Page 36 - Balfour100-E

36 Foundation Stone Preparations ✡

These considerations ultimately
resulted in Article 22 of the Covenant
of the League of Nations, which estab-
lished a system of Mandates applicable
to the former German colonies and the
territories that had been part of the col-
lapsed Ottoman Turkish Empire.
The Mandate system was intended
to benefit the peoples of these territo-
ries whose ‘well-being and develop-
ment’ was referred to as ‘a sacred trust
of civilisation’. The Mandated nation
was obliged to act as a kind of trustee,
representing the conscience of the
civilised world.

San Remo Resolution
The Supreme Council of the Principal
Allied and Associated Powers (Britain,
France, Italy, Japan and the USA) re-
convened the Paris Peace Summit in
San Remo, Italy in April 1920 to deliber- The Mandate for Palestine created a
ate on the future of the territories which ‘My personal hope two-state solution as early as 1922, be-
had been captured from the Ottoman cause Trans-Jordan (now Jordan) was in
Empire. is that the Jews reality a State for the Palestinian Arabs
As victors, the Allies had gained
extensive rights and powers over these will make good non, Trans-Jordan (later Jordan), Iraq
territories. The Allies decided to cre- and Saudi Arabia are examples. Each
ate three Mandates under Article 22 of in Palestine and of these countries contained significant
the Covenant of the League of Nations Jewish populations who were now re-
– Syria/Lebanon, Mesopotamia (now eventually found quired to live as minorities in Islamic
Iraq) and Palestine. The Mandate for States. It was hardly unfair to allow the
Palestine was intended to facilitate the a Jewish State.’ Jewish people to establish their own
creation of the National Home for the National Home in the region.
Jewish people, in accordance with the Second, the Balfour Declaration
Balfour Declaration. rights for the population already living and the Mandate specifically required
in the mandated territory. the Mandatory Power to ensure that
Mandate for Palestine The Jews, in contrast, were at that the civil and religious rights of all
time only about 10 per cent of the popu- non-Jewish inhabitants be protected.
The Mandate for Palestine states: “Rec- lation in Palestine. Most of the ben- Their rights were also addressed in
ognition has thereby been given to the eficiaries of the Mandate for Palestine the provisions ensuring the protection
historical connection of the Jewish peo- – the Jewish people – were thus living of the Holy Places and religious build-
ple with Palestine and to the grounds outside the Mandate area. The creation ings and sites, freedom of conscience,
for reconstituting their National Home of the Jewish Homeland could only be race, religion and worship, and the
in that country.” This immediately brought about by making it possible celebration of holy days. Indeed, the
shows the unique character of the for Jews to return to the land of their protection of minority rights referred
Mandate for Palestine when compared forefathers and to settle in the land. to in the Balfour Declaration is today
with the other Mandates, which created one of the central features of the Israeli
Rights of Inhabitants Declaration of Independence, making
Andrew Tucker was born in Israel the only true democracy in the
Canberra and grew up in Mel- The Balfour Declaration and the Man- Middle East.
bourne, Australia. He graduated date for Palestine are often criticised
in 1986 in law and history at the for having effectively imposed a ‘Jewish’ ‘National Home’
University of Melbourne, and in State on the Arab inhabitants of the land.
1992 obtained a Bachelor of Civil Laws degree There are two answers to this. The Balfour Declaration referred to a
at the University of Oxford. Following a career
as a commercial lawyer, Andrew has served First, the Palestine Mandate was ‘National Home’ rather than a ‘State’.
as Executive Director of Christians for Israel part of the total Mandate system that For those involved in the creation of the
International since 2004, and since 2008 as expressly intended and achieved the Balfour Declaration, it was clear that
Legal Counsel to the European Coalition for foundation for the establishment of the ultimate goal of the Mandate was
Israel (ECI). He is founding director of The several new Arab nation-states in the to enable the creation of a Jewish state.
Hague Initiative for International
Cooperation (thinc). former Turkish territories - Syria, Leba- Lord Balfour declared three months af-