5Chaim Weizmann, "Essay on Zionism", reprinted in: B. Litvinoff, ed., The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann, University of Israel Press, Jerusalem, 1983 [hereinafter Weizmann Papers], Series B, Vol. I, Paper 28, pp. 134-142, at pp. 139-140.
6The designation Judea and Samaria as "West Bank" was first used by the Jordanians in 1950, after illegally (see Mandate for Palestine, Article 5) annexing the land, to differentiate it from the rest of the country on the east bank of the Jordan River.
v
The legal arguments will go on and on, with differing interpretations often even on the same side of the arguments. But the fundamental fact that the historical claims of the Zionist Organization, based on centuries-old connections between the Jewish people and "Palestine aka Greater Israel", were given recognition in a small town on the Italian Riviera named San Remo, in 1920 which incorporated the 1917 Balfour Declaration and confirmed by the 1920 Treaty of Sevres and Lausanne, and adopted and confirmed unequivocally by the terms of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine aka Greater Israel in 1922, takes on enormous significance when questions of territorial rights persist.
The ongoing and never-ending legal arguments and political posturing on both sides of the question of the "Palestine aka Greater Israel" statehood issue will not be resolved in these pages. Yet if the above basic truths with regard to ancestral territory are ignored, all the legal arguments in the world will not bring about an equitable solution. Thus it is important to see in what way(s) this most significant factor of historical ties has been endowed with a legal character and status that undergird Israel’s legitimate rights in its Land as it confronts today’s territorial conflicts.
While there is no way that the complex current political issues, a culmination of centuries of conflict and legal ambiguities, can be adequately dealt with in one brief exposé, one thing is certain: laws may change, perceptions may vary, but historical fact is immutable. Therefore, for the special case of Israel and Palestine, we need to look at fact rather than opinion and seek to avoid the promulgation of law that can result from persistent pressures of often misguided, misinformed and/or skillfully manipulated public opinion.
Thus our mission here is not to attempt to pronounce legal judgments or to offer legal opinions, where even the best legal minds have not been able to achieve consensus, but rather to proclaim international legal truths in a largely political environment that is too frequently polluted with distortions of the truth and outright untruths.
A correlated intent here is to show where Israel’s age-old historic links with the land intersect with legal parameters to give effect to its international legal status in the face of current political initiatives.
Accordingly it should be understood from the outset that the following is in no way intended to present itself as an exhaustive coverage of the many-faceted and age-long disputed issues relating to this territory. It is meant primarily as a wakeup call and/or reminder of the fundamental international legal rights of the Jewish people that were conferred beginning at the San Remo Conference in 1920 and that had threatened to all but slip into obscurity in the current debate, despite the fact that these rights have never been rescinded.
To accomplish these aims, we have only to revert back to the milestone international legal instrument, the Mandate for Palestine of 1922, which emerged from the 1920 San Remo sessions of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and in effect transformed the Balfour Declaration of 1917 (the “Magna Carta” of the Jewish people) into a legally binding international agreement that changed the course of history forever for the Jewish people worldwide.
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Part I: Foundations of the International Legal Rights of the Jewish People and the State of Israel
Before examining the all-important international legal decisions made at San Remo in 1920, it is useful to trace back a few years to get a sense of the legal and political environment that followed in the wake of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, leading up to these significant legal and diplomatic events that both emerged from historical roots and went on to shape Jewish contemporary history.
1.1 The Balfour Declaration
The history of the international legal turning point for the Jewish people begins in 1917. World War I was exposing a growing need of Jews dispersed all over the world to have a "national home", and in 1917 Prime Minister David Lloyd George expressed to the British War Cabinet that he "was convinced that a Jewish National Home was an historic necessity and that every
1
opportunity should be granted to reconstitute the Jewish State".7 This ultimately led to Great Britain issuing, on 2 November 1917, a political declaration known as the "Balfour Declaration". This Declaration stated that:
His Majesty’s Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
As confirmed by Lord Balfour to Prime Minister Lloyd George:
Our justification for our policy is that we regard Palestine as being absolutely exceptional; that we consider the question of the Jews outside Palestine as one of world importance and that we conceive the Jews to have an historic claim to a home in their ancient land; provided that a home can be given them without either dispossessing or oppressing the present inhabitants…[emphasis added]8
This position was shared by the other Principal Allied and Associated Powers 9 who, in the words of Lord Balfour, "had committed themselves to the Zionist programme which inevitably excluded numerical self-determination".10 Still, a declaration is not law, and a British declaration is not international. So while it is arguable that certain obligations of the Balfour Declaration were attributable to the British Government, it was neither applicable to other States nor a binding instrument under international law.
