NZFOI: Mentioning the San Remo Conference often draws blank stares because it seems like an artefact of the past and its relevance is not apparent. But San Remo begins a chain of events that legitimizes the existence of the modern state of Israel in today’s international law. Consequently when the ignorant or the disingenuous say that Israel has no standing in international law and its existence is a contravention of international law, they are wrong. Here is an easy to digeset article from Melanie Philips that sets out the facts. April 26 marks the centenary of this remarkable conference.
One hundred years ago this Sunday, the four principal allied powers involved in World War I signed a resolution at San Remo. Next week, Israel celebrates Yom Ha’atzmaut, the 72nd anniversary of the state’s declaration of independence.
Typically, the world thinks that the key step towards the establishment of the State of Israel was the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the statement in which the British government committed itself to work for the establishment of a Jewish home in what was then called Palestine.
Relatively little attention has been paid to the more important milestone in that story: the San Remo resolution signed on April 26, 1920.
For it was at San Remo that Britain, France, Italy and Japan turned the Balfour Declaration into an internationally binding treaty to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine, with Britain being given the mandate to facilitate Jewish immigration there.
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