The San Remo conference and the creation of Israel, Syria and Iraq

San Remo conference
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The San Remo[1] Conference was an international meeting of the post-
World War I Allied Supreme Council, held in Sanremo, Italy, from 19 to
26 April 1920. It was attended by the four Principal Allied Powers of
World War I who were represented by the Prime Ministers of Britain
(David Lloyd George), France (Alexandre Millerand) and Italy
(Francesco Nitti) and by the Ambassador of Japan (K. Matsui).

It determined the allocation of Class "A" League of Nations mandates
for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle
East.

The decisions of the conference mainly confirmed those of the First
Conference of London (February 1920), and broadly reaffirmed the terms
of the Anglo-French Sykes-Picot Agreement of 16 May 1916 for the
region's partition and the Balfour Declaration of 2 November 1917.
Britain received the mandate for Palestine and Iraq, while France
gained control of Syria including present-day Lebanon.

The San Remo Resolution adopted on 25 April 1920 incorporated the
Balfour Declaration of 1917[2] and Article 22 of the Covenant of the
League of Nations. It was the basic document upon which the Mandate
for Palestine was constructed.

The Resolution was a binding agreement between these Powers. The
precise boundaries of all territories were left unspecified, to "be
determined by the Principal Allied Powers"[3] and were not completely
finalized until four years later. The conference's decisions were
embodied in the stillborn Treaty of Sèvres (Section VII, Art 94-97).
As Turkey rejected this treaty, the conference's decisions were only
finally confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations on 24 July
1922 and the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.

To enforce its rights under the Resolution, before the creation of the
French Mandate of Syria, France intervened militarily at the Battle of
Maysalun in June 1920 to depose the nationalist Arab government which
King Faisal had meanwhile established in Damascus.

Text of the Resolution

San Remo Resolution - April 25, 1920

It was agreed –

(a) To accept the terms of the Mandates Article as given below with
reference to Palestine, on the understanding that there was inserted
in the process-verbal an undertaking by the Mandatory Power that this
would not involve the surrender of the rights hitherto enjoyed by the
non-Jewish communities in Palestine; this undertaking not to refer to
the question of the religious protectorate of France, which had been
settled earlier in the previous afternoon by the undertaking given by
the French Government that they recognized this protectorate as being
at an end.

(b) that the terms of the Mandates Article should be as follows:

The High Contracting Parties agree that Syria and Mesopotamia shall,
in accordance with the fourth paragraph of Article 22, Part I
(Covenant of the League of Nations), be provisionally recognized as
independent States, subject to the rendering of administrative advice
and assistance by a mandatory until such time as they are able to
stand alone. The boundaries of the said States will be determined, and
the selection of the Mandatories made, by the Principal Allied Powers.

The High Contracting Parties agree to entrust, by application of the
provisions of Article 22, the administration of Palestine, within such
boundaries as may be determined by the Principal Allied Powers, to a
Mandatory, to be selected by the said Powers. The Mandatory will be
responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on
November 8, 1917, by the British Government, and adopted by the other
Allied Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a
national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that
nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights
and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

La Puissance mandataire s’engage a nommer dans le plus bref delai une
Commission speciale pour etudier toute question et toute reclamation
concernant les differentes communautes religieuses et en etablir le
reglement. Il sera tenu compte dans la composition de cette Commission
des interets religieux en jeu. Le President de la Commission sera
nomme par le Conseil de la Societe des Nations.

The terms of the mandates in respect of the above territories will be
formulated by the Principal Allied Powers and submitted to the Council
of the League of Nations for approval.

Turkey hereby undertakes, in accordance with the provisions of Article
[132 of the Treaty of Sèvres] to accept any decisions which may be
taken in this connection.

(c) Les mandataires choisis par les principales Puissances allies
sont: la France pour la Syrie, et la Grand Bretagne pour la
Mesopotamie, et la Palestine.

In reference to the above decision the Supreme Council took note of
the following reservation of the Italian Delegation:

La Delegation Italienne en consideration des grands interets
economiques que l’Italie en tant que puissance exclusivement
mediterraneenne possede en Asie Mineure, reserve son approbation a la
presente resolution, jusqu’au reglement des interets italiens en
Turquie d’Asia.
.

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