7Abraham J. Edelheit, History of Zionism—A Handbook and Dictionary (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2000), at p. 309.
8Pro. Fo. 371/4179.
9See text accompanying notes 13 and 14, infra.
10Pro. Fo. 800/217. See also Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919-1939, E.L. Woodward
and Rohan Butler, eds., Vol. IV, 1256-1278 (Reprinted in: Walid Khalidi, ed., at pp. 195, 198).
2
1.2 Wilson’s “Fourteen Points” and the League of Nations
At the time, the territory known as "Palestine" was still part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, with which Britain and her allies were at war. Although the British forces entered Jerusalem in December 1917, the war with Turkey in Palestine continued into 1918. Once Britain liberated Palestine from Turkish rule in 1918, it was in a position to implement its policy.
Meanwhile, on 8 January 1918, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson delivered a speech to a joint session of the United States Congress that was to become known as his "Fourteen Points". Included in these points was the statement that the "Turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development".11 These Fourteen Points were accepted by some of the key Allied Powers and "informed" (influenced and were incorporated in part into) certain principles embodied in the Covenant of the League of Nations.
Thus the League of Nations was a direct result of the First World War, its Covenant or Articles of Organization being incorporated in the Treaty of Versailles, which entered into effect in January 1920.
1.3 San Remo Sessions of the Paris Peace Conference
The following sections on the San Remo Conference and its legacy borrow heavily upon—in some places recording verbatim or virtually verbatim (with the full agreement of the author)—Dr. Jacques Paul Gauthier’s monumental work, Sovereignty Over the Old City of Jerusalem: A Study of the Historical, Religious, Political and Legal Aspects of the Question of the Old City, Thesis no. 725, University
11Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points were Ã…rst outlined in a speech he delivered to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on 8 January 1918. The quote is from Point 12.
3
of Geneva, 2007. Part I of the present work draws liberally on Dr. Gauthier’s thorough historical account. While some references to Gauthier’s work are precisely cited, others are so interwoven, interchanged, interspersed and integrated with the author’s own further research and formulations that it is virtually impossible to do proper justice to Dr. Gauthier in every instance. His indulgence is gratefully acknowledged.
The next important milestone on the road to international legal status and a Jewish national home was the San Remo Conference, held at Villa Devachan in San Remo, Italy, from 18 to 26 April 1920. This was a post World War I international reconvening of the Supreme Council of the Principal Allied Powers that had met together in Paris in 1919 with the powers of disposition over the territories which, as a consequence of World War I, had ceased to be under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
The Principal Allied Powers of World War I present at San Remo in 1920 were Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan. The United States had entered the war as an "Associated Power", rather than as a formal ally of France and Great Britain, in order to pursue its new policy of avoiding "foreign entanglements".13 Thus while the United States was a member of the "Supreme Council of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers" of the Paris Peace
Conference, and was known as one of the five "Great Powers", it is not to be associated with the term "Principal Allied Powers", of which there were four.14 These four Powers were represented in San Remo by the Prime Ministers of Britain (David Lloyd George), France (Alexandre Millerand) and Italy (Francesco Nitti), and by Japan’s Ambassador Keishiro Matsui. The United States was present as an "observer", represented by Robert Johnson, the U.S. Ambassador to Italy.
The 1920 San Remo Conference acted as an "extension" of the Paris Peace Conference, for the purpose of dealing with some outstanding issues that had not managed to be resolved in 1919, including certain claims and legal submissions made by key claimants in Paris, among which Zionist and Arab delegations. In San Remo, the aim of the Principal Allied Powers was to
consider the claims, deliberate and hand down decisions on the legal recognition of each claim. The fundamental objective of the San Remo Conference, then, was effectively to decide the future of the Middle East following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In accordance with President Wilson’s "Fourteen Points", it was not the intent of the victorious allies to acquire new
13See Spencer C. Tucker, ed., The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia (New York: Garland, 1999), at pp. 1232, 1264.
14Accordingly, it will be noted that the Paris Peace Treaties and other post-war peace settlements use the language: "Treaty of Peace between the Allied and Associated Powers and…[e.g. Germany or other treaty partner(s)]".
4
colonies in the area but rather to establish there new sovereign States, over the course of time.
