Coll 6/17 'Syria: Political situation in Syria' [‎59r] (117/180)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
EASTERN (Syria).
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March 1, 1932.
CONFIDENTIAL.
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Section 2.
L IS52 J
E 1046/171/89]
No. 1. ~
Consul Hole to Sir John Simon.—{Received March 1.)
(No. 17. Confidential.)
^ ir ’ „ Damascus, February 11, 1932.
W ITH reference to my despatch No. 7 of the 4th January, I have the honour
to transmit a summary report on political events since that date.
2. Ihe military dispositions reported in paragraph 2 of my despatch under
reference were not relaxed till about a fortnight later, in consequence of a strike
oi students and schoolchildren, declared on the 10th January in protest against
the imprisonment of a number of secondary schoolboys for participation in the
disturbances of the 20th December. Ihe strike lasted till the 26th January, when
it was settled by the Educational Adviser to the High Commissioner, who
persuaded the truants to return to their desks. He gave the impression that there
would be no reprisals, but a number of ringleaders, mostly under eighteen years
of age, have now been sentenced to several weeks of imprisonment.
3. strong pickets of Senegalese with steel helmets were posted at strategic
points to provide against demonstrations.
4. The question of minorities has been the occasion of much ink-spilling
during the period under review, the action of His Majesty s. Government in
recommending- the admission of Iraq to the League of Nations aroused violent
protestations in the local French press and in particular the Beirut “ Orient,”
w hich published an appeal to the Syrian Christian and Jewish voters to ensure the
election of a Government which would protect them from the fate of the minorities
in Iraq ? which His Majesty’s Government was abandoning to massacre.
5. It has always been the policy of the mandatory Power to stress any
differences between Moslems and Christians in Syria, and the Nationalist party
have consequently striven to assert the complete union of all religious communities
in the ties of patriotism. In the heated discussions that broke out in the press a
sharp divergence of opinion became evident in the front ranks of the Nationalists,
voiced by the editor of the “ Qabas ” and the Christian leader, Faiz-el-Khoury!
As soon, however, as they perceived that they were playing into the hands of their
adversaries they hastened to heal the breach.
6. No date has yet been announced for the elections to be held at Damascus,
Hama, Daraya and Domna, nor has the Nationalist party decided whether or not
to present candidates. Although it is probable that the Nationalists would secure
the w'hole of the seats if the elections are free, these would only amount to twenty-
two in a Chamber of sixty-eight members. Councils are divided as to whether it
is tetter to be an articulate but impotent Opposition or to boycott the elections
altogether.
7. M. Ponsot's excursion into activity has been unfortunately conducted.
During my stay in Paris last year I gathered that the Quai d'Orsay was as anxious
to settle the Syrian question as M. Ponsot to obtain a more comfortable Embassy,
and that they were in agreement that a Syrian Chamber should be elected t
conclude a treaty that would enable France to look forward to withdrawal fron
the State of Syria and a corresponding reduction in the unpopular expenditure
entailed by that portion of the mandate. This project coincided very closely with
the desires of the politically-minded circles of Syria and even with those 'of the
Nationalist party, whose views had been profoundly modified in the course of the
last few years.
8. Unfortunately the High Commission is entirely out of touch with popular
feeling and derives its information from a very narrow circle of politicians supple
mented by an inefficient Service de Renseignements. Although it is most
improbable that a freely-elected Chamber would have offered any serious oppo
sition to M. Ponsot’s proposals, it would seem that a natural preference to work
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