after returning to damascus on 16 january, faisal then proved unable to convince these supporters of the merits of his arrangement with clemenceau and the syrian national congress on 8 march 1920 declared faisal king of the arab kingdom of syria over the whole of the oeta east area, and nominally over the rest of the historical region of syria (which included palestine). jointly with the french, lord curzon disapproved and asked faisal to take up his case with the supreme council. curzon met with the french ambassador on 30 march and noted that the £100k monthly anglo-french subsidy to faisal had not been paid since the end of 1919 and should not be paid if faisal pursues an "unfriendly and independent policy".