The Principal Allied Powers in San Remo were charged, inter alia, with responding to the claims that the Zionist Organization had submitted in February 1919 at the Peace Conference in Paris, while taking into consideration the submissions of the Arab delegation. (The Arab and Zionist delegations had pledged to support each other’s claims.) The claims of the Zionist Organization included a demand for the recognition of "the historic title of the Jewish people to Palestine and the rights of the Jews to reconstitute their National Home in Palestine" (emphasis added).15
The boundaries of the "Palestine" referred to in these submissions included territories west and east of the Jordan River. The Zionist Organization had requested the appointment of Great Britain as Mandatory (or Trustee) of the League in respect of the Mandate over Palestine. The submissions specified that the ultimate purpose of the Mandate would be the "creation of an
autonomous ‘Commonwealth’", with the clear understanding "that nothing must be done that might prejudice the civil and religious rights of the non-Jewish communities at present established in Palestine, nor the rights and political status enjoyed by the Jews in all other countries".16
The policy to be given effect in the Mandate for Palestine was to be consistent with the 1917 Balfour Declaration in recognizing the historic, cultural and religious ties of the Jewish people to the Holy Land and the fundamental principle that Palestine should be the location of the reestablished national home of the Jewish people. It is particularly relevant to underline the inclusion in the terms of the Mandate (through Article 2) of the fundamental principle set out in the Preamble of this international agreement that:
recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country…[emphasis added].
Similarly consistent with the 1917 Balfour Declaration, as reiterated in the submissions to the Paris Peace Conference, the Mandate’s Preamble retained the condition that: "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country". This conferred no new rights on either the non-Jewish inhabitants of Palestine or the Jewish populations in other countries; it merely preserved existing rights in both
15 Opening submission of the Zionist Organization, point (1), Reprinted in: Weizmann Papers, supra note 5, Paper 51, pp. 221-232, at p. 223.
16Ibid, point (4).
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2.10 The Role of the United Nations
Prior to the 2011 Annual Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Arab-Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas announced his plan to formally request that a UN resolution be presented to the Security Council and assembled national delegations to "recognize" a unilaterally declared Arab-Palestinian State, with "East Jerusalem" as its capital, along with UN membership. The end result was that the Security Council, after extended consultations, was unable to reach a common position.
Threats of a veto on the part of the United States and of abstentions on the part of Britain and France were based on grounds that recognition of an Arab-Palestinian state at this time would undermine the prospects for a bilaterally negotiated settlement (as called for in the Oslo Accords - which is null and void due to flagrant violations by the Arab-Palestinians). Absent the needed support from these key representatives of the community of nations, the issue was not pressed to a vote—either in the Security Council or in the General Assembly—at the UN’s 66th Session in 2011. The issue, however, is still very much alive.
It should be pointed out that, had there been or were there ever to be such "recognition" of the "Arab-Palestinians" as a political/statal entity, this would not, in and of itself, constitute the creation of a State of Arab-Palestine under international law, any more than the 1947 Resolution 181 (II) (the UN Partition Plan) created the State of Israel.115 The recreation of the State of Israel was at the 1920 San Remo Treaty which adopted the 1917 Balfour Declaration and its adoption by the League of Nations and The Mandate for Greater Israel aka Palestine. (The UN has no authority to create or modify international treaties, it can only recommend).
Neither does membership in the United Nations per se create, confer or confirm statehood. UN membership requires nomination by the UN Security Council, with the unanimous support of the five Permanent Members (China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States). A contemporary example is that of Kosovo, which is recognized by at least seventy-five sovereign nations, yet its membership in the UN is precluded by the absence of the support of only one Permanent Member of the Security Council, namely, the Russian Federation.
According to the UN Charter, the General Assembly (GA) does not have the power to create legally binding decisions. It has only the power to recommend. UNGA resolutions are therefore not legally binding and the General Assembly lacks any and all competence to enact international law. In fact, the Charter does not authorize even the International Court of Justice (I.C.J.)—the principal judicial organ of the UN—to create, enact or amend international law.
115See Part I, section 10 (esp. final para.) and Part II, section 1, supra.
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According to one illustrious former president of the International Court, Professor Judge Schwebel stated:
The General Assembly of the United Nations can only, in principle, issue "recommendations" which are not of a binding character, according to Article 10 of the Charter of the United Nations.116
The venerable Judges Sir Hersch Lauterpacht and Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice similarly confirmed the lack of "legislative effect" or "legal power to legislate or bind its members by way of recommendation". Professor Arangio-Ruiz, who wrote what was considered "perhaps the most comprehensive" treatise ever compiled on the normative role of the UN General Assembly, went so far as to conclude that:
[T]he General Assembly lacks legal authority either to "enact" or to "declare" or "determine" or "interpret" international law so as legally to bind states by such acts, whether these states be members of the United Nations or not, and whether these states voted for or against or abstained from the relevant vote or did not take part in it.117
At least on one point, then—that of the non-binding character of UNGA resolutions—there is no room for interpretation.
