The “Mandate for Palestine ” was not a naïve vision
briefly embraced by the international community. Fifty-one member countries –
the entire League of Nations – unanimously
declared on July 24, 1922:
Have you ever asked yourself why during the
period between 1917 and 1947 hundreds of thousands of Jews throughout the world
woke up one morning and decided to leave their homes and go to Palestine ? The majority did
this because they heard that a future National Home for the Jewish people was
being established in Palestine aka The Land of Israel, on the basis of
the League of Nations’ obligation under the “Mandate
for Palestine.” This historical document mandated at the San Remo
Conference in April 1923 laid down the Jewish legal right to settle anywhere in
western Palestine, the area between the Jordan River and
the Mediterranean Sea, an entitlement unaltered in international law.
The “Mandate for Palestine ” was not a naïve
vision briefly embraced by the international community. Fifty-one member
countries – the entire League of Nations – unanimously
declared on July 24, 1922 :
“Whereas recognition has been given to the
historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds
for reconstituting their national home in that country.”
American Support for a Jewish National Home:
On June 30, 1922, a joint resolution (the
Lodge Fish Resolution) of both Houses of Congress of the United States and
signed by the president unanimously endorsed the “establishment in Palestine of
a national home for the Jewish people,” confirming the irrevocable right of
Jews to settle in the area of Palestine – anywhere between the Jordan River and
the Mediterranean Sea:
“Favoring the re-establishment in Palestine of a national
home for the Jewish people.
“Resolved by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled. That the
United States of America favors the re-establishment in Palestine of a national
home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be
done which should prejudice the civil and religious rights of Christian and all
other non-Jewish communities in Palestine, and that the holy places and
religious buildings and sites in Palestine shall be adequately protected.”
[italics in the original]
On September
21, 1922 , President Warren G. Harding signed the Lodge-Fish Resolution,
endorsing the Balfour Declaration and the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland
in Palestine .
The U.S. Government (not a member of the League of Nations ) maintained that her
participation in WWI and her contribution to the defeat of Germany and the defeat of
her Allies, entitled the United States to be consulted
as to the terms of the “Mandate for Palestine .”
The outcome of this request was a “Convention
[Treaty] between the United States of America and the United Kingdom with
respect to the rights of the two governments and their nationals in Palestine,”
a relationship governed by international law. The Convention contains the
entire text of the “Mandate for Palestine” including the preamble and was
concluded and signed by their respective plenipotentiaries in London on
December 3, 1924; Ratification advised by the Senate, February 20, 1925;
Ratified by President Calvin Coolidge, March 2, 1925; Ratified by Great
Britain, March 18, 1925; Ratifications exchanged at London, December 3, 1925;
Proclaimed, December 5, 1925.
In ratifying the Convention, the United States
of America formally recognized the terms of the “Mandate for Palestine” and the
historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds
for reconstituting their national home in that country with exclusive political
rights.
Any attempt to negate the Jewish people’s right
to Palestine – The Land of Israel - Eretz-Israel – and to deny them access and
control in the area designated for the Jewish people by the League of Nations
is an actionable infringement of both international law and the Supremacy
Clause (Article VI, paragraph 2 of the United States Constitution), which
dictates that Treaties “shall be the supreme Law of the Land”.
We collectively and individually must do all
we can to support the Jewish people and the state of Israel . There is no more
crucial time than today, and I believe that this body has the capacity to help
defeat the “Occupation” mantra by insisting that the land of Israel has been given to the
Jewish people as of right, and in accordance with existing international law.
The “Mandate for Palestine,” an historical
League of Nations document, laid down the Jewish legal right to settle anywhere
in western Palestine, the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean
Sea, an entitlement unaltered in international law and protected to this day by
Article 80 of the UN Charter, that laid down the Jewish right of settlement in
the whole of western Palestine, recognizes the continued validity of
the rights granted to all states or people, or already existing international
instruments including those adopted by the League of Nations [such as the
“Mandate for Palestine”]. The Mandate unconditionally rejects Arab claims
to national political rights in the land, in favor of the Jews
self-determination and political development, in recognition of the historic
connection of the Jewish people to the land of Israel .
No comments:
Post a Comment