Legal Aspects of the Middle East Situation

Abstract

The Middle Eastern problem which led to six-day war in June, 1968, began in I9I5 when Turkey entered World War I as an ally of Germany, and Allies in order to gain Arab support decided to end Turkish rule in Arab countries. By MacMahon agreement of I9I5 with Sharif Husayn of Mecca,l British promised to recognize independence of Arab states in Middle East; but by Sykes-Picot agreement with France2 in same year, they promised to recognize a French sphere in Syria and Lebanon along with a British sphere in Iraq and Palestine (including Trans-Jordan), and by Balfour Declaration of November 2, I9I7,3 they promised a national home for Jewish people in Palestine. The Treaty of Versailles included League of Nations Covenant, which provided in article dealing with mandates (article 22), that Certain communities formerly belonging to Turkish Empire should be provisionally recognized [as independent nations] subject to rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. It further provided that the wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration in selection of Mandatory. Even before peace was finally made with Turkey by Treaty of Lausanne in 1924, League of Nations Council confirmed Middle Eastern mandates4 which Allied powers had assigned in San Remo Conference of April, 1920, in accord with Sykes-Picot agreement, without regard to wishes of inhabitants. These wishes had been indicated in suppressed report of King-Crane Mission sent to area by President Wilson.6 The Arab countries accepted mandatories without enthusiasm. In Palestine