In the final analysis, there is categorically no practicable solution other than two legitimate governing entities that recognize and respect one another’s rightful and legal existence, coming to the negotiating table and discussing all unresolved outstanding issues on permanent status, as per the relevant international legal commitments and binding instruments, with the aim of achieving a durable peace with secure and defensible borders.
116See Eli E. Hertz, "ICJ—Bypassing the UN Security Council", Myth and Fact, 5 April 2011.
117See ibid.
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Conclusion
It is widely assumed that the State of Israel was born as a result of UN Resolution 181 (the UN Partition Plan) of 1947. The truth is that the legal rights of the Jewish people and Israel as a nation find their foundations solidly embedded in international law well before the very existence of the United Nations, dating back to international legal instruments agreed by the Principal Allied Powers of World War I, meeting in San Remo in April of 1920 as a follow-up to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.
It was at this place and time that the historical claim of the Jewish delegation to a "national home", as presented to the Supreme Council of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers in Paris, became "essentially legal in Character". 118 This legal character was codified in a binding international legal instrument in the form of the San Remo Resolution of April 1920 which adopted the 1917 Balfour Declaration and war confirmed by the 1920 Treaty of Sevres and Lausanne, as reconfirmed and strengthened in July 1922 by the adoption of the Mandate for Greater Israel aka Palestine by the League of Nations.
Despite the fulfillment in May of 1948 of one of the Palestine Mandate’s fundamental objectives, namely, the reconstitution of the Jewish national home, the Mandate’s relevant provisions remain valid and legally binding to this day. Such provisions are, for example, applicable to the determination of the "core issues" to be negotiated between the two parties on the "permanent status" (or "final status") of Jerusalem and remaining disputed territory.
Certain clauses regarding Jerusalem are even explicitly stated to be secured "in perpetuity".119
In sum, the conflict is not essentially a dispute over "borders" per se; that is not even really the issue, as demonstrated by the fact that national boundaries have gone so long undetermined. It is a dispute rather over control of "disputed territory", in the near term, and permanent sovereignty over legitimate territorial jurisdictions, including the Old City of Jerusalem, in the long term. The sovereign jurisdiction rests with Israel, in the absence of some legally defensible cause for abrogating the 1920 San Remo Treaty and The terms of Mandate for Palestine aka Greater Israel which contains no provisions for further illegally carving up the territory designated in 1920/1922 by the Supreme Council of the Principal Allied Powers as the sole and unique national home for the Jewish people.
118Gauthier, supra note 12, with reference to the classification of territorial claims elaborated by Professor Norman Hill.
119See Mandate for Palestine, Appendix D, Article 28.
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Appendices
The Balfour Declaration
The Balfour Declaration may be the most extraordinary document produced by any Government in world history. It took the form of a letter from the Government of His Britannic Majesty King George the Fifth, the Government of the largest empire the world has even known, on which -- once upon a time -- the sun never set; a letter to an international financier of the banking house of Rothschild who had been made a peer of the realm.
Arthur Koestler wrote that in the letter "one nation solemnly promised to a second nation the country of a third." More than that, the country was still part of the Empire of a fourth, namely Turkey.
It read:
Foreign Office, November 2nd,1917
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you on behalf of His Majesty's Government the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations, which has been submitted to and approved by the Cabinet:
"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
I should be grateful if you would bring this Declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely,
Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations
Article 22
To those colonies and territories which as a consequence of the late war have ceased to be under the sovereignty of the States which formerly governed them and which are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilisation and that securities for the performance of this trust should be embodied in this Covenant.
The best method of giving practical effect to this principle is that the tutelage of such peoples should be entrusted to advanced nations who by reason of their resources, their experience or their geographical position can best undertake this responsibility, and who are willing to accept it, and that this tutelage should be exercised by them as Mandatories on behalf of the League.
The character of the mandate must differ according to the stage of the development of the people, the geographical situation of the territory, its economic conditions and other similar circumstances.
Certain communities formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire have reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognized subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory.
Other peoples, especially those of Central Africa, are at such a stage that the Mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the territory under conditions which will guarantee freedom of conscience and religion, subject only to the maintenance of public order and morals, the prohibition 53 of abuses such as the slave trade, the arms trafÃ…c and the liquor trafÃ…c, and the prevention of the establishment of fortiÃ…cations or military and naval bases and of military training of the natives for other than police purposes and the defence of territory, and will also secure equal opportunities for the trade and commerce of other Members of the League.
