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This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]

Printed

for the

Cabinet.

SECRET,

CP. 149 (23).

CABINET.

PALESTINE.

MEMORANDUM BY THE SECRETARY OP STATE FOR THE COLONIES.

I N continuation of my Memorandum of the 17th February, 1923 (CP. 106), I

circulate for the consideration of the Cabinet a further Memorandum, prepared in the
Colonial Office, on the subject of British policy in Palestine.
DEVONSHIRE,;
Colonial

Office,

March 13,1923.

Policy

in

Palestine.

(Supplementary Memorandum.) .
1. Since the Memorandum circulated To the Cabinet, as C.P. 106 (23) was
prepared,, certain further points have been brought, to. notice to which it may,be
desirable that the attention of the Cabinet should be drawn.
o

A.The Balfour

Declaration.

2. The negotiations that led up to the Balfour Declaration were described in the
paper circulated as CP. 60 (23). It was there stated that the War Cabinet decided,
before coming to a final decision, to refer the draft declaration to President Wilson,
but that there was nothing to show whether the President'? views had actually been
obtained. It appears that they were obtained. The following telegram was received
at the Foreign Office from New York on the 19th October, 1917
" Colonel House put formula before President, who approves of it, but asks
that no mention of his approval shall be made when His Majesty's Government
make formula public, as he has arranged that American Jews shall then ask for
his approval, which he will give publicly here."
- .
3. It may be pointed out, in amplification of what is said in paragraph 3 of
CP. 106 (23), that the French and Italian Governments committed themselves more
specifically than might perhaps be gathered from that paragraph to the support of
the Zionist policy. The following official communique was issued by the French
Government on the 9th February, 1918 : - .
" M. Sokolow, representant des organisations sionistes, a ete regu ce matin,
au Ministere des Affaires etrangeres, par M. Stephen Pichon, qui a ete heureux
de lui confirmer que 1'entente est complete entre les Gouvernements frangais et
britanuique en ce qui concernela question d'un etablissement juif en Palestine."
In communicating the text of this communique to Mr. Sokolow, M. Pichon explained
that its object was to define the French Governments attitude towards the aspirations
of the Zionists for the establishment of "un foyer national " for the Jews in Palestine,
hi May 1918 the Italian Ambassador in London wrote officially to Mr. Sokolow, under
the instructions of the Italian Government, confirming, declarations already made by
Italian representatives at Washington, to the effect that the Italian Government were
prepared to lend their aid in promoting the establishment in Palestine of a " Hebrew
national centre " on the understanding that the rights of Jews in other countries were
not prejudiced.
[9655]

B.Pledges to the Arabs.

4. It may be of interest, as bearing on the question of what was in the mind of
His Majesty's Government in 1915, to call attention to the Report of a Committee
appointed in that year to consider the question of " British Desiderata in Turkey in
Asia." The Committee, of which Sir Maurice de Bunsen was Chairman, reported on
the 30th June, 1915. Its report seems to have been the first attempt to formulate a
policy for the ultimate disposal of conquered Turkish territory. Its recommendations
formed the basis of much that took place subsequently. They are interesting in the
present connection as indicating that the Committee clearly regarded the question of
Palestine as something apart, not to be mixed up with the general problem of our
relations with the Arabs. In paragraph 12 of the report the British desiderata were
summarised under nine heads, of which the seventh deals with "Arabia and the
Moslem Holy Places," while there is an entirely separate heading (the ninth) for
" a settlement of the question of Palestine and the Holy Places of Christendom."
Again, paragraph 37 proposes that the future of the Holy Places of Palestine should
be left " to be decided as a separate question in discussion with those who stand for
the national and religious interests involved." Paragraph 96, which deals specifically
with Palestine, contains the following passage : " Palestine must be regarded as a
country whose destiny must be the subject of special negotiations,. in which both
belligerents and neutrals are alike interested." This report was prior in date to the
McMahon letter of the 25th October, 1915, and cannot of course be. quoted against it;
but it does illustrate the general aspect in which, the Palestine question presented
itself "to the British Government at about the time that the McMahon correspondence
was starting.
5. There is one other document of some importance to which no reference was
made in the earlier Memorandum ( C P . 106). After the publication of the Balfour
Declaration it was considered necessary to give the Sherif of Mecca (now King
Hussein) some explanation of our intentions. A message was accordingly conveyed to
him, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, on the 4th January, 1918, in the following
terms:
" That so far as Palestine is concerned, we are determined that no people shall
be subjected to another, but that in view of the fact:
" (a.) That there are in Palestine shrines, Wakfs and Holy Places, sacred in
some cases to Moslems alone, to Jews alone, to Christians alone, and
in others to two or all three, and inasmuch as these places are of
interest to vast masses of people outside Palestine and Arabia, there
must be a special regime to deal with these places approved of by the
world.
" (b.) That as regards the Mosque of Omar, it shall be considered as a Moslem
concern alone, and shall not be subjected directly or indirectly to any
non-Moslem authority.
" That"since the Jewish opinion of the world is in favour of a return of Jews
to Palestine, and inasmuch as this opinion must remain a constant factor, and
further, as His Majesty's Government view with favour the realisation of this
aspiration,. His Majesty's Government are determined that, in so far as is
compatible with the freedom of the existing population, both economic and
political, no obstacle should be put in the way of the realisation of this ideal."
This message was delivered personally to King Hussein by Commander Hogarth,
who reported as follows on its reception:
:

" The King would not accept an independent Jewish State in Palestine, nor
was I instructed to warn him that such a State was contemplated by Great Britain.
He probably knows nothing of the actual or possible economy of Palestine, and his
ready assent to Jewish settlement there is not worth very much. But I think he
appreciates the financial advantage of Arab co-operation with the Jews."

6. His Majesty's Government, as explained in the earlier memorandum, have

-clearly repudiated the policy of converting Palestine into a Jewish State. There is
nothing in their latest statements of policy that is inconsistent with the explanations
given to the Sherif in January 1918, or indeed with the interpretation which the Shent
himself seems to have placed on those explanations.

C.

Character of the Palestine Government.

7. Figures were quoted in paragraph 28 of C P . 106 to refute the charge so often
made in Parliament and elsewhere that the present Government of Palestine is a
"Zionist administration." It may he added here that, of the 36 persons at present
holding the highest administrative posts in Palestine, 33 are Christians and only
3 Jews. Of the 33 Christians 2 are men who, though Christian by religion, are of
Jewish extraction. But even if these 2 gentlemen are classified as Jews, the figures
will not give a higher proportion than 5 Jews out of 36.
Middle East Department,
Colonial Office, March 12, 1923.