Evening star., 1946-04-15
Letters to The Star
Argues Against British Action
With REGARD to Trans. Jordan

The editorial discussions in The Star
are always eminently fair and instruc-
tive. 1t, therefore, was with surprise
that read the statements Of your edi-
torial entitled End of a Mandate"
which appeared in the edition of April /.
May call your attention to the follow
ing statement of facts as believe them
to be?
l. BY the terms of Article % of the
Covenant of the League of Nations,
certain colonies and territories, as
result Of World War 7, have ceased to
be under the sovereignty of the states
which formerly governed them and were
placed in mandatory system under the
control of the League of Nations. 1t
was asserted that these territories
| formed a sacred trust of civilization and
should be placed by the League under
the supervision of mandatories with a
degree of authority and control "ex-
| plicitly defined in each case by the
| Council" ~
2. BY the terms of the Treaty of Peace
signed by the principal allied and as
sociated powers with Turkey after
World War I, the boundaries Of Tur-
key definitely were established, and the
remaining territories Of the former Tur-
kish Empire passed to the allied and
associated powers and from them to
| the League of Nations.
/ 3. On July "a, 1922, mandate was
granted to Great Britain which came
into force September %, 1923, and
which nominated Great Britain as the
mandatory for the territory OF Pales-
tine, and Great Britain accepted the
mandate under its clearly defined terms
4. The territory Of Palestine was de-
fined as territory formerly belonging to
the Turkish Empire within such boun-
Diary as may be fixed" by the League OF
Nations Article Is Of the mandate
specifically referred to the territories
lying between the Jordan River and
the eastern boundary Of Palestine as
ultimately determined" by the League.
The territory repeatedly established as
the free and independent state of Trans
Jordan clearly was included In the
Palestine mandate.
s. The only authority which Great
Britain has over Palestine derives from
the mandate she received from the
League OF Nations.
s. In Article Is of the mandate for
Palestine, the mandatory was author
lied with the consent Of the Council
Of the League to postpone or withhold
application Of certain provisions of the
mandate as the mandatory might con-
slider inapplicable to the existing local
condition and to administer the terri
tory under rules suitable to conditions
then existing, provided that no change
In administration should be made incon-
Astent with the provisions OF specified
articles of the mandate. Great Britain
has no authority to terminate her man
date over this portion of Palestine nor
to separate it in any way from the terri
tory of Palestine. Even changes in rules
for the administration of the area east
of the Jordan could be made only with
the consent Of the Council of the League
for postponement or withholding OF the
application of certain provisions OF the
| mandate.
7. Article 27 Of the mandate requires
the consent Of the League of Nations for
any modification Of the terms OF the
mandate.
8. Article of the mandate explicitly
provides that the mandatory shall be
responsible for seeing that no Pales-
tinian territory shall be in any way
placed under the control of foreign
power. II the news reports are correct,
Great Britain has violated this pro-
vision by delivering to q foreign poten-
tate, for the exercise Of governmental
authority, this portion Of Palestine.
8. Under a formal treaty between the
Government of the United States and
the government Of Great Britain, en-
tered into December 5, 1925, the terms
Of the mandate for Palestine were set
out word for word and consented to
bv the United States with the definite
provision under Article I of the Treaty
that no change in the terms OF the
mandate should be made unless the
change shall have been assented to by
the United States.
10. According to Article OF the
Anglo American Treaty (referred to in
8 above), vested American property
rights In the inundated territory shall
be respected and in no way impaired"
Certainly the amputation of two-thirds
Of the territory OF any country inevitably
must impair the opportunities for eco
nomic development and hence the value
of investments in the residual portion
Large amounts of American capital
have gone into the development of
Palestine. The separation OF Trans
Jordan completely changes the econom-
ic and agricultural prospect of the
entire territory of Palestine and jeop-
ardizes these American investments.
Obviously, American rights have been
disregarded in this action Of the British
government. The present arbitrary di-
vision cuts across the economic and
financial backbone Of the country and
depreciates the value Of the capital
which was invested by American inter-
ests in the past generation. Further
more, such unilateral disregard of treaty
obligations creates a dangerous prece-
dent when one considers the present
scope Of American investments abroad.
II. The League Of Nations, for which
Great Britain has been acting as Man
datory Agent, is in process of effecting
its own dissolution. In the United Ma
tions Charter adopted at San Francisco
there was set up under Chapter XII
an international trusteeship system de-
signed to administer certain dependent