Papers on British policy and the Arab movement [‎126r] (255/380)

elso undertook not to ocquire, or to oonsent to
a third party acquiring, any possessions in the
i.rehian Peninsula and not to cede to any but the
Arab State our righto in the rod area in return
for a similar assurance on the pert of France,
undertook not to push the Baghdad kailway in area
"B” north oi Sernarra until the completion of a
railway from Baghdad to Aloppo, and then only with
the concurrence of Franco. In return France pro
mised on similar conditions not to extend the rai3.~
v/cy in area "A’ T south of Mosul,
(viii) The existing Turkish customs tariff was to remain in
force throughout the red and blue areas for a
period of twenty years.
3. By the Decision of the Paris Economic Conference
(17th June, 1017), whereby we undertook —
!} To prohibit ell trading with the enemy during the war.
ii) To refuse most-favoured-nation treatment to the enemy
and to subject his commerce to a special regime
during a period to be fixed.
iii) Tc reserve for .allies essential raw materials.
iv) lonerally to develop Inter-Allied trade to the detri
ment of the enemy.
4< By the resolutions of the Conference (Peris, October
1917), whereby the so-called policy of the bl oc was decided upon,
i.e. enemy private property and interests irf Allied or ocoupied
territory at the end of the war is to be held as a pledge for
Allied private property in enemy or enemy-occupied territory.
5. Apart from the above contractual obligations, we havo
made several official statements pledging ourselves to the evacua
tion of northern France end the cession of Alsace-Lorraine, e.g.
Lord h.Cecil in the House of Commons, loth Hovemoer, 1917: "The
restitution of Alsace-Lorraine was a well-understood war aim from
the moment we entered the war" (and o f, Prime Minister to Trades
Unions Delegates, 5th January, 1918).
6 . In addition to the above, there ere two agreements at
present under negotiation with France which may shortly be com
pleted:—
(a.) A Supplementary Agreement is being negotiated
whereby v/o would recognise that the Holy Places
of Arabia and their immediate vicinity are open
to foreign enterprise, the French recognising in
return our predominant interests in the rest of
Arabic.
(b) Discussions'are proceeding for a mutual agreement by
which in substance Franco will recognise for us a
free hand in Egypt, end we for them a free hand in
Morocco.
(vi) l;e
(vii) Vo
TO ITALY
We ere bound —
1. By the Pact of London (see under Franco (i)).
2. By the Italian Agreement of the. 26th April, 1915,
whereby we pledged ourselves, subject to Italy employing the
totality of her forces against all our enemies ( a'condition v/hich
has technically not been obsorvod), that —
(v) And abolish the right's.,retained by the Sultan of