League of Nations – Mandate for Palestine
LEAGUE
OF NATIONS
__________
MANDATE
FOR PALESTINE,
TOGETHER WITH A
NOTE BY
THE SECRETARY - GENERAL
RELATING TO ITS APPLICATION
TO THE
TERRITORY KNOWN AS TRANS-JORDAN,
under the provisions of Article 25.
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Presented
to Parliament by Command of His Majesty,
December, 1922.
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LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY’S STATIONARY OFFICE.
___________
MANDATE FOR PALESTINE,
together with a
Note by the Secretary-General relating to its
application to the Territory known
as Trans-
Jordan, under the provisions of Article 25.
_______________________
MANDATE FOR PALESTINE.
_______________________
The Council of the League of Nations :
Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have
agreed, for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of Article 22 of the
Covenant of the League of Nations, to entrust to a Mandatory selected by the
said Powers the administration of the territory of Palestine, which formerly
belonged to the Turkish Empire, within such boundaries as may be fixed by them;
and
Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also
agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the
declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His
Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favor of the
establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being
clearly understood that nothing should be done which might 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; and
Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection
of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their
national home in that country; and
Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have
selected His Britannic Majesty as the Mandatory for Palestine; and
Whereas the mandate in respect of Palestine
has been formulated in the following terms and submitted to the Council of the
League for approval; and
Whereas His Britannic Majesty has accepted the mandate in respect of
Palestine and undertaken to exercise it on behalf of the League of Nations in
conformity with the following provisions; and
Whereas by the afore-mentioned Article 22
(paragraph 8), it is provided that the degree of authority, control or
administration to be exercised by the Mandatory, not having been previously
agreed upon by the Members of the League, shall be explicitly defined by the
Council of the League of Nations;
confirming the said Mandate, defines its
terms as follows:
Article 1.
The Mandatory shall have full powers of
legislation and of administration, save as they may be limited by the terms of
this mandate.
Article 2.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for
placing the country under such political, administrative and economic
conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home, as
laid down in the preamble, and the development of self-governing institutions,
and also for safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all the inhabitants
of Palestine, irrespective of race and religion.
Article 3.
The Mandatory shall, so far as circumstances
permit, encourage local autonomy.
Article 4.
An appropriate Jewish agency shall be
recognised as a public body for the purpose of advising and co-operating with
the Administration of Palestine in such economic, social and other matters as
may affect the establishment of the Jewish national home and the interests of
the Jewish population in Palestine, and, subject always to the control of the
Administration to assist and take part in the development of the country.
The Zionist organization, so long as its
organization and constitution are in the opinion of the Mandatory appropriate,
shall be recognised as such agency. It shall take steps in consultation with
His Britannic Majesty's Government to secure the co-operation of all Jews who
are willing to assist in the establishment of the Jewish national home.
Article 5.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing
that no Palestine territory shall be ceded or leased to, or in any way placed
under the control of the Government of any foreign Power.
Article 6.
The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring
that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not
prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions and
shall encourage, in co-operation with the Jewish agency referred to in Article
4, close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands
not required for public purposes.
Article 7.
The Administration of Palestine shall be
responsible for enacting a nationality law. There shall be included in this law
provisions framed so as to facilitate the acquisition of Palestinian
citizenship by Jews who take up their permanent residence in Palestine.
Article 8.
The privileges and immunities of foreigners,
including the benefits of consular jurisdiction and protection as formerly
enjoyed by Capitulation or usage in the Ottoman Empire, shall not be applicable
in Palestine.
Unless the Powers whose nationals enjoyed the
afore-mentioned privileges and immunities on August 1st, 1914, shall have
previously renounced the right to their re-establishment, or shall have agreed
to their non-application for a specified period, these privileges and
immunities shall, at the expiration of the mandate, be immediately
reestablished in their entirety or with such modifications as may have been
agreed upon between the Powers concerned.
Article 9.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing
that the judicial system established in Palestine shall assure to foreigners,
as well as to natives, a complete guarantee of their rights.
Respect for the personal status of the various peoples and communities
and for their religious interests shall be fully guaranteed. In particular, the
control and administration of Wakfs shall be exercised in accordance with
religious law and the dispositions of the founders.
Article 10.
Pending the making of special extradition
agreements relating to Palestine, the extradition treaties in force between the
Mandatory and other foreign Powers shall apply to Palestine.
Article 11.
The Administration of Palestine shall take
all necessary measures to safeguard the interests of the community in
connection with the development of the country, and, subject to any
international obligations accepted by the Mandatory, shall have full power to
provide for public ownership or control of any of the natural resources of the
country or of the public works, services and utilities established or to be
established therein. It shall introduce a land system appropriate to the needs
of the country, having regard, among other things, to the desirability of promoting
the close settlement and intensive cultivation of the land.
The Administration may arrange with the
Jewish agency mentioned in Article 4 to construct or operate, upon fair and
equitable terms, any public works, services and utilities, and to develop any
of the natural resources of the country, in so far as these matters are not
directly undertaken by the Administration. Any such arrangements shall provide
that no profits distributed by such agency, directly or indirectly, shall
exceed a reasonable rate of interest on the capital, and any further profits
shall be utilised by it for the benefit of the country in a manner approved by
the Administration.
