CONTENTS
♦ ♦
♦ ♦ ♦ Volume I
Introduction ……………………………………………………….…………………..……..…. i
1. Pre-Ottoman/Ottoman Era and Occupation by Allied Forces (until 1922)
Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Covenant, 636 AD ……………………………………………..……..…. 1
Letter to the Jewish Nation from the French Commander-In-Chief
Buonaparte, General Headquarters, Jerusalem, 20 April 1799 ……………………………. 2
The Blackstone Memorial, Washington, DC, 5 March 1891 …………………………………. 3
Theodore Herzl, The Jewish State, 1896 [Excerpts] …………………………………………. 5
The Basle Program, First Zionist Congress, Basle, 31 August 1897 ………………………. 9
Ahad Ha'am, Jewish State and Jewish Problem, 1897 ………………………………………. 9
Letter of Yousef Duya-Uddin (Pasha) Al-Khalidi, Mayor of Jerusalem, to the
Chief Rabbi of France, Zadok Kahn, 1899 [Excerpts] and Theodore Herzl’s
Response, 19 March 1899 ………………………………………………………………………. 18
Zionist Settlement Leader Arthur Ruppin, Address to the Jewish Colonization
Society of Vienna: ‘The Picture in 1907’, 27 February 1908 ……………..…………………. 19
Report by Zionist Activist Sami Hochberg to Victor Jacobson of the World Zionist
Organization on the Cairo and Beirut Committees Regarding Zionism, 17 May 1913
[Excerpts] …………………………………………………………………………………………. 26
Representative of the World Zionist Organization Victor Jacobson, Proposal Regarding
the Arab-Jewish Problems in Palestine, as Transmitted to Cairo by Assad Daghir, 1914 ……. 28
MacMahon-Hussein Correspondence, 1915-16 ……………………………………….
28
British Government, Message to King Hussein of the Arab Kingdom of Hedjaz
Regarding Palestinian Holy Places and Zionist Colonisation, January 1916 [Excerpts] ………. 31
The Sykes-Picot Agreement, 16 May 1916 ……………………………………….……………. 32
Successive Drafts and Final Text of the Balfour Declaration, July-November 1917 ………. 34
Memorandum of Edwin Montagu on the Anti-Semitism of the Present (British)
Government, Submitted to the British Cabinet, 23 August 1917 ……………………………. 35
Notes of a Conference Held between Jewish and Arab Leaders, Cairo, 27 March 1918 …….
37
Memorandum Drafted by the “Palestine Committee”, as Basis for Discussion
with the Zionist Commission, Cairo, April 1918 ……………………………………….………. 38
Telegram from General G.F.Clayton, Chief Political Officer of the Occupied Enemy Territory
Administration (OETA), on Chaim Weizmann’s Visit to Amir Faisal, 4 June 1918 ………….
39
Head of the Zionist Commission Chaim Weizmann, Report of his Meeting with Amir Faisal,
th
17 Meeting of the Zionist Commission, 16 June 1918 [Excerpts] …………………………. 40
Head of the Zionist Commission Chaim Weizmann, Report of his Meeting with
Amir Faisal, Carlton Hotel, London, 11 December 1918 …………………………………….
41
Head of Scheme for the Provisional Government of Palestine, Prepared by A. Ettinger, Y.
Wilkansky and V. Jabotinsky at the Eretz-Israel Conference, Jaffa, 22 December 1918 ………. 42
Agreement between Amir Faisal of the Arab Kingdom of Hedjaz and Chaim Weizmann
of the Zionist Organisation, 3 January 1919 ……………………………...……………………. 45
Tentative Report of the Intelligence Section of the American Delegation to the Paris Peace
Conference, 21 January 1919 ……………………………………………………...……………. 46
Notes of a Meeting between an Unnamed Zionist Representative and Awni Abdul Hadi
and Ahmad Qadri, Hotel Meurice, Paris, 25 January 1919 …………………………………. 47
Zionist Organization, Statement Regarding Palestine Presented to the Paris Peace
Conference (With Proposed Map of Zionist Borders), 3 February 1919 ……………………. 47
Faisal-Frankfurter Correspondence, Paris, 3 and 5 March 1919 ……………………………. 55
Statement by Anti-Zionist Jews to the Peace Conference, 4 March 1919 [Excerpts] ……. 57
Chaim Margaliyot Kalvaryski, Administrator of the Jewish Colonization Association in the
Galilee, Program for a Judeo-Arab Entente, May/June 1919 ………………………………. 59
General Syrian Congress, Memorandum to the King-Crane Commission Opposing
Jewish Migration to Palestine, 2 July 1919 ……………………………………………………. 60
Recommendations of the King-Crane Commission with Regard to Syria-Palestine
and Iraq, 28 August 1919 ……………………………………………………………………….
