Records of the Political Geographical DepartmentsFCO 171966-1973Foreign Office, Eastern Department and successors: Registered Files (E and NE Series)
This series contains records of the Eastern Department of the Foreign Office to October 1968 dealing with UK relations with the Middle East generally, especially following the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, and with Afghanistan, the Palestine question, Jordan, the Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the occupied territories and Syria and with the Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO) from January 1967.
From October 1968, the records are those of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Near Eastern Department, covering the same states and organisations with the exception of Afghanistan, for which responsibility passed to the South Asian Department.
From April 1972 the records in the NE series were produced by the merged Near East and North Africa Department, concerning Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the Occupied Territories and Syria. Records relating to North Africa continued to be filed by the new department on the separate NA file series (FCO 38) until the end of the year.