The World Zionist Organization`s delegation to the peace conference – led by Chaim Weizmann, who had been the driving force behind the Balfour Declaration – also called for a British mandate, claiming the “historic title of the Jewish people after Palestine.” [41] The confidential appendix to the King Crane Commission report states: “The Jews are clearly for Britain as an obligatory power, because of the Balfour Declaration.” [39] [40] The Zionists met with Faisal two weeks before the start of the conference to settle their differences; the resulting Faisal-Weizmann Agreement was signed on January 3, 1919. With the letter of T. E. Lawrence on behalf of Faisal 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; [42] However, the Zionists omitted Faisal`s handwritten reservation that the agreement was conditional on Palestine being on the territory of Arab independence. [a] [42] The text of the Declaration was published in the press one week after its signature, on November 9, 1917. [232] Other related events took place in a short period of time, the two most important being the almost immediate British military conquest of Palestine and the flight of the previously secret Sykes-Picot agreement. On the military side, Gaza and Jaffa fell within days, and Jerusalem was handed over to the British on December 9. [94] The publication of the Sykes-Picot Agreement after the Russian Revolution in Bolshevik Izvesti and Pravda on November 23, 1917, and in the British Manchester Guardian on November 26, 1917, represented a dramatic moment for the Allied Eastern Campaign:[233][234] “The British were ashamed, the Arabs dismayed, and the Turks were enthusiastic.” [235] The Zionists had been aware of the broad outlines of the agreement since April, and in particular the relevant part for Palestine, after a meeting between Weizmann and Cecil at which Weizmann expressed very clearly his objections to the proposed system. [236] The northern boundary between the British and French mandates was roughly defined by the Franco-British Border Agreement of December 1920; This became known as the Paulet-Newcombe Agreement for French Lieutenant-Colonel N.
Paulet and British Lieutenant-Colonel S.F. Newcombe, who was appointed in 1923 to head the Boundary Commission to finalize the agreement. [217] He placed most of the Golan Heights in the French sphere and set up a joint commission to colonize and mark the border. The Commission presented its final report on 3 February 1922; It was approved with some reservations by the British and French governments on March 7, 1923, a few months before Britain and France assumed their mandatory responsibilities on September 29, 1923. [218] [219] Under the treaty, Syrian and Lebanese residents would have the same fishing and navigation rights on the Houla Sea, the Sea of Galilee, and the Jordan River as citizens of Mandatory Palestine, but the government of Palestine would be responsible for monitoring the lakes. The Zionist movement pressured the French and British to include as many water sources as possible in Palestine during the demarcation negotiations. The movement`s demands influenced negotiators and led to the inclusion of the Sea of Galilee, both sides of the Jordan River, Lake Hula, the Dan Spring, and part of the Yarmouk River. As High Commissioner of Palestine, Herbert Samuel had called for full control of the Sea of Galilee. [220] The new boundary followed a 10-metre-wide (33-foot) strip along the northeast shore. [221] Following the settlement of the northern border issue, the British and French governments signed an agreement on good-neighbourly relations between the Mandatory territories of Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon on February 2, 1926. [222] Turkey was not a member of the League of Nations at the time of the negotiations; On the losing side of the First World War, they did not join until 1932. The decisions on mandates on Ottoman territory taken by the Supreme Council allied to the San Remo Conference were documented in the Treaty of Sèvres, signed on August 10, 1920 on behalf of the Ottoman Empire and the Allies.
However, the treaty was never ratified by the Ottoman government,[177] as it required the consent of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. .
