IOR/L/PS/10/911

The volume includes correspondence in the form of telegrams, letters, minutes, draft mandates and conventions. The correspondence is mainly about the British Mandate for Palestine and Mesopotamia, and the French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon. British and French officials exchanged draft copies of the mandates discussing the wordings, modifications required, the date to submit them to the Council of the League of Nations, and the date to get the drafts signed by the allied powers.

The main issues discussed in the volume are the following:

• Amendments required in regard to the section on the holy places
• The French Government’s desire to imitate the Mandate for Mesopotamia as far as possible for its own mandate in Syria
• Draft declarations constituting the mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia
• Proposals for the future administration of Egypt
• The question on whether the foreign relation article of the draft Mandate for Mesopotamia should follow the Egyptian example or not
• The necessity to get the views of the High Commissioner of Mesopotamia, Percy Cox, on the draft Mandate
• Draft Anglo-French Convention discussing the construction of two railways in the Yarmuk valley; the water of the rivers Tigris, Euphrates and the Jordan Valley; and the Syria-Palestine boundaries
• The maintaining of the local troops in the territories for the defence of these territories
• The question of whether Arabic should be the official language of Mesopotamia
• Communication between the Foreign Office and the High Commissioner, Jerusalem, Herbert Samuel, regarding the question of ‘safeguarding Palestine’s right to use the waters of Litani and Yarmuk for power purposes even if they fall outside frontiers of Palestine’
• The wording of the draft Mandate for Palestine, and the use of the terms ‘National Home’ and ‘Jewish State’
• The French Government's mistrust of the British policy in Palestine
• ‘Italian Government’s opposition to entry into force of mandates pending ratification of Turkish Peace Treaty’
• The communication of mandates to the United States Government
• Postponement of legalisation of British position in Palestine and Mesopotamia until the mandates are passed by the Council of the League of Nations
• The necessity of drafting of an organic law and postponement of the Mesopotamia mandate.

The volume contains the following items:

• Copy of the Convention Franco-Britannique (Franco-British Convention) signed 23 December 1920, by the French Prime Minister, Georges Leygues and the British Ambassador to France, Charles Hardinge of Penfhurst [Penshurst]
• Copies in French and in English of draft mandates for Palestine, Mesopotamia, Syria and Lebanon submitted by representatives of the British and the French Delegations to the Council of the League of Nations for its approval
• A convention regarding Palestine, signed between the British Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Joseph Austen Chamberlain, and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States at London, Frank B Kellogg.

The principal correspondents in the volume are: the Secretary of State for the Colonies; the Assistant Secretary, Foreign Office; the Political Department, India Office; the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; the Under-Secretary of State for India; the Secretary of State for India; the Secretary of the War Office; the Secretary to the Army Council; the British Embassy, Paris; the British Delegation to the Council of the League of Nations; the Director of Military Intelligence, War Office; the Treasury; the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the French Delegation to the Council of the League of Nations; and the French Embassy, London.

The volume includes some duplications.