62
Acting Chairman of the Zionist Congress Menahem Ussishkin, Notes of a Meeting
with the Head of the Town Council of Jerusalem, Musa Kazim Al-Husseini,
8 October 1919 ……………………………………………………………………………………. 71
Memorandum of a Meeting of Zionist Representatives with Amir Faisal and
Awni Abd Al-Hadi, Carlton Hotel, London, 19 October 1919 ……………………………….
72
Agreement between Zionist Representative Yehoshua Hankin and
“The Nationalist Group in Syria and Lebanon”, 26 March 1920 …………………………….
73
The British Mandate for Palestine, San Remo Conference, 24 April 1920 ……………….
74
Government of Palestine, Immigration Ordinance, 26 August 1920 ……………………….
78
League of Nations, Interim Report on the Civil Administration of Palestine during the
Period 1 July 1920-30 June 1921, 30 July 1921 …………………………………………..…. 80
Government of Palestine, Public Notice Regarding the Admission of Immigrants
into Palestine, 1 August 1921 ………………………………………………………….……….
94
Report of the Haycraft Commission, October 1921 [Excerpts] ………………………………. 95
Proposal for an Arab-Jewish Entente: Notes of a Conference, London, 7 November 1921 … 96
Resolution Passed at the 12th Zionist Congress, Proposal for an Arab-Jewish Entente,
Carlsbad, 4 December 1921 ……………………………………………………...…………….
97
Chaim Weizmann, Letter to the Under-Secretary of State, British Colonial Office,
1 December 1921 …………………………………………………………………………………. 99
Minutes, First Meeting between a Zionist Delegation and Representatives of the
‘Executive Committee of the Congress of Parties of the Confederation of Arab Countries’,
Cairo, 18 March 1922 …………………………………………………….………………………. 99
Minutes, Second Meeting Between a Zionist Delegation and Representatives of the
‘Executive Committee of the Congress of Parties of the Confederation of Arab Countries’,
Cairo, 19 March 1922 ………………………………………………………….…………………. 101
Minutes, Third Meeting Between a Zionist Delegation and Representatives of the
‘Executive Committee of the Congress of Parties of the Confederation of Arab Countries’,
Cairo, 2 April 1922 ……………………………………………………………………….………. 102
Minutes, Fourth Meeting Between a Zionist Delegation and Representatives of the
‘Executive Committee of the Congress of Parties of the Confederation of Arab Countries’,
Cairo, 4 April 1922 …………………………………………………………...……………………. 104
The British White Paper (“Churchill White Paper”): British Policy in Palestine,
3 June 1922 ………………………………………………………………………………………. 104
British Colonial Secretary Winston S. Churchill, Speech on "Zionism and Palestine,”
4 July 1922 [Excerpts] ……………………………………………..…………………………….
107
Council of the League of Nations, Confirmed Text on the Terms of the British Mandate,
24 July 1922 ………………………………………………………………………………………. 109
The Palestine Order in Council, London, 10 August 1922 ………………………………….
113
Summary of a Meeting Between the Syro-Palestine Delegation and Asher Saphir on a
General Understanding between Arabs and Jews, 7-8 September 1922 …………………. 137
US Congress, Endorsement of the Balfour Declaration: Public Resolution No. 73,
th
nd
67 Congress, 2 Session, 21 September 1922 …………………………………..……….
138
Chairman of the Palestine Zionist Executive Colonel Frederick Herman Kisch, Letter to
Zionist Executive Secretary Leonard Stein, London, 12 December 1922 [Excerpts] ………. 138
United Kingdom: Report on Palestine Administration 1922 to the League of Nations,
31 December 1922 ………………………………………………………………………………. 139
2. British Mandate Era and the UN Partition Plan (1923-1947) ………….
143
Chairman of the Palestine Zionist Executive Colonel Frederick H. Kisch, Note of a
Conversation with Musa Kazim Al-Husseini, Jerusalem, 23 October 1923 ……………….