Article 12.
The Mandatory shall be entrusted with the control of the foreign
relations of Palestine and the right to issue exequaturs to consuls appointed
by foreign Powers. He shall also be entitled to afford diplomatic and consular
protection to citizens of Palestine when outside its territorial limits.
Article 13.
All responsibility in connection with the
Holy Places and religious buildings or sites in Palestine, including that of
preserving existing rights and of securing free access to the Holy Places,
religious buildings and sites and the free exercise of worship, while ensuring
the requirements of public order and decorum, is assumed by the Mandatory, who
shall be responsible solely to the League of Nations in all matters connected
herewith, provided that nothing in this article shall prevent the Mandatory
from entering into such arrangements as he may deem reasonable with the
Administration for the purpose of carrying the provisions of this article into
effect; and provided also that nothing in this mandate shall be construed as
conferring upon the Mandatory authority to interfere with the fabric or the
management of purely Moslem sacred shrines, the immunities of which are
guaranteed.
Article 14.
A special commission shall be appointed by
the Mandatory to study, define and determine the rights and claims in
connection with the Holy Places and the rights and claims relating to the
different religious communities in Palestine. The method of nomination, the
composition and the functions of this Commission shall be submitted to the
Council of the League for its approval, and the Commission shall not be
appointed or enter upon its functions without the approval of the Council.
Article 15.
The Mandatory shall see that complete freedom
of conscience and the free exercise of all forms of worship, subject only to
the maintenance of public order and morals, are ensured to all. No
discrimination of any kind shall be made between the inhabitants of Palestine
on the ground of race, religion or language. No person shall be excluded from
Palestine on the sole ground of his religious belief.
The right of each community to maintain its own schools for the
education of its own members in its own language, while conforming to such
educational requirements of a general nature as the Administration may impose,
shall not be denied or impaired.
Article 16.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for
exercising such supervision over religious or eleemosynary bodies of all faiths
in Palestine as may be required for the maintenance of public order and good
government. Subject to such supervision, no measures shall be taken in Palestine
to obstruct or interfere with the enterprise of such bodies or to discriminate
against any representative or member of them on the ground of his religion or
nationality.
Article 17.
The Administration of Palestine may organist
on a voluntary basis the forces necessary for the preservation of peace and
order, and also for the defence of the country, subject, however, to the
supervision of the Mandatory, but shall not use them for purposes other than
those above specified save with the consent of the Mandatory. Except for such
purposes, no military, naval or air forces shall be raised or maintained by the
Administration of Palestine.
Nothing in this article shall preclude the
Administration of Palestine from contributing to the cost of the maintenance of
the forces of the Mandatory in Palestine.
The Mandatory shall be entitled at all times to use the roads, railways
and ports of Palestine for the movement of armed forces and the carriage of
fuel and supplies.
Article 18.
The Mandatory shall see that there is no discrimination in Palestine
against the nationals of any State Member of the League of Nations (including
companies incorporated under its laws) as compared with those of the Mandatory
or of any foreign State in matters concerning taxation, commerce or navigation,
the exercise of industries or professions, or in the treatment of merchant
vessels or civil aircraft. Similarly, there shall be no discrimination in
Palestine against goods originating in or destined for any of the said States,
and there shall be freedom of transit under equitable conditions across the
mandated area.
Subject as aforesaid and to the other
provisions of this mandate, the Administration of Palestine may, on the advice
of the Mandatory, impose such taxes and customs duties as it may consider
necessary, and take such steps as it may think best to promote the development
of the natural resources of the country and to safeguard the interests of the
population. It may also, on the advice of the Mandatory, conclude a special
customs agreement with any State the territory of which in 1914 was wholly
included in Asiatic Turkey or Arabia.
Article 19.
The Mandatory shall adhere on behalf of the
Administration of Palestine to any general international conventions already
existing, or which may be concluded hereafter with the approval of the League
of Nations, respecting the slave traffic, the traffic in arms and ammunition,
or the traffic in drugs, or relating to commercial equality, freedom of transit
and navigation, aerial navigation and postal, telegraphic and wireless
communication or literary, artistic or industrial property.
Article 20.
The Mandatory shall co-operate on behalf of
the Administration of Palestine, so far as religious, social and other
conditions may permit, in the execution of any common policy adopted by the
League of Nations for preventing and combating disease, including diseases of
plants and animals.
Article 21.
The Mandatory shall secure the enactment
within twelve months from this date, and shall ensure the execution of a Law of
Antiquities based on the following rules. This law shall ensure equality of
treatment in the matter of excavations and archaeological research to the
nationals of all States Members of the League of Nations.
(1)
"Antiquity" means any construction
or any product of human activity earlier than the year A. D. 1700.
(2)
The law for the protection of antiquities
shall proceed by encouragement rather than by threat.
Any person who, having discovered an
antiquity without being furnished with the authorization referred to in
paragraph 5, reports the same to an official of the competent Department, shall
be rewarded according to the value of the discovery.
