Balfour Declaration Centenary shames Arab and UN deniers…writes David Singer
The continuing Arab refusal – aided and abetted by the United Nations – to recognise the international legitimacy of the Balfour Declaration 100 years after it was first issued on 2 November 1917 – remain the greatest obstacles to resolving the Jewish–Arab conflict.
The current Arab culprits are the Arab League, the PLO and Hamas who unconditionally reject the binding international legal validity of the Balfour Declaration. However their efforts to nullify the Balfour Declaration would have been undermined long ago had the United Nations not lent its support by propagating a fictitious narrative of the Jewish-Arab conflict.
United Nations involvement has occurred through the “Division for Palestinian Rights of the United Nations Secretariat for, and under the guidance of, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People” which has published “The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem 1917-1988” containing numerous false and misleading facts on the Jewish-Arab conflict which remain uncorrected.
The Balfour Declaration – when issued – was merely a “declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations” having no binding legal effect – since “Palestine” was still then part of Turkey’s Ottoman Empire and had been so for the previous 400 years.
The Balfour Declaration first gained international endorsement following Turkey’s defeat in World War 1 when the Treaty of Sevres – concluding a truce with Turkey – was signed on 10 August 1920 by:
- The British Empire, France, Italy and Japan (“The Principal Allied Powers”)
- Armenia, Belgium, Greece, the Hedjaz, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, the Serb-Croat-Slovene State and Czechoslovakia (constituting with the Principal Allied Powers “the Allied Powers”) and
- Turkey
Article 95 of the Treaty provided for:
“the administration of Palestine, within such boundaries as may be determined by the Principal Allied Powers, to a Mandatory to be selected by the said Powers. The Mandatory will be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2, 1917, by the British Government, and adopted by the other Allied Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the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, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
This acceptance of the Balfour Declaration by the Allied Powers was subsequently embraced by all 51 member countries of the League of Nations on 24 July 1922 – when the terms of the Balfour Declaration were incorporated in the preamble to the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.
Those 51 countries were:
Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, British India, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Persia, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of China, Romania, Siam, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Union of South Africa, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Article 25 of the Mandate was subsequently invoked on 23 September 1922 to restrict the Jewish National Home to just 22% of the territory encompassed by the Mandate – whilst the remaining 78% eventually became an Arabs-only, Jew-free State in 1946 – now called Jordan.
The Jews reluctantly accepted these decisions – but the Arabs never have. The Arabs (with the exception of Jordan and Egypt) still claim 100% of former Palestine by refusing to recognise the Jewish State.
Peace cannot occur until the UN demands Arab recognition of the Balfour Declaration. The UN’s continuing refusal to do so is truly shameful.
David Singer is a Sydney Lawyer and Foundation Member of the International Analysts Network
The unilateral Arab resort to war and aggression removes any obligation on Israel to observe those elements of the Declaration that predicate observance to the rights of the Arab population as a sine qua non for delivery of the Declaration itself.
No party to a contract is morally or legally obliged to uphold the benefits to a counter party in said contract where the counter party completely rescinds and tears up the contract. This applies to the UN as well. Israel is not obliged to obey the tyranny of unilateral ‘laws’ that are enjoined on her whilst their breach by Arabs incurs no sanction or detriment.
This present situation is a mockery of law and renders the UN as a bankrupt organ without any legitimacy or authority other than resort to arguments by force of numbers alone.
Good on you David!
You are one of the few people that actually KNOWS our history very well. And thank you for sharing the Historical Facts with such clarity.
The more I learn about History, the less respect I have for “Humanity”. (there are individual exceptions)
It’s no secret that “…the world is a world of lies” and “…the UN is the House of Lies”
As to “…the greatest obstacles to resolving the Jewish–Arab conflict….” you are suggesting that there is a “resolution” to the “conflict”; I no longer think so.
You and I, as all Jews are representatives of “Honesty and Integrity” and no amount of External LABELS can Change that; our essence remains the same.
“…in every Generation….” they tried to alter Historical Facts by humiliating, dishonouring and attempting to “…Obliterate their [Our] history”.
This was also done by placing false “garments” /Labels upon us and on Our Land: Eretz Israel. None of their actions (some of which were self imposed) have altered or touch our Essence. Torture & Murder was always part of the “process”.
[On our Bodies they forced us to wear “funny” Hats & Clothes, Star of David etc etc. On our Land they also placed Labels: “Palestine”; “Syria Judaea”; “Syria Palestina”; “Aelia Capitalina” (Jerusalem!); “West Bank” (Judea & Samaria!). These were only some of the Levushim (External Garments) that we were wearing either by Force or to “Please” them.
Knowing these Historical Facts; I no longer think that the UN nor the (newly labeled) “Palestinians” & their Friends can be influenced or altered. There would have to be a Metamorphosis; and that is not likely.