There are territories, such as South-West Africa and certain of the South PaciÃ…c Islands, which, owing to the sparseness of their population, or their small size, or their remoteness from the centres of civilisation, or their geographical contiguity to the territory of the Mandatory, and other circumstances, can be best administered under the laws of the Mandatory as integral portions of its territory, subject to the safeguards above mentioned in the interests of the indigenous population.
In every case of mandate, the Mandatory shall render to the Council an annual report in reference to the territory committed to its charge.
The degree of authority, control, or administration to be exercised by the Mandatory shall, if not previously agreed upon by the Members of the League, be explicitly deÃ…ned in each case by the Council.
A permanent Commission shall be constituted to receive and examine the annual reports of the Mandatories and to advise the Council on all matters relating to the observance of the mandates.
ii
Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations
Article 22
To those colonies and territories which as a consequence of the late war have ceased to be under the sovereignty of the States which formerly governed them and which are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilisation and that securities for the performance of this trust should be embodied in this Covenant.
The best method of giving practical effect to this principle is that the tutelage of such peoples should be entrusted to advanced nations who by reason of their resources, their experience or their geographical position can best undertake this responsibility, and who are willing to accept it, and that this tutelage should be exercised by them as Mandatories on behalf of the League.
The character of the mandate must differ according to the stage of the development of the people, the geographical situation of the territory, its economic conditions and other similar circumstances.
Certain communities formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire have reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognized subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory.
Other peoples, especially those of Central Africa, are at such a stage that the Mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the territory under conditions which will guarantee freedom of conscience and religion, subject only to the maintenance of public order and morals, the prohibition of abuses such as the slave trade, the arms traffic and the liquor traffic, and the prevention of the establishment of fortifications or military and naval bases and of military training of the natives for other than police purposes and the defence of territory, and will also secure equal opportunities for the trade and commerce of other Members of the League.
There are territories, such as South-West Africa and certain of the South PaciÃ…c Islands, which, owing to the sparseness of their population, or their small size, or their remoteness from the centres of civilisation, or their geographical contiguity to the territory of the Mandatory, and other circumstances, can be best administered under the laws of the Mandatory as integral portions of its territory, subject to the safeguards above mentioned in the interests of the indigenous population.
In every case of mandate, the Mandatory shall render to the Council an annual report in reference to the territory committed to its charge.
The degree of authority, control, or administration to be exercised by the Mandatory shall, if not previously agreed upon by the Members of the League, be explicitly defined in each case by the Council.
A permanent Commission shall be constituted to receive and examine the annual reports of the Mandatories and to advise the Council on all matters relating to the observance of the mandates.
The San Remo Resolution
It was agreed—
(a) To accept the terms of the Mandates Article as given below with reference
o Palestine, on the understanding that there was inserted in the
procès-verbal an undertaking by the Mandatory Power that this would
not involve the surrender of the rights hitherto enjoyed by the non-Jewish
communities in Palestine; this undertaking not to refer to the question of
the religious protectorate of France, which had been settled earlier in the
previous afternoon by the undertaking given by the French Government
that they recognized this protectorate as being at an end.
(b) that the terms of the Mandates Article should be as follows:
The High Contracting Parties agree that Syria and Mesopotamia shall, in accordance with the fourth paragraph of Article 22, Part I (Covenant of the League of Nations), be provisionally recognized as independent States, subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The boundaries of the said States will be determined, and the selection of the Mandatories made, by the Principal Allied Powers.
The High Contracting Parties agree to entrust, by application of the provisions
of Article 22, the administration of Palestine, within such boundaries as may be determined by the Principal Allied Powers, to a Mandatory, to be selected by the said Powers. The Mandatory will be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 8,1917, by the British Government, and adopted by the other Allied Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
55
La Puissance mandataire s’engage à nommer dans le plus bref délai une Commission spéciale pour étudier toute question et toute réclamation concernant les différentes communautés religieuses et en établir le règlement. Il sera tenu compte dans la composition de cette commission des intérêts religieux en jeu. Le Président de la Commission sera nommé par le Conseil de la Société des Nations.
The terms of the mandates in respect of the above territories will be formulated by the Principal Allied Powers and submitted to the Council of the League of Nations for approval. Turkey hereby undertakes, in accordance with the provisions of Article [132 of the Treaty of Sèvres] to accept any decisions which may be taken in this connection.
(c) Les mandataires choisis par les principales Puissances alliées sont: la Fran-
ce pour la Syrie, et la Grande-Bretagne pour la Mésopotamie et la Pales-
tine.
In reference to the above decision the Supreme Council took note of the following reservation of the Italian Delegation:
La Délégation italienne en considération des grands intérêts économiques que l’Italie en tant que puissance exclusivement méditerranéenne possède en Asie Mineure, réserve son approbation à la présente résolution, jusqu’au règlement des intérêts italiens en Turquie d’Asie.
