1947 The goal envisaged by France and Great Britain in prosecuting in the East the war set in train by German ambition is the complete and final liberation of the peoples who have for so long been oppressed by the Turks, and the setting up of national governments and ad-ministrations that shall derive their authority from the free exercise of the initiative and choice of the indigenous populations. In pursuit of those intentions, France and Great Britain agree to further and assist in the setting up of indigenous governments and administrations in Syria and Mesopotamia, which have already been liberated by the Allies, as well as in those territories which they have been endeavouring to liberate, and to recognize them as soon as they are actually set up. Far from wishing to impose this or that system upon the populations of those regions, their [i.e., France's and Great Britain's] only concern is to offer such support and efficacious help as will ensure the smooth working of the governments and administrations which those populations will have elected of their own free will to have; to secure impartial and equal justice for all; to facilitate the economic development of the country by promoting and encouraging local initiative; to foster the spread of education; and to put an end to the dissensions which Turkish policy has for so long exploited. Such is the task which the two Allied Powers wish to under-take in the liberated territories. Aftermath Whatever the real intentions of France and Great Britain may have been, most territories indeed became free, some after a period of administration under League of Nations mandate, like Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Not all liberated peoples got the "Governments and administrations freely chosen by the populations themselves". The Kurds were divided among the new states Syria, Iraq and Turkey, and partly remained under Persian rule. The Palestinians were ultimately scattered over the State of Israel, governed by Jewish immigrants, the Occupied Palestinian territories and Jordan. Most of the Palestinians, however, ended up as refugees scattered over several countries in the region. See also Arab Revolt Arab Federation Hussein-McMahon Correspondence Sykes-Picot Agreement Balfour Declaration St. John Philby Entente Cordiale Self-determination French Mandate of Lebanon References United Kingdom in World War I British Empire in World War I France in World War I French colonial empire and World War I Ottoman Empire in World War I France–United