143
Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld and Dr. Ya’akov Yisrael Dehaan, Letter to
King Hussein of Transjordan, 20 February 1924 …………………………………..……….
144
President of the World Zionist Organization Chaim Weizmann, Report on Meetings
with King Faisal of Iraq, 6 October 1925 …………………………………………….……….
145
Government of Palestine, Immigration Ordinance, 1925 …………………………..……….
146
Executive Committee of the Palestine Arab Congress, Letter to the Permanent
Mandates Commission, Jerusalem, 9 May 1926 ………………………………..…..………. 146
British Government's White Paper, November 1928 [Excerpts] …………………….………. 148
Letter from British Arabist John Philby to Colonial Secretary Lord Passfield,
Damascus, 21 October 1929 ……………………………………………………….....……….
149
Arab Draft of Points on Palestine, Presented to John Philby, Damascus,
21 October 1929 …………………………………..……………………………………….……. 150
Dr. Judah L. Magnes. President of the Hebrew University, Proposal for an Arab-Jewish
Understanding in Palestine, October 1929 …………………………………………..……….
150
Letter from John Philby to Colonial Secretary Lord Passfield, Cairo, 1 November 1929 …. 152
King Faisal of Iraq, Letter to the Acting High Commissioner for Iraq Proposing a
Solution to the Palestine Problem, Baghdad, 8 December 1929 [Excerpts] ………..………. 154
Report of the Commission on the Palestine Disturbances of August 1929
(Shaw Commission), March 1930 [Excerpts] ……………………..…………………..………. 155
Suggestions by H.M. Kalvaryski of the Jewish Colonization Association for a
Platform for a Judaeo-Arab Accord, 4 August 1930 [Excerpts] ……………………..………. 158
Palestine - Report on Immigration, Land Settlement and Development by Sir John Hope
Simpson, Presented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to Parliament by Command
of His Majesty, 1 October 1930 (Publicized 21 October 1930) [Excerpts] …………..………. 160
Statement of Policy by His Majesty's Government, Presented by the Secretary of State
for the Colonies to Parliament by Command of his Majesty - The “Passfield” White Paper,
United Kingdom, 1 October 1930 ……………………………………………………..………. 258
Report of the Commission Appointed by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with the Approval of the Council of the League of
Nations, to Determine the Rights and Claims of Muslims and Jews in Connection with the
Western or Wailing Wall at Jerusalem, December 1930 [Excerpts] ………………..………. 271
British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, Letter to Chaim Weizmann,
President of the World Zionist Organization, (“Black Letter”), 13 February 1931 …………. 277
Report by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland to the Council of the League of Nations on the Administration of Palestine and
Transjordan for the Year 1931, 31 December 1931 …………………………………..………. 281
Memorandum by Dr. Victor Jacobson, Member of the Zionist Executive,
Proposing a “Territorial Solution”, January 1932 [Excerpts] …………………………..………. 299
Secretary of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency, Moshe Shertok,
Note of a Meeting between Dr. Haim Arlosoroff, Head of the Political Department,
and Awni Abd Al-Hadi, 12 February 1932 ……………………………………….…..……….
301
Notes of a Conference between Emmanuel Neumann and Herschel Farbstein of the
Jewish Agency Executive and Amir Abdallah of Transjordan, 27 November 1932 ………. 303
Accounts of a Meeting between David Ben-Gurion and Musa Al-Alami, March 1934 ……. 304
Accounts of a Meeting between David Ben-Gurion and President of the Palestinian
Istiqlal Party, Awni Abd Al-Hadi, 18 July 1934 ……………………………………………….