The Mandatory's undertakes to appoint as soon lai d é a special Committee for studying questions é r é and any proclamation on different religious community ed and r è é establish the rule ment. Will be reflected in the composition of the commission of inte r ts religious ê in. Pr é President of the Commission shall be appointed by the Council é of the League of Nations é t é.
The terms of the mandates in respect of the above territories will be formulated by the Principal Allied Powers and Submitted to the Council of the League of Nations for approval. Turkey Hereby undertakes, in according with the provisions of Article [132 of the Treaty of S è lips] to accept Any decisions qui May be taken in this connection.
(C) representatives selected by the major Powers allied es are: Francesca
this for Syria and Britain for Mésopotamie and Palestrina time.
In reference to the decision of the Supreme Council Above Took Note Of the following guest of the Italian Delegation:
De le in Italian delegation consideredération major interé ê economic costs that Italy as a power exclusively diterran uropean meposs è in Asia Minor, reserve its approval to the pré r é feels solution, until the regulation of inter ê Italian ts in Turkey in Asia.
The Mandate for Palestine aka Greater Israel
The Council of The league of Nations
Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have agreed, for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, to entrust to a Mandatory selected by the said Powers the administration of the territory of Palestine, which formerly belonged to the Turkish Empire, within such boundaries as may be fixed by them and
Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favor of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country; and
Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection
of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their
national home in that country; and Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have
selected His Britannic Majesty as the Mandatory for Palestine; and
Whereas the mandate in respect of Palestine has been formulated in the
following terms and submitted to the Council of the League for approval;
and
Whereas His Britannic Majesty has accepted the mandate in respect of Palestine and undertaken to exercise it on behalf of the League of Nations in conformity with the following provisions; and
Whereas by the afore-mentioned Article 22 (paragraph 8), it is provided
that the degree of authority, control or administration to be exercised by the
Mandatory, not having been previously agreed upon by the Members of the
League, shall be explicitly defied by the Council of the League of Nations;
Confirming the said mandate, defines its terms as follows:
57
Article 1.
The Mandatory shall have full powers of legislation and of administration, save as they may be limited by the terms of this mandate.
Article 2.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for placing the country under such
political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the estab-
lishment of the Jewish national home, as laid down in the preamble, and the
development of self -governing institutions, and also for safeguarding the civil
and religious rights of all the inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of race and
religion.
Article 3.
The Mandatory shall, so far as circumstances permit, encourage local autonomy.
Article 4.
An appropriate Jewish agency shall be recognized as a public body for the
purpose of advising and co-operating with the Administration of Palestine in
such economic, social and other matters as may affect the establishment of
the Jewish national home and the interests of the Jewish population in Pales-
tine, and, subject always to the control of the Administration, to assist and
take part in the development of the country. The Zionist organization, so
long as its organization and constitution are in the opinion of the Mandatory
appropriate, shall be recognized as such agency. It shall take steps in consul-
tation with His Britannic Majesty’s Government to secure the cooperation
of all Jews who are willing to assist in the establishment of the Jewish national
home.
Article 5.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing that no Palestine territory shall be ceded or leased to, or in any way placed under the control of, the Government of any foreign Power.
Article 6.
The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring that the rights and po-
sition of other sections of the population are not prejudiced, shall facilitate
Jewish immigration under suitable conditions and shall encourage, in co-
operation with the Jewish agency. referred to in Article 4, close settlement
by Jews, on the land, including State lands and waste lands not required for
public purposes.
Article 7.
The Administration of Palestine shall be responsible for enacting a na-
tionality law. There shall be included in this law provisions framed so as to
58
facilitate the acquisition of Palestinian citizenship by Jews who take up their permanent residence in Palestine.
Article 8.
The privileges and immunities of foreigners, including the benefits of con-
sular jurisdiction and protection as formerly enjoyed by Capitulation or us-
age in the Ottoman Empire, shall not be applicable in Palestine. Unless the
Powers whose nationals enjoyed the aforementioned privileges and immuni-
ties on August 1st, 1914, shall have previously renounced the right to their
re-establishment, or shall have agreed to their nonapplication for a specie-
Fied period, these privileges and immunities shall, at the expiration of the
mandate, be immediately re-established in their entirety or with such modi-
FIcations as may have been agreed upon between the Powers concerned.
Article 9.
The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing that the judicial system
established in Palestine shall assure to foreigners, as well as to natives, a com-
plete guarantee of their rights. Respect for the personal status of the various
peoples and communities and for their religious interests shall be fully guar-
anteed. In particular, the control and administration of Wakfs shall be exer-
cised in accordance with religious law and the dispositions of the founders.
