page_title: Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)
section_title: Palestine
hierarchical_section_title: Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920) / Other nations' approach / Palestine
caption_attribution_description: English: Palestine as claimed by the World Zionist Organization in 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference العربية: فلسطين كما ادعت المنظمة الصهيونية العالمية عام 1919 في مؤتمر باريس للسلام.
context_page_description: The Paris Peace Conference was the formal meeting in 1919 and 1920 of the victorious Allies after the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers. Dominated by the leaders of Britain, France, the United States and Italy, it resulted in five controversial treaties that rearranged the map of Europe and imposed financial penalties. Germany and the other losing nations had no voice which gave rise to political resentments that lasted for decades.
  The conference involved diplomats from 32 countries and nationalities, and its major decisions were the creation of the League of Nations and the five peace treaties with the defeated states; the awarding of German and Ottoman overseas possessions as "mandates," chiefly to Britain and France, the imposition of reparations upon Germany, and the drawing of new national boundaries, sometimes with plebiscites, to reflect ethnic boundaries more closely.
  The main result was the Treaty of Versailles with Germany; Article 231 of the treaty placed the whole guilt for the war on "the aggression of Germany and her allies."
context_section_description: After the conference's decision to separate the former Arab provinces from the Ottoman Empire and to apply the new mandate-system to them, the World Zionist Organization submitted its draft resolutions for consideration by the conference on 3 February 1919.
  The statement included five main points:
  Recognition of the Jewish people's historic title to Palestine and their right to reconstitute their National Home there.
  Declaration of Palestine's borders were to be declared, including a request for land from the Litani River, now in Lebanon, to al-arish, now in Egypt.
  Sovereign possession of Palestine to be vested in the League of Nations with a government entrusted to the British as the League's mandatory.
  Insertion  of other provisions by the High Contracting Parties relating to the application of any general conditions attached to mandates that were suitable for Palestine.
  Additional conditions, including:
  The promotion of Jewish immigration and close settlement on the land and safeguarding rights of the present non-Jewish population
  A Jewish Council representative for the development of the Jewish National Home in Palestine, and offer to the council in priority any concession for public works or for the development of natural resources
  The self-government for localities
  Freedom of religious worship, with no discrimination in the inhabitants on citizenship and civil rights on the grounds of religion or race
  Control of the Holy Places
  However, despite those attempts to influence the conference, the Zionists were instead constrained by Article 7 of the resulting Palestine Mandate to having the mere right of obtaining Palestinian citizenship: "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."
  Citing the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the Zionists suggested it meant the British had already recognized the historic title of the Jews to Palestine. The preamble of the British Mandate of 1922 in which the Balfour Declaration was incorporated, stated, "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...."
caption: The Zionist state claimed at the conference
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