The only deterrent “they” understand is FORCE. That is why Israel must have a Strong DEFENCE Force.
In the mean time; keep on writing the TRUTH. Which you do so Very Well!
Joe Weinstein
There is only one t
Joe,
Your frustration is palpable! I can only wonder at the depth of that frustration.
It is a well known observation that the Arab mind appears to consider compromise as weakness. Attempts to negotiate invariably meet with disappointment. Time, and life itself, seem to be of little consequence to Israel’s tormentors.
But, with respect, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a covenant keeper. The Hebrew Scriptures declares those covenants without reservation. The Prophet Zechariah, over 2,500 years ago, on the instruction of a holy God said “He who touches you (Israel) touches the apple of His eye”. He went further “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord of hosts” in reference to a future day when all Israel’s enemies will be called to account.
There is a day of reckoning, and the end of the Book declares you (Jews) the winner! But waiting is quite frustrating isn’t it?
Joe
You state:
” you are suggesting that there is a “resolution” to the “conflict”; I no longer think so.”
Don’t give up hope.
Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.
Jordan and Israel can do a deal to resolve Jewish and Arab claims to Judea, Samaria and Gaza – an area one-twelfth the size of Tasmania. Given the size of the land area in dispute – one can only shake one’s head in bewilderment that it is taking so long to eventuate.
Get Israel and Jordan to the negotiating table and a result should be forthcoming in three months.
Everyone forgets this part – “it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice … the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
Gary
Point well taken
It’s a point which, if stressed as much as other clauses of the Balfour Declaration, could entail interesting implications. Any sovereign state which breached this has no right to make demands on Jews, whether within or external to Israel.
In parallel with this, but as a more general concept, the UN Charter should have among its clauses that any state at war with another can not table a motion or vote on any motion related to affairs of that state which they treat with enmity.
What a novel, but perfectly sane suggestion.
But getting that approved by an overtly immoral majority, who make up Israel’s detractors, would be just as difficult as having them consider issues concerning Israel on merit.
Melanie Phillips has written an enlightening insight into the British Government’s position on this matter.
She titles it “BRITS STILL TWO-FACED ON THE BALFOUR DECLARATION”
Worth a read. It discusses a very recent speech to the UN by Britain’s permanent representative to the UN. Alarming really.
So London can’t mention a geographical identification such as PALSTINE? And who in 1917 is gunna tell London that, an orange-stall Jew or a country bumkin Israel-Firster?
Fact is, Zionism wasn’t the will of the world’s Jews, 1917. And BLOODY BALFOUR got his name from
Matt
You need to get over it. There is a Jewish State in 2017 established on a piece of land one third the size of Tasmania. Recognise that reality and get on with life.
What happened in 1917 is done and dusted and is not going to be overturned after the World at that time adopted the Balfour Declaration.
The Palestinian Arabs have got your mentality. It has seen them retreating backwards in 1922, then progressively further and even further in 1937, 1947, between 1948 and 1967, 2000/1 and 2008.
Sheer madness.
Imagine how many Jews and Arabs would be alive today had the Palestinian Arabs accepted the 78% of Palestine offered to them in 1922.
David,
Surely you did not ‘make that all up yourself’?
So it must be knowledge in the public domain. I confess to only having a brief overview of those facts prior to reading your post.
How widely is that post published? Is it beyond the realms of possibility to bring it to the attention of the Foreign Ministers of UN member countries?
I remember Julie Bishop, in a speech a year or so ago, drawing attention to the permanency of the legality of the UN decision on the establishment of a Jewish State.
BUT, we are living in times when “authority”, legal or otherwise, is challenged by all kinds of malcontents.
The Hebrew Scriptures has a bit to say about that!!
Roy
No – nothing is made up.
What is made up is the false narrative in the UN document I refer to in my article.
Please feel free to send the article to all 193 member states of the UN and the Secretary General. Ask them to point out any false or misleading facts. I will be more than happy to deal with any responses any of them care to make to you.
No sooner had the Mandate been granted than British governments began the process of attempting effectively to undo it.
The lowest depths of British perfidy occurred during the Holocaust period, when their policy in effect consigned a multitude of Jews to certain death.
Even today the British government is making noises that amount to a falsification of the terms and spirit of the Mandate.
The date of the granting of the Mandate by The League of Nations should be commemorated, rather than the Balfour Declaration. The latter was an expression of an intention: the former is an instrument of international law.
Leon:
You must not lose sight of the fact that an expression of intention when issuing the Balfour Declaration in 1917 was transformed into a binding legal obligation when it was endorsed and incorporated in the Treaty of Sevres in 1920 and unanimously by all the members of the League of Nations in approving the terms of the Mandate for Palestine in 1922.
The 100th Anniversaries of both the Treaty of Sevres and the Mandate for Palestine will hopefully be commemorated in the same way as the centenary of the Balfour Declaration will be celebrated on 2 November 2017