Article 10.
Pending the making of special extradition agreements relating to Palestine, the extradition treaties in force between the Mandatory and other foreign Powers shall apply to Palestine.
Article 11.
The Administration of Palestine shall take all necessary measures to safe-
guard the interests of the community in connection with the development
of the country, and, subject to any international obligations accepted by the
Mandatory, shall have full power to provide for public ownership or control
of any of the natural resources of the country or of the public works, services
and utilities established or to be established therein. It shall introduce a land
system appropriate to the needs of the country, having regard, among other
things, to the desirability of promoting the close settlement and intensive cul-
tivation of the land. The Administration may arrange with the Jewish agency
mentioned in Article 4 to construct or operate, upon fair and equitable terms,
any public works, services and utilities, and to develop any of the natural re-
sources of the country, in so far as these matters are not directly undertaken
by the Administration. Any such arrangements shall provide that no profits
distributed by such agency, directly or indirectly, shall exceed a reasonable
rate of interest on the capital, and any further profits shall be utilized by it for
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the benefit of the country in a manner approved by the Administration.
Article 12.
The Mandatory shall be entrusted with the control of the foreign relations of Palestine and the right to issue exequaturs to consuls appointed by foreign Powers. He shall also be entitled to afford diplomatic and consular protection to citizens of Palestine when outside its territorial limits.
Article 13.
All responsibility in connection with the Holy Places and religious build-
ings or sites in Palestine, including that of preserving existing rights and of
securing free access to the Holy Places, religious buildings and sites and the
free exercise of worship, while ensuring the requirements of public order and
decorum, is assumed by the Mandatory, who shall be responsible solely to the
League of Nations. in all matters connected herewith, provided that nothing
in this article shall prevent the Mandatory from entering into such arrange-
ments as he may deem reasonable with the Administration for the purpose of
carrying the provisions of this article into effect; and provided also that noth-
ing in this mandate shall be construed as conferring upon the Mandatory
authority to interfere with the fabric or the management of purely Moslem
sacred shrines, the immunities of which are guaranteed.
Article 14.
A special Commission shall be appointed by the Mandatory to study, define and determine the rights and claims in connection with the Holy Places and the rights and claims relating to the different religious communities in Palestine. The method of nomination, the composition and the functions of this Commission shall be submitted to the Council of the League for its approval, and the Commission shall not be appointed or enter upon its functions without the approval of the Council.
Article 15.
The Mandatory shall see that complete freedom of conscience and the free exercise of all forms of worship, subject only to the maintenance of public order and morals, are ensured to all. No discrimination of any kind shall be made between the inhabitants of Palestine on the ground of race, religion or language. No person shall be excluded from Palestine on the sole ground of his religious belief. The right of each community to maintain its own schools for the education of its own members in its own language, while conforming to such educational requirements of a general nature as the Administration may impose, shall not be denied or impaired.
Article 16.
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The Mandatory shall be responsible for exercising such supervision over
religious or eleemosynary bodies of all faiths in Palestine as may be required
for the maintenance of public order and good government. Subject to such
supervision, no measures shall be taken in Palestine to obstruct or interfere
with the enterprise of such bodies or to discriminate against any representa-
tive or member of them on the ground of his religion or nationality.
Article 17.
The Administration of Palestine may organize on a voluntary basis the
forces necessary for the preservation of peace and order, and also for the
defense of the country, subject, however, to the supervision of the Mandatory,
but shall not use them for purposes other than those above specified save with
the consent of the Mandatory, Except for such purposes, no military, naval
or air forces shall be raised or maintained by the Administration of Palestine.
Nothing in this article shall preclude the Administration of Palestine from
contributing to the cost of the maintenance of the forces of the Mandatory
in Palestine. The Mandatory shall be entitled at all times to use the roads,
railways and ports of Palestine for the movement of armed forces and the
carriage of fuel and supplies.
Article 18.
The Mandatory shall see that there is no discrimination in Palestine a-
gainst the nationals of any State Member of the League of Nations (includ-
ing companies incorporated under its laws) as compared with those of the
Mandatory or of any foreign State in matters concerning taxation, commerce
or navigation, the exercise of industries or professions, or in the treatment of
merchant vessels or civil aircraft. Similarly, there shall be no discrimination
in Palestine against goods originating in or destined for any of the said States,
and there shall be freedom of transit under equitable conditions across the
mandated area. Subject as aforesaid and to the other provisions of this man-
date, the Administration of Palestine may, on the advice of the Mandatory,
impose such taxes and customs duties as it may consider necessary, and take
such steps as it may think best to promote the development of the natural
resources of the country and to safeguard the interests of the population. It
may also, on the advice of the Mandatory, conclude a special customs agree-
ment with any State the territory of which in 1914 was wholly included in
Asiatic Turkey or Arabia.
