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Coll 54/1(S) 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Reconstruction' [‎347r] (697/940)

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The record is made up of 1 file (468 folios). It was created in 20 Mar 1949-13 Dec 1949. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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-S-4
7004
1 . : ■ ,
( THIS DOgUMENT IS THE PROPE RTY OF HIS BRITAN NIC MAJESTY f S lop
CONFIDENTIAL
O 1
M .E.(O) (49) . 3
cithMay. 1949.
COPY NO
OA.BINET
MIDDLE EAST (OFFICIAL) GOi.iHITTEE
Pli'.3WTTT,P.MENT OP ARAB REFUGEES IN THE JEZIREH AREA. IN
SYRIA.
Memorandum Ly the Foreipxi Office
The British Middle East Office at H.M. Legation at Damascus
were recently asked to send their best estimates of the total
number of refugees who could be resettled in the Jezireh area in
Syria, the time which it would take to settle them and the cost
involved. (See paragraph 4 of M.E.(o) (49) 4).
Numbers who might be resettled
2. Sir Herbert Stewart, the Agricultural Adviser to the British
Middle East Office, has now prepared the estimates attached at Annex
A of the numbers who might be resettled. These estimates vary from
between 100,000 to 245,000 people according to the area assumed to be
cultivable and the degree of mechanisation proposed. It is considered,
however, that it would be unwise to plan on the basis oi resettling
more than 150,000 persons. One of the difficulties in making these
estimates is that it is uncertain how much of the land shown as
’’cultivable waste” in the Syrian Government’s official statistics
;see shcedule attached at Annex B) has a high enough rate of rainfall
to allow for settlement. A large part of the 1,796,000 acres shown
as cultivable may lie in the low rainfall area.
Problems involved in resettlement
3. Sir Herbert Stewart recommends that settlement in this area
should be based on a combination of mechanised and animal agriculture.
He points out, however, that it may prove impossible to buy
sufficient ploughing animals for this purpose.
4. One of the greatest difficulties which will be encountered in
settling this area is likely to be the question of land ownership.
As far as can be ascertained the land, except near the towns, is
State Domain, but certain tribes and important Sheikhs have acquired
rights v/hich it may prove very difficult to upset and which in the
unsettled state of the Jezireh area cannot be ignored.
Cost of resettlement
r. # as a very rough guess the initial outlay involved in resettlement
is estimated as follows
Surveys
Tents (It i
£50,000
It is assumed that the settlers will
gradually build their own houses)
£ 400,000
£50,000
Wells, etc.
/Tractors

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Content

The file contains papers relating to the Middle East (Official) Committee. It consists of: papers circulated to members of the Committee, received by the External Department of the Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO); a few items of CRO correspondence with the Foreign Office, the Cabinet Office, and Commonwealth governments; and a register of papers received or sent by the CRO relating to the Committee, with internal CRO correspondence (at the back of the file).

The file includes agendas for meetings of the Committee, and minutes of the meetings on 28 April, 5 May, 5 July and 19 July 1949. Matters discussed and recorded in the minutes include: the reconstitution of the Committee; the re-settlement of Arab refugees from Palestine; the report on Economic and Social Development in the Middle East by the Working Party of the Committee; the future work of the Committee; the Conference of HM Representatives in the Middle East to be held in London from 26 to 29 July 1949; United States President Truman’s ‘Fourth Point’ (Truman’s message of 24 June 1949 to the United States House of Representatives, communicating a ‘Recommendation for the Enactment of Legislation to Authorise an Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance for Underdeveloped Areas of the World’); and further studies of the Working Party.

The file also includes the following papers prepared by (or approved by) the Working Party of the Committee: draft, revised and interim versions of the report on Economic and Social Development in the Middle East; papers relating to the economic and social development of Iraq, Syria, Greater Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan , Egypt, the Lebannon, Saudi Arabia, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, Eritrea and Somalia, and the Colony of Aden and the Aden Protectorate; and a paper on Middle East oil.

In addition, the file includes other papers relating to matters discussed at the meetings, and the following subjects: Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan ; irrigation development in Iraq; Persia’s [Iran’s] Seven Year Plan for development; informal conversations on social and economic affairs in the Middle East between representatives of the Foreign Office, the Treasury, the British Embassy in Washington, and the United States State Department; the work of the Development Division of British Middle East Office; a survey of the oil resources of the Middle East; and economic development in Cyprus in relation to the Middle East.

Extent and format
1 file (468 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate reverse chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.

Numbers in red pen on the top right hand corner of items in the file refer to entries in the register of papers received and sent by the Commonwealth Relations Office at the back of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 468; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

Written in
English in Latin script
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Coll 54/1(S) 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Reconstruction' [‎347r] (697/940), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/4756, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100043455637.0x000062> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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