its native people. According to historian Susan Pedersen , colonial administration in the mandates did not differ substantially from colonial administration elsewhere. Even though the Covenant of the League committed the great powers to govern
7854-405: The creation of the first full draft of the Mandate for Palestine, from a September 1921 Zionist Organization report of the 12th Zionist Congress , the first following the Balfour Declaration. The February 1919 Zionist Proposal to the Peace Conference was not discussed at the time, since the Allies' discussions were focused elsewhere. It was not until July 1919 that direct negotiations began between
7973-413: The declaration represented the first public expression of support for Zionism by a major political power. The term "national home" had no precedent in international law, and was intentionally vague about whether a Jewish state was contemplated. The intended boundaries of Palestine were not specified, and the British government later confirmed that the words "in Palestine" meant that the Jewish national home
8092-449: The dissolution of the League of Nations after World War II , it was stipulated at the Yalta Conference that the remaining mandates should be placed under the trusteeship of the United Nations , subject to future discussions and formal agreements. Most of the remaining mandates of the League of Nations (with the exception of South West Africa ) thus eventually became United Nations trust territories . Two governing principles formed
8211-430: The driving force behind the Balfour Declaration – also asked for a British mandate, asserting the "historic title of the Jewish people to Palestine". The confidential appendix to the King-Crane Commission report noted that "The Jews are distinctly for Britain as mandatory power, because of the Balfour declaration." The Zionists met with Faisal two weeks before the start of the conference in order to resolve their differences;
8330-410: The end of March 1921, Abdullah's army occupied all of Transjordan with some local support and no British opposition. The Cairo Conference was convened on 12 March 1921 by Winston Churchill , then Britain's Colonial Secretary, and lasted until 30 March. It was intended to endorse an arrangement whereby Transjordan would be added to the Palestine mandate, with Abdullah as the emir under the authority of
8449-405: The establishment of a Jewish national home and the development of a self-governing Commonwealth ..."). Curzon insisted on revisions until the 10 June draft removed his objections; the paragraph recognising the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine was removed from the preamble, and "self-governing commonwealth" was replaced by "self-governing institutions". "The recognition of
8568-562: The establishment of the Jewish National Home as the guiding principle in the execution of the Mandate" was omitted. After strenuous objection to the proposed changes, the statement concerning the historical connections of the Jews with Palestine was re-incorporated into the Mandate in December 1920. The draft was submitted to the League of Nations on 7 December 1920, and was published in the Times on 3 February 1921. The inclusion of Article 25
8687-564: The former UN trust territories with the exception of a few successor entities of the gradually dismembered Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (formerly Japan's South Pacific Trust Mandate). These exceptions include the Northern Mariana Islands which is a commonwealth in political union with the U.S. with the status of unincorporated organised territory . The Northern Mariana Islands does elect its own governor to serve as territorial head of government , but it remains
8806-601: The foundation for a secret review of Palestine policy in a lengthy memorandum to the Cabinet: It would be idle to pretend that the Zionist policy is other than an unpopular one. It has been bitterly attacked in Parliament and is still being fiercely assailed in certain sections of the press. The ostensible grounds of attack are threefold:(1) the alleged violation of the McMahon pledges; (2) the injustice of imposing upon
8925-605: The future of Palestine (at the time, an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population ). By late 1917, in the lead-up to the Balfour Declaration , the wider war had reached a stalemate. Two of Britain's allies were not fully engaged, the United States had yet to suffer a casualty, and the Russians were in the midst of the October Revolution . A stalemate in southern Palestine was broken by
9044-409: The government was admitting to itself that its support for Zionism had been prompted by considerations having nothing to do with the merits of Zionism or its consequences for Palestine. Documents related to the 1923 reappraisal remained secret until the early 1970s. The United States was not a member of the League of Nations. On 23 February 1921, two months after the draft mandates had been submitted to
9163-723: The implementation of the mandate policy set in motion three years earlier. Each of the principal Allied powers had a hand in drafting the proposed mandate, although some (including the United States) had not declared war on the Ottoman Empire and did not become members of the League of Nations. British public and government opinion became increasingly opposed to state support for Zionism, and even Sykes had begun to change his views in late 1918. In February 1922 Churchill telegraphed Samuel, who had begun his role as High Commissioner for Palestine 18 months earlier, asking for cuts in expenditure and noting: In both Houses of Parliament there
9282-589: The inhabitants of the territory and to the League of Nations. The process of establishing the mandates consisted of two phases: The divestiture of Germany's overseas colonies, along with three territories disentangled from its European homeland area (the Free City of Danzig , the Memel Territory , and the Saar ), was accomplished in the Treaty of Versailles (1919), with the territories being allotted among
