Summary
The post-First World War international body under whose auspices Britain and France held the Arab mandates as trusteeships, in Banko’s account propagating the principle of nationality — the concept of states as and for certain nations; its Permanent Mandates Committee visualised the Arab mandates as states-to-be for certain ‘nations’ (The Invention of Palestinian Citizenship, 1918–1947, PDF p.14 / printed p.3).
Details
- The League Covenant, approved in 1919, noted that Greater Syria (Bilād al-Sham) and Mesopotamia needed some form of trusteeship to foster self-governing institutions before complete sovereignty could be granted (PDF p.14 / printed p.3).
- The League propagated the principle of nationality; its Permanent Mandates Committee visualised the Arab mandates as states-to-be for certain ‘nations’, and the Allies divided the territories detached from the Ottoman Empire with the promise to hand them over as sovereign states-in-the-making to the nationality forming the majority in each (PDF p.14 / printed p.3).
- Susan Pedersen is cited for the argument that the League’s mandate system served as a discursive arena rather than one of practical political action; the League sidelined opinions from nationalist movements and representatives of the former Ottoman territories (PDF p.39 / printed p.28).
- The League did not state whether authority in Palestine came from the League, the Cabinet, Parliament, the king or an international treaty, and did not make clear the procedures through which Britain could administer the mandated territories (PDF p.45 / printed p.34).
- Lord Robert Cecil, head of the British delegation to the League and president of the League of Nations Union, stated in 1919 his opposition to any League interference with future administrative decisions made by mandate governments (PDF p.41 / printed p.30).
- The League’s Mandate Section was directed by William Rappard, who supervised the day-to-day running of the Permanent Mandates Commission and collected data on the proposed mandates (PDF p.41 / printed p.30).
Related pages
The Invention of Palestinian Citizenship, 1918–1947, Permanent Mandates Commission, Treaty of Lausanne, Treaty of Sèvres