(3)
No antiquity may be disposed of except to the
competent Department, unless this Department renounces the acquisition of any
such antiquity.
No antiquity may leave the country without an
export licence from the said Department.
(4)
Any person who maliciously or negligently
destroys or damages an antiquity shall be liable to a penalty to be fixed.
(5)
No clearing of ground or digging with the
object of finding antiquities shall be permitted, under penalty of fine, except
to persons authorised by the competent Department.
(6)
Equitable terms shall be fixed for
expropriation, temporary or permanent, of lands which might be of historical or
archaeological interest.
(7)
Authorization to excavate shall only be
granted to persons who show sufficient guarantees of archaeological experience.
The Administration of Palestine shall not, in granting these authorizations,
act in such a way as to exclude scholars of any nation without good grounds.
(8)
The proceeds of excavations may be divided
between the excavator and the competent Department in a proportion fixed by
that Department. If division seems impossible for scientific reasons, the
excavator shall receive a fair indemnity in lieu of a part of the find.
Article 22
English, Arabic and Hebrew shall be the
official languages of Palestine. Any statement or inscription in Arabic on
stamps or money in Palestine shall be repeated in Hebrew and any statement or
inscription in Hebrew shall be repeated in Arabic.
Article 23.
The Administration of Palestine shall
recognise the holy days of the respective communities in Palestine as legal
days of rest for the members of such communities.
Article 24.
The Mandatory shall make to the Council of
the League of Nations an annual report to the satisfaction of the Council as to
the measures taken during the year to carry out the provisions of the mandate.
Copies of all laws and regulations promulgated or issued during the year shall
be communicated with the report.
Article 25.
In the territories lying between the Jordan
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, provided that no action shall be taken which is
inconsistent with the provisions of Articles 15, 16 and 18.
Article 26.
The Mandatory agrees that, if any dispute
whatever should arise between the Mandatory and another member of the League of
Nations relating to the interpretation or the application of the provisions of
the mandate, such dispute, if it cannot be settled by negotiation, shall be
submitted to the Permanent Court of International Justice provided for by Article
14 of the Covenant of the League of Nations.
Article 27.
The consent of the Council of the League of
Nations is required for any modification of the terms of this mandate.
Article 28.
In the event of the termination of the
mandate hereby conferred upon the Mandatory, the Council of the League of
Nations shall make such arrangements as may be deemed necessary for
safeguarding in perpetuity, under guarantee of the League, the rights secured
by Articles 13 and 14, and shall use its influence for securing, under the
guarantee of the League, that the Government of Palestine will fully honour the
financial obligations legitimately incurred by the Administration of Palestine
during the period of the mandate, including the rights of public servants to
pensions or gratuities.
The present instrument shall be deposited in
original in the archives of the League of Nations and certified copies shall be
forwarded by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations to all members of
the League.
Done at London the twenty-fourth day of July,
one thousand nine hundred and twenty-two.
Certified true copy:
FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL,
RAPPARD,
Director of the Mandates Section.
10
NOTE.
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GENEVA,
September 23rd, 1922.
ARTICLE 25 OF THE PALESTINE MANDATE.
Territory
known as Trans-Jordan.
NOTE BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL.
The Secretary-General has
the honour to communicate for the information of the Members of the League, a
memorandum relating to Article 25 of the
Palestine Mandate presented by the British Government to the Council of, the
League on September 16th, 1922.
The memorandum was approved by the Council subject
to the decision taken at its meeting in London on July 24th, 1922, with regard
to the coming into force of the Palestine and Syrian mandates.
--
MEMORANDUM BY THE BRITISH REPRESENTATIVE.
1.
Article 2,5 of the Mandate for Palestine provides as follows:-
“In the
territories lying between the Jordan 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
provision 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, provided no
action shall be taken which is inconsistent with the provisions of Articles 15,
16 and 18.”
2. In pursuance of the provisions of this Article,
His Majesty's Government invite the Council to pass the following resolution:
“The following provisions of the Mandate for Palestine art
not
applicable to the territory known as Trans-Jordan,
which
comprises 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."
Preamble.- Recitals 2 and 3.
Article 2.-The words
“placing the country under such political administration and economic
conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home, as
laid down in the preamble, and”.
Article 4.
Article 6.
Article 7.- The
sentence “The shall be included in this law provisions framed so as to
facilitate the acquisition of Palestinian citizenship by Jews who take up their permanent residence in Palestine.”
Article ll.- The
second sentence of the first paragraph and the second paragraph.
Article 13.
Article 14.
Article 32.
Article 23.
--
In the application
of the Mandate to Trans-Jordan, the action which, in Palestine, is taken by the
Administration of the latter country, will be taken by the Administration of
Trans-Jordan under the general supervision of the Mandatory.
3. His Majesty's Government accept full responsibility as Mandatory for Trans-Jordan, and undertake that such provision as may be made for the administration of that territory in accordance with Article 25 of the Mandate shall be in no way inconsistent with those provisions of tile Mandate which are not by this resolution declared inapplicable.