9401-581: The internationally agreed terms for administering the territory on behalf of the League of Nations . Combining elements of both a treaty and a constitution , these mandates contained minority rights clauses that provided for the rights of petition and adjudication by the Permanent Court of International Justice . The mandate system was established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations , entered into force on 28 June 1919. With
9520-816: The last day of the Mandate, the Jewish community there issued the Israeli Declaration of Independence . After the failure of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine , the 1947–1949 Palestine war ended with Mandatory Palestine divided among Israel , the Jordanian annexation of the West Bank and the Egyptian All-Palestine Protectorate in the Gaza Strip . Transjordan was added to
9639-419: The laws of the Mandatory as integral portions of its territory." According to the Council of the League of Nations, meeting of August 1920: "draft mandates adopted by the Allied and Associated Powers would not be definitive until they had been considered and approved by the League... the legal title held by the mandatory Power must be a double one: one conferred by the Principal Powers and the other conferred by
9758-472: The mandate came into force, Britain announced its intention to recognise an "independent Government" in Transjordan; this autonomy increased further under a 20 February 1928 treaty, and the state became fully independent with the Treaty of London of 22 March 1946. Immediately following their declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire in November 1914, the British War Cabinet began to consider
9877-557: The mandate following the Cairo Conference of March 1921, at which it was agreed that Abdullah bin Hussein would administer the territory under the auspices of the Palestine Mandate. Since the end of the war it had been administered from Damascus by a joint Arab-British military administration headed by Abdullah's younger brother Faisal, and then became a no man's land after the French defeated Faisal's army in July 1920 and
9996-529: The mandates differently, the main difference appeared to be that the colonial powers spoke differently about the mandates than their other colonial possessions. The mandate system was established by Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, drafted by the victors of World War I. The article referred to territories which after the war were no longer ruled by their previous sovereign, but their peoples were not considered "able to stand by themselves under
10115-569: The mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia to Britain, and those for Syria and Lebanon to France . In anticipation of the Peace Conference, the British devised a " Sharifian Solution " to "[make] straight all the tangle" of their various wartime commitments. This proposed that three sons of Sharif Hussein – who had since become King of the Hejaz , and his sons emirs (princes) – would be installed as kings of newly created countries across
10234-541: The mandatory power was forbidden to construct fortifications or raise an army within the territory of the mandate, and was required to present an annual report on the territory to the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations. The mandates were divided into three distinct groups based upon the level of development each population had achieved at that time. The first group, or Class A mandates , were territories formerly controlled by
10353-431: The mandatory power's obligations to the inhabitants of the territory were supervised by a third party: the League of Nations . The mandates were to act as legal instruments containing the internationally agreed-upon terms for administering certain post-World War I territories on behalf of the League of Nations. These were of the nature of a treaty and a constitution, which contained minority-rights clauses that provided for
10472-489: The peace conference . The 1 January 1919 memorandum referred to the goal of "unit[ing] the Arabs eventually into one nation", defining the Arab regions as "from a line Alexandretta – Persia southward to the Indian Ocean". The 29 January memorandum stipulated that "from the line Alexandretta – Diarbekr southward to the Indian Ocean" (with the boundaries of any new states) were "matters for arrangement between us, after
10591-405: The policy set down by the old government in the 1922 White Paper and (3) if not, what alternative policy should be adopted. Stanley Baldwin , who took over as prime minister on 22 May 1923, set up a cabinet subcommittee in June 1923 whose terms of reference were to "examine Palestine policy afresh and to advise the full Cabinet whether Britain should remain in Palestine and whether if she remained,
10710-463: The political situation has not been dealt with with sufficient clarity, that the Mandate and boundaries questions were not mentioned. The Mandate is published and can now not be altered with one exception, which l will now explain. Transjordania, which in the first draft of the Mandate lay outside the scope of the Mandate, is now included. Article 25 of the Mandate which now lies before the League of Nations, contains this provision. Therewith, Mr. de Lieme,
10829-627: The ports of Haifa and Acre to allow access to the Mediterranean. The Palestine region, with smaller boundaries than the later Mandatory Palestine , was to fall under an "international administration". The agreement was initially used as the basis for the 1918 Anglo–French Modus Vivendi , which provided a framework for the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA) in the Levant. The mandate system
10948-547: The present, was whether Palestine was part of the coastal exclusion. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George told his French counterpart Georges Clemenceau and the other allies that the McMahon-Hussein correspondence was a treaty obligation. Around the same time, another secret treaty was negotiated between the United Kingdom and France (with assent by
