On 3 January 1919, in London, Emir Faisal ibn Hussein, acting on behalf of the Arab Kingdom of Hejaz, and Chaim Weizmann, on behalf of the Zionist Organization, signed a nine-article agreement. The text reads “Given under our hand at London, England”. Faisal added, in Arabic beside his signature, a reservation translated by T. E. Lawrence: he would concur in the articles if the Arabs obtained their independence as demanded in his memorandum to the Foreign Office (the reservation cites 4 January 1919); if the slightest modification or departure were made, the agreement would be deemed void. Weizmann signed in English.

The preamble invokes the ancient bonds between the Arabs and the Jewish people and the closest possible collaboration in the development of the Arab State and Palestine. Article I: relations between the Arab State and Palestine shall be controlled by the most cordial goodwill; Arab and Jewish duly accredited agents shall be established and maintained in their respective territories. Article II: immediately after the Peace Conference, the definite boundaries between the Arab State and Palestine shall be determined by a commission agreed by the parties.

Article III: in establishing the constitution and administration of Palestine, all such measures shall be adopted as will afford the fullest guarantees for carrying into effect the British Government’s Declaration of 2 November 1917. Article IV: measures to encourage immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale and settlement on the land through intensive cultivation; Arab peasant and tenant farmers shall be protected in their rights and assisted in their economic development. This is not a handbook of colonization. Article V: no law shall interfere with the free exercise of religion; no religious test for civil or political rights. Article VI: the Mohammedan Holy Places shall be under Mohammedan control.

Article VII: the Zionist Organization proposes a commission of experts to survey the economic possibilities of Palestine and places the same commission at the disposal of the Arab State for a like survey; it will use its best efforts to assist the Arab State in developing natural resources. Article VIII: the parties agree to act in complete accord before the Peace Congress. Article IX: disputes shall be referred to the British Government for arbitration.

The instrument is an agreement between a representative of Hejaz and the president of the Zionist Organization, not a treaty between two states recognized as equals by the Peace Conference. The Zionist delegation later submitted it at Paris. The Arabic reservation forms part of the signature page.

The later fate of the mandate is not set out here. The photograph of the signature page is not reproduced as text.

Signature page of the agreement, with Faisal’s Arabic reservation and Lawrence’s translation. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

For context: Faisal–Weizmann agreement. The text: TEXT OF THE FAISAL-WEIZMANN AGREEMENT.