Office of the Historian
  1. Home
  2. Historical Documents
  3. Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1940, The British Commonwealth, The Soviet Union, The Near East and Africa, Volume III
  4. Document 642

740.0011 European War 1939/4255: Telegram

The Minister Resident in Iraq (Knabenshue) to the Secretary of State

Baghdad, June 28, 1940—1 p.m.
[Received 5 p.m.]

59. I am reliably informed that the Iraqi Prime Minister, following the oriental custom of using a third party intermediary, informally communicated to the British Ambassador that if Great Britain wants Iraq to state her position more clearly and to act in accordance with British ideas, the Iraqi Government is prepared to do so on the following conditions:

1.
Syria to have complete independence.
2.
The immediate implementation of the White Paper on Palestine,5 calling for an Arab state with a fixed Jewish minority.
3.
Great Britain should furnish Iraq at once with the arms which Iraq’s new position would make necessary, in sufficient quantities and not “in driblets”.

Knabenshue
  1. British Cmd. 6019: Palestine, Statement of Policy, May 1939.↩