(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
High political tension obtained in the principal cities of Syria due to the action of the French High Commissioner, M. Ponsot, who dissolved the Syrian constituent assembly for its insistence to include in the new Syrian constitution, now being voted upon, a clause claiming Palestine and Transjordania as a part of Syria.
In Damascus a general strike of protest was observed today, with many shops closed. Street demonstrations protesting against the French Commissioner’s action took place under the auspices of Syrian student and youth organizations. No disorders occurred.
The order to dissolve the assembly for three months with the possibility of holding new elections came when the assembly refused to modify the proposed new constitution. The French authorities in Syria adhere to the view that the action of the National Assembly is incompatible with the international obligations undertaken by the French government as the Mandatory for Syria.
The conferring of the Syrian mandate upon France was in accordance with an international understanding, conditional upot the French government’s consent to the segregation of Transjordania and Palestine into a separate mandate territory to be intrusted to Great Britain with the provisions for the establishment of the Jewish national home in Palestine as with the international obligations undertaken by the League of Nations and the mandatory power.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
