In Damascus, al-Aref became a deputy to the General Syrian Congress and with Hajj Amin and others formed al-Jam'iyya al-'Arabiyya al-Filastiniyya (Palestinian Arab Society). He became its Secretary-General and campaigned against the decisions of the San Remo conference. After the French invasion of Syria in July 1920, he fled to Transjordan. He returned to Jerusalem late in 1920 after being pardoned by the new British High Commissioner of Palestine, Herbert Samuel, but the government refused to allow his newspaper to reopen.