In short, The San Remo Conference of April 1920 re-affirmed Jewish rights to all the Land of Israel, and re-established the legal foundation and borders of Israel under international law.
In the wake of World War I and the defeat of the Ottoman and German forces, leaders of the Allied Powers set out to reorganize Europe, and particularly the wide reach of the defeated Ottoman Empire. As part of the effort to do so, a conference took place in London in the winter of 1920, followed by the San Remo Conference, which convened 100 years ago this week.
San Remo was significant in many ways, but it’s perhaps best well known for the partitioning of the Ottoman controlled Middle East. It established an irreversible precedent and support for the re-establishment of a Jewish state in all of Israel. Given how dramatic the outcome of San Remo Conference of April 1920 was, it’s surprising that this is among the least known, recognized and celebrated milestones as a cornerstone of Israel’s establishment.
The participating leaders represented Britain, France, Italy and Japan, and they convened and concluded the San Remo Resolution, which established “mandates” for three former Ottoman territories and was ratified by the League of Nations. These included “Palestine,” “Syria,” and “Mesopotamia.”
This followed the 1915-1916 McMahon–Hussein correspondence and the secret 1916 Sykes–Picot Agreement, which, albeit contradictory, established precedent for independent Arab states under leadership that the French and British essentially handpicked based on alliances and commitments they had made, and their respective interests. McMahon-Hussein committed to Arab independence in exchange for support against the Ottomans, and Sykes-Picot divided up the Ottoman Empire even before the end of, and Ottoman loss in, WWI.
Essentially, San Remo Conference of April 1920 divided up the remnants of the defeated Ottoman Empire, which controlled much of the Middle East for some 400 years. San Remo provided exclusive legal and political rights in all of “Palestine” to the Jews and set aside similar rights for Arabs in the rest of the Arab world. The “mandates” for Syria, Mesopotamia, and Palestine were established under French and British control. They were empowered to carry out the mandates until the respective territories could “stand alone.”
Mandate Included All of Israel and Modern Jordan
The British mandate for Palestine included all of Israel and modern Jordan, and Mesopotamia, today’s Iraq. France gained control of Syria, including modern Lebanon.
The San Remo Resolution was adopted on April 25, 1920 and incorporated the historic 1917 Balfour Declaration. Through the Balfour Declaration, the British government committed as trustee of the Jewish people to “the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in all of Palestine.” This became a central foundation upon which the British Mandate for Palestine was established.
Under Balfour, a world power went on record as prioritizing the re-establishment of a Jewish state. By incorporating The Balfour Declaration of 1917 into San Remo resolution of April 1920 as international law, which was adopted by the League of Nations and signed by 51 countries, there was now world recognition, affirmation, and commitment to that.
While many are erring and interpreted that the commitment under Balfour to establish a Jewish state in Palestine did not include eastern Palestine, today’s Jordan, if did affirm that Britain as trustee for the Jewish people would be “responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on the 8th November, 1917, by the British Government, and adopted by the other Allied Powers, in favor of the re-establishment in all of 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, and or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country in the world.”
In short, San Remo Conference of April 1920 re-affirmed Jewish rights to all the Land of Israel, and re-established the legal foundation and borders of Israel under international law. It was so significant that British Lord Curzon is said to have called it Israel’s Magna Carta.
Because of the significance of San Remo Conference of April 1920, outside observers included the United States and representatives of the Jewish leadership of Israel at the time, including Chaim Weizmann, who would become Israel’s first president nearly two decades later. That the San Remo Conference took place immediately following Passover, when the Jewish people celebrate their liberation and exodus from slavery in Egypt, was especially significant. So much so that Weizmann declared that the Jewish state was reborn on April 25, 1920 in San Remo.
Not since the Balfour Declaration of 1917 was there such a significant milestone toward re-establishing Jewish sovereignty in all the Land of Israel. San Remo Conference of April 1920 was celebrated widely by Jewish communities across the world. This would not happen again until the 1947 UN partition vote (which is only a recommendation with no legal standing) and Israel’s May 1948 declaration of independence.
The division of the former Ottoman Empire under San Remo of April 1920 established many precedents toward the re-establishment of a Jewish State. Lord Balfour, author of the Balfour Declaration on behalf of the British government, explained that it provided a niche for the Jewish people within the predominantly Arab controlled Middle East.
San Remo Supersedes Later UN Resolutions
Howard Grief, author of The Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel Under International Law, explains that the San Remo resolution of April 1920 supersedes even later UN resolutions according to a precedent in international law that once you recognize a certain situation and execute it, you cannot reverse or change it.
It’s understandable why Balfour and the 1947 UN partition plan are celebrated as significant milestones.They are. But San Remo of April 1920 was an inextricable link between the two. The resolution adopted represented the first time in 2000 years, since the Roman conquering of Israel, the destruction of the Second Temple, and the ensuing exile, that the international community called for the re-establishment and restoration of a Jewish homeland in the historic Land of Israel.
With 51 world powers and the UN’s predecessor, the League of Nations adopting San Remo’s resolution of April 1920, it not only re-established the legal right for Jews to settle all of Israel, but mandated the world’s obligation to help do so.
While San Remo Conference of April 1920 and all the other events such as the Treaty of Sevres Article 95 in August 1920 leading up to the restoration of Jewish sovereignty to all the Land of Israel are significant, whether or not the players in this process were cognizant of it or motivated by it, ultimately these all simply affirmed the biblical authority and promise by God to do so.
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