11067-531: The pro-Zionist policy should be continued". The Cabinet approved the report of this subcommittee on 31 July 1923; when presenting the subcommittee's report to the Cabinet, Curzon concluded that "wise or unwise, it is well nigh impossible for any government to extricate itself without a substantial sacrifice of consistency and self-respect, if not honour." Describing it as "nothing short of remarkable", international law specialist Professor John B. Quigley noted that
11186-451: The question of the eastern boundaries is answered. The question will be still better answered when Cisjordania is so full that it overflows to Transjordania. The northern boundary is still unsatisfactory. We have made all representations, we have brought all the arguments to bear and the British Government has done everything in this connection. We have not received what we sought, and I regret to have to tell you this. The only thing we received
11305-487: The region agreed between McMahon and Hussein in 1915. The Hashemite delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, led by Hussein's third son Emir Faisal , had been invited by the British to represent the Arabs at the conference; they had wanted Palestine to be part of the proposed Arab state, and later modified this request to an Arab state under a British mandate. The delegation made two initial statements to
11424-593: The region to form British policy on the ground at the Cairo Conference. The leader of the Palestine congress, Musa al-Husayni , had tried to present the views of the executive committee in Cairo and (later) Jerusalem but was rebuffed both times. In the summer of 1921, the 4th Palestine Arab Congress sent a delegation led by Musa al-Husayni to London to negotiate on behalf of the Muslim and Christian population. On
11543-629: The region. The mandate had a number of drafts: the February 1919 Zionist proposals to the peace conference; a December 1919 compromise draft between the British and the Zionists; a June 1920 draft after Curzon's "watering down", and the December 1920 draft submitted to the League of Nations for comment. In the spring of 1919 the experts of the British Delegation of the Peace Conference in Paris opened informal discussions with representatives of
11662-485: The rest of the treaty. Article 22 was written two months before the signing of the peace treaty, before it was agreed exactly which communities, peoples, or territories would be covered by the three types of mandate set out in sub-paragraphs 4, 5, and 6 – Class A "formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire", Class B "of Central Africa" and Class C "South-West Africa and certain of the South Pacific Islands". The treaty
11781-511: The resulting Faisal–Weizmann Agreement was signed on 3 January 1919. Together with letter written by T. E. Lawrence in Faisal's name to Felix Frankfurter in March 1919, the agreement was used by the Zionist delegation to argue that their plans for Palestine had prior Arab approval; however, the Zionists omitted Faisal's handwritten caveat that the agreement was conditional on Palestine being within
11900-521: The rights of petition and adjudication by the World Court . The process of establishing the mandates consisted of two phases: the formal removal of sovereignty of the state previously controlling the territory, followed by the transfer of mandatory powers to individual states among the Allied powers . According to the Council of the League of Nations meeting of August 1920, "draft mandates adopted by
12019-541: The separate Arab emirate to be established in Transjordan. The British controlled Palestine for almost three decades, overseeing a succession of protests, riots and revolts between the Jewish and Palestinian Arab communities. During the Mandate, the area saw the rise of two nationalist movements: the Jews and the Palestinian Arabs. Intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine ultimately produced
12138-438: The strenuous conditions of the modern world". The article called for such people's tutelage to be "entrusted to advanced nations who by reason of their resources, their experience or their geographical position can best undertake this responsibility". U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and South African General Jan Smuts played influential roles in pushing for the establishment of a mandates system. The mandates system reflected
12257-453: The terms of the Treaty of Lausanne provided for the application of the principles of state succession to the "A" Mandates. The Treaty of Versailles provisionally recognised the former Ottoman communities as independent nations. It also required Germany to recognise the disposition of the former Ottoman territories and to recognise the new states laid down within their boundaries. The terms of
12376-405: The terms of the mandate, after ascertaining whether they are in conformance with the provisions of the covenant." Discussions about the assignment of the region's control began immediately after the war ended and continued at the Paris Peace Conference and the February 1920 Conference of London , and the assignment was made at the April 1920 San Remo conference. The Allied Supreme Council granted
12495-528: The territories lying between the Jordan [river] and the eastern boundary of Palestine as ultimately determined, the Mandatory shall be entitled, with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations, to postpone or withhold application of such provisions of this mandate as he may consider inapplicable to the existing local conditions, and to make such provision for the administration of the territories as he may consider suitable to those conditions. The new article
12614-614: The transformation of the League of Nations mandates into UN trusteeships was that of South Africa and its mandated territory South West Africa . Rather than placing South West Africa under trusteeship like other former mandates, South Africa proposed annexation , a proposition rejected by the UN General Assembly . Despite South Africa's resistance, the International Court of Justice affirmed that South Africa continued to have international obligations regarding
