It is routinely mentioned that all the problems started either with the reconstitution of the State of Israel in 1948, or with the liberation of Jewish territories during the defensive war of 1967.
But the problem of the loss of the Jewish country once called Judea, and problems with invaders go much further back. The next layer back in time would be the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine. Further still would be the Christian and Arab conquests and occupation, and then the layer represented by the Roman defeat of the kingdom of Judea and the dispersal of most (not all) the Jews living in Judea.
On the following article the author presents issues concerning the Mandate for Palestine in the first part of the twentieth century.
Author's Eli E. Herz's website is Myths and Facts -
http://www.mythsandfacts.org/
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“Mandate for Palestine”
The Legal Aspects of Jewish Rights
1920 - Original territory assigned to the Jewish National Home
1922 - Final territory assigned to the Jewish National Home
“When it is asked what is meant by the development of the Jewish National Home in Palestine, it may be answered that it is not the imposition of a Jewish nationality upon the inhabitants of Palestine as a whole, but the further development of the existing Jewish community, with the assistance of Jews in other parts of the world, in order that it may become a centre in which the Jewish people as a whole may take, on grounds of religion and race, an interest and a pride. But in order that this community should have the best prospect of free development and provide a full opportunity for the Jewish people to display its capacities, it is essential that it should know that it is in Palestine as of right and not on sufferance.”
Winston Churchill
British Secretary of State for the Colonies
June 1922
Ever ask yourself why during the 30 year period - between 1917 to 1947 - 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, on the basis of the League of Nations obligation under the “Mandate for Palestine” document. The “Mandate for Palestine,” an historical League of Nations document, laid down the Jewish legal right to settle anywhere in western Palestine, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an entitlement unaltered in international law. The “Mandate for Palestine” was not a naive 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.”
It is important to point out that political rights to self-determination as a polity for Arabs were guaranteed by the same League of Nations in four other mandates – in Lebanon and Syria (The French Mandate), Iraq, and later Trans-Jordan [The British Mandate]. Any attempt to negate the Jewish people’s right to Palestine - Eretz-Israel, and to deny them access and control in the area designated for the Jewish people by the League of Nations is a serious infringement of international law.
The “Road Map” vision, as well as continuous pressure from the “Quartet” (U.S., the European Union, the UN and Russia) to surrender parts of Eretz-Israel are contrary to international law that firmly call to “encourage … close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not required for public purposes.” It also requires the Mandatory 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.”
In their attempt to establish peace between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors, the nations of the world should remember who the lawful sovereign is with its rights anchored in international law, valid to this day: The Jewish Nation. And in support of the Jewish people, I sat down and wrote this pamphlet.
Eli E. Hertz
