Draft Mandates for Mesopotamia and Palestine, as Submitted for the Approval of the League of Nations. Presented to Parliament by Command of his Majesty.

The Mandatory system was established after World War I by the Treaty of Versailles in implementation of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations: “[For] the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as [certain communities formally belonging to the Turkish Empire] are able to stand alone.” The administration of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) and Palestine (modern-day Israel) was assigned to Great Britain at San Remo on April 25th, 1920. Submitted by Lord Balfour to the Secretariat-General of the League of Nations for approval of the Council on December 7, 1920, the Draft Mandate for Palestine differed from that of other former Turkish provinces in that its primary purpose was, “for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty [The Balfour Declaration]…in favor of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” (p.5). According to Article 2 of the Draft Mandate, “The Mandatory shall be responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish National Home” (ibid.) All the responsibilities, objectives and administrative powers of the British Mandatory are outlined in this Draft Mandate. It was ratified by the Council of the League of Nations on June 24th, 1922, thus beginning an arduous period in the Zionist struggle for independence.