Article 19.
The Mandatory shall adhere on behalf of the Administration of Palestine
to any general international conventions already existing, or which may be
concluded hereafter with the approval of the League of Nations, respecting
the slave traffic, the traffic in arms and ammunition, or the traffic in drugs,
61
or relating to commercial equality, freedom of transit and navigation, aerial navigation and postal, telegraphic and wireless communication or literary, artistic or industrial property.
Article 20.
The Mandatory shall co-operate on behalf of the Administration of Palestine, so far as religious, social and other conditions may permit, in the execution of any common policy adopted by theLeague of Nations for preventing and combating disease, including diseases of plants and animals.
Article 21.
The Mandatory shall secure the enactment within twelve months from this date, and shall ensure the execution of a Law of Antiquities based on the following rules. This law shall ensure equality of treatment in the matter of excavations and archaeological research to the nations of all States Members of the League of Nations.
1. ‘Antiquity’ means any construction or any product of human activity
earlier than the year AD1700.
2. The law for the protection of antiquities shall proceed by encourage-
ment rather than by threat. Any person who, having discovered an
antiquity without being furnished with the authorization referred to in
paragraph 5, reports the same to an official of the competent Depart-
ment, shall be rewarded according to the value of the discovery.
3. No antiquity may be disposed of except to the competent Department,
unless this Department renounces the acquisition of any such antiquity.
No antiquity may leave the country without an export license from the
said Department.
4. Any person who maliciously or negligently destroys or damages an an-
tiquity shall be liable to a penalty to be Fixed.
5. No clearing of ground or digging with the object of Finding antiquities
shall be permitted, under penalty of Fine, except to persons authorized
by the competent Department.
6. Equitable terms shall be Fixed for expropriation, temporary or perma-
net, of lands which might be of historical or archaeological interest.
7. Authorization to excavate shall only be granted to persons who show
sufficient guarantees of archaeological experience. The Administration
of Palestine shall not, in granting these authorizations, act in such a way
as to exclude scholars of any nation without good grounds.
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8. The proceeds of excavations may be divided between the excavator and
the competent Department in a proportion Fixed by that Department.
If division seems impossible for scientific reasons, the excavator shall
receive a fair indemnity in lieu of a part of the Find.
Article 22.
English, Arabic and Hebrew shall be the official languages of Palestine. Any statement or inscription in Arabic on stamps or money in Palestine shall be repeated in Hebrew, and any statement or inscription in Hebrew shall be repeated in Arabic.
Article 23.
The Administration of Palestine shall recognize the holy days of the respective communities inPalestine as legal days of rest for the members of such communities.
Article 24.
The Mandatory shall make to the Council of the League of Nations an annual report to the satisfaction of the Council as to the measures taken during the year to carry out the provisions of the mandate. Copies of all laws and regulations promulgated or issued during the year shall be communicated with the report.
Article 25.
In the territories lying between the Jordan and the eastern boundary of Palestine as ultimately determined, the Mandatory shall be entitled, with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations, to postpone or withhold application of such provisions of this mandate as he may consider inapplicable to the existing local conditions, and to make such provision for the administration of the territories as he may consider suitable to those conditions, provided that no action shall be taken which is inconsistent with the provisions of Articles 15, 16 and 18.
Article 26.
The Mandatory agrees that, if any dispute whatever should arise between the Mandatory and another Member of the League of Nations relating to the interpretation or the application of the provisions of the mandate, such dispute, if it cannot be settled by negotiation, shall be submitted to the Permanent Court of International Justice provided for by Article 14 of the Covenant of the League of Nations.
Article 27.
The consent of the Council of the League of Nations is required for any modification of the terms of this mandate.
63
Article 28.
In the event of the termination of the mandate hereby conferred upon
the Mandatory, the Council of the League of Nations shall make such ar-
rangements as may be deemed necessary for safeguarding in perpetuity, un-
der guarantee of the League, the rights secured by Articles 13 and 14, and
shall use its influence for securing, under the guarantee of the League, that
the Government of Palestine will fully honor the Financial obligations legit-
imately incurred by the Administration of Palestine during the period of the
mandate, including the rights of public servants ,to pensions or gratuities.
The present instrument shall be deposited in original in the archives of the
League of Nations and certified copies shall be forwarded by the Secretary-
General of the League of Nations to all Members of the League.
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