A Durable Peace (62 page)

The privileges and immunities of foreigners, including the benefits of consular jurisdiction and protection as formerly enjoyed
by Capitulation or usage in the Ottoman Empire, shall not be applicable in Palestine.

Unless the Powers whose nationals enjoyed the afore-mentioned privileges and immunities on August 1st, 1914, shall have previously
renounced the right to their re-establishment, or shall have agreed to their non-application for a specified period, these
privileges and immunities shall, at the expiration of the mandate, be immediately re-established in their entirety or with
such modifications as may have been agreed upon between the Powers concerned.

The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing that the judicial system established in Palestine shall assure to foreigners,
as well as to natives, a complete guarantee of their rights.

Respect for the personal status of the various people and communities and for their religious interests shall be fully guaranteed.
In particular, the control and administration of Wakfs shall be exercised in accordance with religious law and the dispositions
of the founders.

Pending the making of special extradition agreements relating to Palestine, the extradition treaties in force between the
Mandatory and other foreign Powers shall apply to Palestine.

The Administration of Palestine shall take all necessary measures to safeguard the interests of the community in connection
with the development of the country, and, subject to any international obligations accepted by the Mandatory, shall have full
power to provide for public ownership or control of any of the natural resources of the country or of the public works, services
and utilities established or to be established therein. It shall introduce a land system appropriate to the needs of the country,
having regard, among other things, to the desirability of promoting the close settlement and intensive cultivation of the
land.

The Administration may arrange with the Jewish agency mentioned in Article 4 to construct or operate, upon fair and equitable
terms, any public works, services and utilities, and to develop any of the natural resources of the country, in so far as
these matters are not directly undertaken by the Administration. Any such arrangements shall provide that no profits distributed
by such agency, directly or indirectly, shall exceed a reasonable rate of interest on the capital, and any further profits
shall be utilised by it for the benefit of the country in a manner approved by the Administration.

The Mandatory shall be entrusted with the control of the foreign relations of Palestine and the right to issue exequaturs
to consuls appointed by foreign Powers. He shall also be entitled to afford diplomatic and consular protection to citizens
of Palestine when outside its territorial limits.

All responsibility in connection with the Holy Places and religious buildings or sites in Palestine, including that of preserving
existing rights and of securing free access to the Holy Places, religious buildings and sites and the free exercise of worship,
while ensuring the requirements of public order and decorum, is assumed by the Mandatory, who shall be responsible solely
to the League of Nations in all matters connected herewith, provided that nothing in this article shall prevent the Mandatory
from entering into such arrangements as he may deem reasonable with the Administration for the purpose of carrying the provisions
of this article into effect; and provided also that nothing in this mandate shall
be construed as conferring upon the Mandatory authority to interfere with the fabric or the management of purely Moslem sacred
shrines, the immunities of which are guaranteed.

A special Commission shall be appointed by the Mandatory to study, define and determine the rights and claims in connection
with the Holy Places and the rights and claims relating to the different religious communities in Palestine. The method of
nomination, the composition and the functions of this Commission shall be submitted to the Council of the League for its approval,
and the Commission shall not be appointed or enter upon its functions without the approval of the Council.

The Mandatory shall see that complete freedom of conscience and the free exercise of all forms of worship, subject only to
the maintenance of public order and morals, are ensured to all. No discrimination of any kind shall be made between the inhabitants
of Palestine on the ground of race, religion or language. No person shall be excluded from Palestine on the sole ground of
his religious belief.

The right of each community to maintain its own schools for the education of its own members in its own language, while conforming
to such educational requirements of a general nature as the Administration may impose, shall not be denied or impaired.

The Mandatory shall be responsible for exercising such supervision over religious or eleemosynary bodies of all faiths in
Palestine as may be required for the maintenance of public order and good government. Subject to such supervision, no measures
shall be taken in Palestine to obstruct or interfere with the enterprise of such bodies or to discriminate against any representative
or member of them on the ground of his religion or nationality.

The Administration of Palestine may organise on a voluntary basis the forces necessary for the preservation of peace and order,
and also for the defence of the country, subject, however, to the supervision of the Mandatory, but shall not use them for
purposes other than those above specified save with the consent of the Mandatory. Except for such purposes, no military, naval
or air forces shall be raised or maintained by the Administration of Palestine.

Nothing in this article shall preclude the Administration of Palestine from contributing to the cost of the maintenance of
the forces of the Mandatory in Palestine.

The Mandatory shall be entitled at all times to use the roads, railways and ports of Palestine for the movement of armed forces
and the carriage of fuel and supplies.

The Mandatory shall see that there is no discrimination in Palestine against the nationals of any State Member of the League
of Nations (including companies incorporated under its laws) as compared with those of the Mandatory or of any foreign State
in matters concerning taxation, commerce or navigation, the exercise of industries or professions, or in the treatment of
merchant vessels or civil aircraft. Similarly, there shall be no discrimination in Palestine against goods originating in
or destined for any of the said States, and there shall be freedom of transit under equitable conditions across the mandated
area.

