867N.01/8–344: Telegram in Syria
The First Secretary of Legation in Syria (Satterthwaite) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5:08 p.m.]
17. Prime Minister Jabri (in the absence of the Foreign Minister) sent for me this morning to express verbally and in a friendly manner the anxiety and even provocation which the statements on Palestine in the Democratic and Republican Party platforms have caused in Syria. Remarking that these statements have been a blow to American prestige here he mentioned the especially high esteem in which the United States has been held in this country since the days of the King-Crane Commission3 as expressed at that time in the overwhelming vote for an American mandate. He also mentioned the close cultural relations between our two countries; the moral as well as material interest which the United States has in maintaining Syria’s friendship; the fact that Syrians have been at the forefront of Arab movement; and in conjunction with our petroleum policy Syria’s very close friendship with Saudi Arabia. He likewise reviewed the familiar arguments regarding Arab rights in Palestine including that of the comparable justice of giving the United States back to the Indians.
The Prime Minister asked me to transmit the views of his Government to my Government which I said I would be glad to do notwithstanding the fact that the party platforms were unofficial and could not be considered as an expression of American policy. He said he was aware of this and was for that reason making a verbal rather than a written protest.
- The American Section of the International Commission on Mandates in Turkey organized by the Paris Peace Conference in 1919; for correspondence relating to the Commission and the report of the American Section, see Foreign Relations, The Paris Peace Conference, vol. xii, pp. 745 ff.↩