Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1941, The British Commonwealth; The Near East and Africa, Volume III

740.0011 European War 1939/11719: Telegram

The Consul General at Beirut (Engert) to the Secretary of State

Beirut, June 6, 1941—4 p.m.
[Received 10:05 p.m.]

193. The following is the substance of note dated today which the French High Commissioner requests me to transmit to the British authorities of Palestine and Transjordan:

Referring to paragraph 2 of article V of the Paulet–Newcombe agreement of December 23, 1920,⁸⁰ fixing the Palestine frontier between the Mediterranean and El Hammeh and guaranteeing the British Government at all times the right to pass its troops along the stretch of railroad from Nassib to Samakh situated in Syrian territory, the High Commissioner finds himself obligated in view of present circumstances to suspend until further order all transit of military personnel or equipment over the line in question.

I am orally informed that there is no objection to the passage of non-military supplies.

Engert

80. This is not a reference to the Paulet–Newcombe agreement but to the Franco-British Convention on certain points connected with the Mandates for Syria and the Lebanon, Palestine, and Mesopotamia, signed at Paris, December 23, 1920, League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. xxii, p. 355. For text of the Report of the Paulet–Newcombe Boundary Commission, dated February 3, 1920, see ibid., p. 366.