Subject as aforesaid and to the other provisions of this mandate, the Administration of Palestine may, on the advice of the
Mandatory, impose such taxes and customs duties as it may consider necessary, and take such steps as it may think best to
promote the development of the natural resources of the country and to safeguard the interests of the population. It may also,
on the advice of the Mandatory, conclude a special customs agreement with any State the territory of which in 1914 was wholly
included in Asiatic Turkey or Arabia.

The Mandatory shall adhere on behalf of the Administration of Palestine to any general international conventions already existing,
or which may be concluded hereafter with the approval of the League of Nations, respecting the slave traffic, the traffic
in arms and ammunition, or the traffic in drugs, or relating to commercial equality, freedom of transit and navigation, aerial
navigation and postal, telegraphic and wireless communication or literary, artistic or industrial property.

The Mandatory shall co-operate on behalf of the Administration of Palestine, so far as religious, social and other conditions
may permit, in the execution of any common policy adopted by the League of Nations for preventing and combating disease, including
diseases of plants and animals.

The Mandatory shall secure the enactment within twelve months from this date, and shall ensure the execution of a Law of Antiquities
based on the following rules. This law shall ensure equality of treatment in the matter of excavations and archaeological
research to the nationals of all States Members of the League of Nations; (1) “Antiquity” means any construction or any product
of human activity earlier than the year 1700; (2) The law for the protection of antiquities shall proceed by encouragement
rather than by threat. Any person who, having discovered an antiquity without being furnished with the authorisation referred
to in paragraph 5, reports the same to an official of the competent Department, shall be rewarded according to the value of
the discovery; (3) No antiquity may be disposed of except to the competent Department, unless this Department renounces the
acquisition of any such antiquity. No antiquity may leave the country without an export licence from the said Department;
(4) Any person who maliciously or negligently destroys or damages an antiquity shall be liable to a penalty to be fixed; (5)
No clearing of ground or digging with the object of finding antiquities shall be permitted, under penalty of fine, except
to persons authorised by the competent Department; (6) Equitable terms shall be fixed for expropriation, temporary or permanent,
of lands which might be of historical or archaeological interest; (7) Authorisation to excavate shall only be granted to persons
who show sufficient guarantees of archaeological experience. The Administration of Palestine shall not, in granting these
authorisations, act in such a way as to exclude scholars of any nation without good grounds; (8) The proceeds of excavations
may be divided between the excavator and the competent Department in a proportion fixed by that Department. If division seems
impossible for scientific reasons, the excavator shall receive a fair indemnity in lieu of a part of the find.

English, Arabic and Hebrew shall be the official languages of Palestine. Any statement or inscription in Arabic on stamps
or money in Palestine shall be repeated in Hebrew and any statement or inscription in Hebrew shall be repeated in Arabic.

The Administration of Palestine shall recognise the holy days of the respective communities in Palestine as legal days of
rest for the members of such communities.

The Mandatory shall make to the Council of the League of Nations an annual report to the satisfaction of the Council as to
the measures taken during the year to carry out the provisions of the mandate. Copies of all laws and regulations promulgated
or issued during the year shall be communicated with the report.

In the territories lying between the Jordan and the eastern boundary of Palestine as ultimately determined, the Mandatory
shall be entitled, with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations, to postpone or withhold application of such provisions
of this mandate as he may consider inapplicable to the existing local conditions, and to make such provision for the administration
of the territories as he may consider suitable to those conditions, provided that no action shall be taken which is inconsistent
with the provisions of Articles 15, 16, and 18.

The Mandatory agrees that, if any dispute whatever should arise between the Mandatory and another Member of the League of
Nations relating to the interpretation or the application of the provisions of the mandate, such dispute, if it cannot be
settled by negotiation, shall be submitted to the Permanent Court of International Justice provided for by Article 14 of the
Covenant of the League of Nations.

The consent of the Council of the League of Nations is required for any modification of the terms of this mandate.

In the event of the termination of the mandate hereby conferred upon the Mandatory, the Council of the League of Nations shall
make such arrangements as may be deemed necessary for safeguarding in perpetuity, under guarantee of the League, the rights
secured by Articles 13 and 14, and shall use its influence for securing, under the guarantee of the League, that the Government
of Palestine will fully honour the financial obligations legitimately incurred by the Administration of Palestine during the
period of the mandate, including the rights of public servants to pensions or gratuities.

The present instrument shall be deposited in original in the archives of the League of Nations and certified copies shall
be forwarded by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations to all Members of the League.

Done at London the twenty-fourth day of July, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-two.

S
ECRETARY
-G
ENERAL
.