306
Ahmad Salih Al-Khalidi, Principal of the Government Arab College, Proposal for
Cantonization and Formation of an Arab and Jewish State, July 1934 ……………………. 309
Accounts of a Meeting between David Ben-Gurion and Ihsan Al-Jabiri and Amir Shakib
Arslan of the Syro-Palestinian Committee in Geneva, 23 September 1934 ………………. 311
Fatwa from the Religious Scholars of Palestine Regarding Selling of the Lands to Jews,
26 January 1935 ………………………………………………………………………..……….
314
Notes of a Talk Between Moshe Shertok, Head of the Political Department of the Jewish
Agency, and Amir Abdallah of Jordan, Amman, 11 July 1935 …………………………..…. 316
Mandatory High Court Judge Gad Frumkin, Proposal for a Draft Arab-Jewish Agreement,
May 1936 ………………………………………………………………………………...………. 317
Dr. Bernard Joseph, Legal Adviser to the Jewish Agency, Note of a Talk with Musa
Al-Alami, Secretary General of the Legal Department in Jerusalem, 28 May 1936 …..…. 319
Proposal for an Arab-Zionist Agreement, Submitted by “The Group of Five” to the
Jewish Agency Executive, 1 June 1936 …………………………………..…………..………. 322
Pinhas Rutenberg, Founder of the Palestine Electric Corporation, Proposal for the
Development of Transjordan through Jewish-Arab Collaboration, 12 July 1936 …………. 323
Minutes of a Meeting between Representatives of the Jewish Agency and the Arab
National Bloc of Syria, Bludan, 1 August 1936 …………………………………..…..………. 323
Head of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency, Moshe Shertok, Report of a
Talk with Iraqi Foreign Minister Nuri As-Sa’id, 21 August 1936 [Excerpts] ………….…….
326
Sir Herbert Samuel, Draft Proposal on Palestine, 8 September 1936 ……………..………. 328
Vladimir Jabotinsky, Evidence Submitted to the Palestine Royal (”Peel”) Commission,
House of Lords, London, 11 February 1937 [Excerpts] ……………………………..……….
329
Head of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency, Moshe Shertok, Report of
Meeting with the Secretary-General of the Arab Higher Committee, Awni Abd Al-Hadi,
23 April 1937 …………………………………………….............................................………. 331
Summary Report of the Palestine Royal Commission (“Peel Commission”), Presented by
the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the United Kingdom Parliament, 7 July 1937 …. 332
Norman Bentwich, Notes of a Talk with Jamal Husseini on Arab-Jewish Negotiations,
London, 14 July 1937 …………………………………………………………………..……….
351
Report of a Conversation of Col H. R. P. Dickson with King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud
of Saudi Arabia, 28 October 1937 …………………………………..…………………..……. 352
The “Hyamson-Newcombe” Scheme - Draft Bases for Discussion, 1937-38 …………….
355
Amir Abdallah, Proposal for the Solution of the Palestine Problem Submitted to the
Woodhead Commission, May 1938 ………………………………….………………..………. 357
Chaim Weizmann, Summary of an Interview with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tawfiq
As-Suwaidi, London, 6 October 1938 ………………………………….……………..………. 357
Palestine Partition Commission (“Woodhead Commission”) - Note of Reservations by
Thomas Reid on the Plans for the Partition of Palestine 1938, 19 October 1938 [Excerpts] ... 358
Palestine Partition Commission (“Woodhead Commission”) - British Policy Statement
against Partition, November 1938 …………………………………………….………..………. 360
Minutes of Secretary Malcolm MacDonald’s Statements at the Saint James Conference,
London, 14 February 1939 [Excerpts] ………………………………………………...……….
361
Official Minutes from the Informal Discussions between Arab and Jewish Delegates,
St. James’s Conference, London, 23 February 1939 ………………………………..………. 362
Official Minutes from the Informal Discussion between Arab and Jewish Delegates,
St. James’s Conference, London, 7 March 1939 …………………………………….………. 366
Chaim Weizmann, Note to British Colonial Secretary MacDonald,
10 March 1939 [Excerpts] …………………………………..……………………………………. 368
The British White Paper (“MacDonald White Paper”), 17 May 1939 ……………………….
369
The Zionist Reaction to the White Paper: Statement by the Jewish Agency for
Palestine, 1939 …………………………………………………………………………..………. 376
Declaration Adopted by the Extraordinary Zionist Conference, Biltmore Hotel,
New York, 11 May 1942 …………………………………………………………………………. 377
British War Cabinet, Memorandum by the Secretary of State for the Colonies on the
Situation in Palestine, 23 November 1944 ……………………………………………..………. 378
Pact of the Arab League of States, Annex Relating to Palestine, 22 March 1945 [Excerpts] ... 380
US President Roosevelt, Letter to King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia
Regarding the Palestine Problem, 5 April 1945 ……………………………………...……….