12733-410: The way open for an Arab government in Transjordan. Curzon subsequently wrote in February 1921, "I am very concerned about Transjordania ... Sir H.Samuel wants it as an annex of Palestine and an outlet for the Jews. Here I am against him." Abdullah , the brother of recently deposed King Faisal, marched into Ma'an at the head of an army of from 300 to 2,000 men on 21 November 1920. Between then and
12852-625: The way, the delegation held meetings with Pope Benedict XV and diplomats from the League of Nations in Geneva (where they also met Balfour, who was non-committal). In London, they had three meetings with Winston Churchill in which they called for reconsideration of the Balfour Declaration, revocation of the Jewish National Home policy, an end to Jewish immigration and that Palestine should not be severed from its neighbours. All their demands were rejected, although they received encouragement from some Conservative Members of Parliament. Musa al-Husayni led
12971-438: The wishes of their respective inhabitants have been ascertained", in a reference to Woodrow Wilson 's policy of self-determination . In his 6 February 1919 presentation to the Paris Peace Conference, Faisal (speaking on behalf of King Hussein) asked for Arab independence or at least the right to choose the mandatory. The Hashemites had fought with the British during the war, and received an annual subsidy from Britain; according to
13090-674: Was agreed in the final mandate document, and the approximate northern border with the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was agreed in the Paulet–Newcombe Agreement of 23 December 1920. In Palestine, the Mandate required Britain to put into effect the Balfour Declaration 's "national home for the Jewish people" alongside the Palestinian Arabs , who composed the vast majority of the local population ; this requirement and others, however, would not apply to
13209-400: Was approved by Curzon on 31 March 1921, and the revised final draft of the mandate was forwarded to the League of Nations on 22 July 1922. Article 25 permitted the mandatory to "postpone or withhold application of such provisions of the mandate as he may consider inapplicable to the existing local conditions" in that region. The final text of the Mandate includes an Article 25, which states: In
13328-553: Was based on Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations of 28 June 1919 and the Supreme Council of the Principal Allied Powers ' San Remo Resolution of 25 April 1920. The objective of the mandates over former territories of Ottoman Empire was to provide "administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone". The border between Palestine and Transjordan
13447-482: Was created in the wake of World War I as a compromise between Woodrow Wilson 's ideal of self-determination , set out in his Fourteen Points speech of January 1918, and the European powers' desire for gains for their empires . It was established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations , entered into on 28 June 1919 as Part I of the Treaty of Versailles , and came into force on 10 January 1920 with
13566-570: Was extended, and by the following summer he began to voice his impatience at the lack of formal confirmation. The drafting was carried out with no input from any Arabs, despite the fact that their disagreement with the Balfour Declaration was well known. Palestinian political opposition began to organise in 1919 in the form of the Palestine Arab Congress , which formed from the local Muslim-Christian Associations . In March 1921, new British Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill came to
13685-473: Was intended to enable Britain "to set up an Arab administration and to withhold indefinitely the application of those clauses of the mandate which relate to the establishment of the National Home for the Jews", as explained in a Colonial Office letter three days later. This created two administrative areas – Palestine, under direct British rule, and the autonomous Emirate of Transjordan under the rule of
13804-553: Was not intended to cover all of Palestine. The second half of the declaration was added to satisfy opponents of the policy, who said that it would otherwise prejudice the position of the local population of Palestine and encourage antisemitism worldwide by (according to the presidents of the Conjoint Committee, David L. Alexander and Claude Montefiore in a letter to the Times ) "stamping the Jews as strangers in their native lands". The declaration called for safeguarding
13923-520: Was not then public. After the French occupation, the British suddenly wanted to know "what is the 'Syria' for which the French received a mandate at San Remo?" and "does it include Transjordania?". British Foreign Minister Lord Curzon ultimately decided that it did not; Transjordan would remain independent, but in a close relationship with Palestine. On 6 August 1920, Curzon wrote to newly appointed High Commissioner Herbert Samuel about Transjordan: "I suggest that you should let it be known forthwith that in
14042-400: Was signed and the peace conference adjourned before a formal decision was made. Two governing principles formed the core of the mandate system: non-annexation of the territory and its administration as a "sacred trust of civilisation" to develop the territory for the benefit of its native people. The mandate system differed fundamentally from the protectorate system which preceded it, in that
14161-466: Was the concession to be allowed a voice in the discussion on the water rights. And now just a week ago, when the Administration in Palestine, under pressure from a few soldiers, wished to alter our boundaries we protested most strongly and confirmed the boundary along the lines that were agreed upon. That is not satisfactory, but with the forces at our disposal nothing else could be attained. So it
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