381
The Arab Case for Palestine: Evidence Submitted by the Arab Office, Jerusalem,
to the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, March 1946 ………………..………..……….
381
The Zionist Case: Golda Meir, Testimony before the Anglo-American Committee of
Inquiry, Jerusalem, 25 March 1946 ………………………………….………………..……….
387
Report of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, Lausanne, 20 April 1946 ……………. 388
British Cabinet Minutes, CM (46) 60th Conclusions, London, 20 June 1946 [Excerpts] …. 444
Memorandum by the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the State-War-Navy Coordinating
Committee, Washington, DC, 21 June 1946 ………………………………………………….
446
British Cabinet Minutes, CM (46) 72nd Conclusions, London, 23 July 1946 ……………….
447
th
British Cabinet Minutes, CM (46) 75 Conclusion, London, 30 July 1946 …………………. 450
Summary of the Morrison-Grady Plan, July 1946 …………………………………..……….
451
Head of the Arab Department of the Jewish Agency Eliyahu Sasson, Report on
Jewish Agency Contacts with Egyptian Leaders, Cairo, 9 August 1946 …………..………. 452
Brigadier Iltyd N. Clayton on Notes Allegedly Delivered by Jewish Agency Sources in
Jerusalem to Egyptian Prime Minister Isma’il Sidqi, 13 August 1946 ………………………. 453
Head of the Arab Department of the Jewish Agency Eliyahu Sasson, Reports of Meeting
with King Abdallah at Shuneh, 12 and 19 August 1946 [Excerpts] ………………..……….
454
Telegram Sent by British Prime Minister Attlee to US President Truman, 18 August 1946 .. 457
Jewish Agency Political Department, Summary of Talks in Egypt, 29 August 1946 ………. 457
Arab States Delegations to the Palestine Conference, Constitutional Proposals,
London, 30 September 1946 …………………………………..………………………….……. 458
Telegram Sent by US President Truman to British Prime Minister Attlee, US State
Department, Washington, Dc, 3 October 1946 ………………………………….…..……….
460
Immigration into Palestine - Statement by US President Truman, 4 October 1946 ………. 461
Telegram Sent by US President Truman to British Prime Minister Attlee, US State
Department, Washington, Dc, 10 October 1946 ……………………………………..……….
463
High Commissioner for Palestine, Sir Alan G. Cunningham, Memorandum to the
Secretary of State for Colonies, Arthur Creech Jones, Comparing the Treatment of
Arabs and Jews during the Disturbances of 1936-39, 1945 and Subsequent Years,
19 June 1947 ……………………………………………………………………..………..………. 464
Summary of the Report of the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP)
Regarding The Partition Plan, 31 August 1947 ……………………………………...……….
467
UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), Recommendations to the UN General
Assembly, 3 September 1947 ………………………………………………………….……….
469
Abba S. Eban, UNSCOP Liaison Officer, Note of a Conversation with Arab League
Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha, London, 15 September 1947 …………. 496
Arab Higher Committee Member Jamal Bey Husseini, Statement Before the Ad Hoc
Committee on the Palestine Question on Arab Reactions to the UNSCOP Proposals,
29 September 1947 …………………………………………………………………….....………. 498
US Department of State, Memorandum on US Policy at the United Nations,
30 September 1947 ……………………………………………...……………………..……….
500
Chairman of the Jewish Agency David Ben-Gurion, Statement to the Elected Assembly
of Palestine Jewry, 2 October 1947 ………………………………………………….……….
500
US Deputy Representative to the UN Herschel V. Johnson, Statement, on the US
Position Regarding the Palestine Question, 11 October 1947 …..………………..………. 505
Ezra Danin, Report of a Secret Meeting Between Golda Meyerson, Acting Head of the
Political Department of the Jewish Agency, and King Abdullah of Jordan, Naharayim,
17 November 1947 [Excerpts] ……………………………………………………….…..………. 507
UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), Report to the UN General Assembly,
November 1947 [Excerpts] ………………………………………………………………………. 508
UN General Assembly Resolution 181 on the Future Government of Palestine
(Partition Plan), 29 November 1947 …………………………………………………..………. 529
Speech by British Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech Jones, House of Commons,
London, 11 December 1947 [Excerpts] …………………………………..……………..…….
543
Map Annex …………………………………………………………………………………...…. 545