San Remo Conference and
a Brief
History Lesson
So yesterday someone left a comment on my Voice in the Desert Facebook page that said, “Palestine resembles Auschwitz.”
There are several things wrong with this statement…not the least of which is the fact that basic world geography will show that there is no place on earth called “Palestine.” But there is also the very insulting comparison that Israel, which is what I assume he meant when he said “Palestine,” is somehow comparable to Auschwitz, the most horrible of Nazi death camps. Not to mention the insinuation that Israel is “occupying” the land of “Palestine.”
So I thought a brief history lesson was in order.
First off, Gaza and the West Bank are not occupied territory. Let me repeat that. Gaza and the West Bank are not occupied territory. Let me give you a very brief explanation as to why.
The San Remo Resolution, adopted on April 25, 1920, and which incorporated the Balfour Declaration of 1917, was one of the documents that the League of Nations based their “British Mandate for Palestine.” Under the Balfour Declaration and the San Remo Resolution, the British government had assumed the responsibility to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine without prejudice. This, as you can see, was all before WWII and 1948. The League of Nations had long before decided that this land should be the national homeland for the Jewish people. The nations of the WORLD had made this decision and agreed to work toward this goal.
Article 6 of “The Mandate for Palestine” reads:
The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions and shall encourage, in co-operation with the Jewish agency referred to in Article 4, close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not required for public purposes.
Article 6, therefore, commands the British government to encouragement “settlement” on the land of Palestine from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, which includes the West Bank and Gaza.
In 2005, in an effort to broker a peace agreement with the Palestinians, Israel withdrew from Gaza and the West Bank and demolished many Israeli homes and settlements in the area. By pulling out of Gaza and the West Bank, Israel ensured that Hamas and other terrorist groups in the region would establish a stronghold in these territories. So, Israel isn’t occupying Gaza or the West Bank. They have left these disputed areas and allowed the Palestinians to elect their government…..Hamas.
I have personally been to Israel on several occasions (I have never been to “Palestine” seeing as I do not have a time machine) and have never once seen work houses or gas chambers or concentration camps or internment camps set up in the Arab quarter or any area of Israel designated especially for Arabs. I have, however, seen many free Arabs running their own businesses and living in homes near the holiest site to Judaism while Jews and Christians are not allowed to take Bibles or pray on the very same spot. As a side note, the Koran never EVER even mentions Jerusalem so the Arab’s dedication to the place is a bit suspect in my eyes. Additionally, Arabs are fairly represented in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) by their own elected officials.
I really hope that people who cry against the LEGAL state of Israel are also decrying the occupation of Syria and Iraq by ISIS or that they also cry out against the treatment of Iranians by the dictators in government. Perhaps they are troubled when they hear about the tyranny in Iran, Syria, or Iraq, or any area of the world that is controlled by Sharia Law or Muslim terrorists. If not, then the argument that Israel is occupying land that belongs to another people is looking pretty thin.
I also hope that everyone is doing their own research into this topic and not just adopting the politically correct position. Heinous comparisons like “Palestine resembles Auschwitz” is not only an ignorant statement to make but also an insult to democracy around the world and to the 6 million Jews who were violently murdered during the Holocaust.
RM #100747798Portraits of attendees of the San Remo conference (19-26 April 1920) Francesco Saverio Nitti, Prime Minister of Italy, Alexandre Millerand, Prime Minister of France, David LLoyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Eleftherios Venizelos, Prime Minister of Greece, and Belgian politician Paul Hymans. Top Centre, a portrait of Marshal of France Ferdinand Foch. Frontpage of French newspaper Le petit journal . May 2nd, 1920. Private Collection
Napoleon Bonaparte's Letter to the Jews
ReplyDeleteApril 20,, 1799
Introduction
In 1799, the French armies under Napoleon were camped outside of Acre. Napoleon issued a letter offering Palestine as a homeland to the Jews under French protection. The project was stillborn because Napoleon was defeated and was forced to withdraw from the Near East. The letter is remarkable because it marks the coming of age of enlightenment philosophy, making it respectable at last to integrate Jews as equal citizens in Europe and because it marked the beginning of nineteenth century projects for Jewish autonomy in Palestine under a colonial protectorate. After the defeat of Napoleon, it was largely the British who carried forward these projects, which have in hindsight been given the somewhat misleading name of "British Zionism."
Letter to the Jewish Nation from the French Commander-in-Chief Buonaparte
(translated from the Original, 1799)
General Headquarters, Jerusalem 1st Floreal, April 20th, 1799,
in the year of 7 of the French Republic
BUONAPARTE, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMIES OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC
IN AFRICA AND ASIA, TO THE RIGHTFUL HEIRS OF PALESTINE.
Israelites, unique nation, whom, in thousands of years, lust of conquest and tyranny have been able to be deprived of their ancestral lands, but not of name and national existence !
Attentive and impartial observers of the destinies of nations, even though not endowed with the gifts of seers like Isaiah and Joel, have long since also felt what these, with beautiful and uplifting faith, have foretold when they saw the approaching destruction of their kingdom and fatherland: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 35,10)
Arise then, with gladness, ye exiled ! A war unexampled In the annals of history, waged in self-defense by a nation whose hereditary lands were regarded by its enemies as plunder to be divided, arbitrarily and at their convenience, by a stroke of the pen of Cabinets, avenges its own shame and the shame of the remotest nations, long forgotten under the yoke of slavery, and also, the almost two-thousand-year-old ignominy put upon you; and, while time and circumstances would seem to be least favourable to a restatement of your claims or even to their expression ,and indeed to be compelling their complet abandonment, it offers to you at this very time, and contrary to all expectations, Israel's patrimony !
The young army with which Providence has sent me hither, let by justice and accompanied by victory, has made Jerusalem my head-quarters and will, within a few days, transfer them to Damascus, a proximity which is no longer terrifying to David's city.
Rightful heirs of Palestine !
The great nation which does not trade in men and countries as did those which sold your ancestors unto all people (Joel,4,6) herewith calls on you not indeed to conquer your patrimony ;nay, only to take over that which has been conquered and, with that nation's warranty and support, to remain master of it to maintain it against all comers.
Arise ! Show that the former overwhelming might of your oppressors has but repressed the courage of the descendants of those heroes who alliance of brothers would have done honour even to Sparta and Rome (Maccabees 12, 15) but that the two thousand years of treatment as slaves have not succeeded in stifling it.
Hasten !, Now is the moment, which may not return for thousands of years, to claim the restoration of civic rights among the population of the universe which had been shamefully withheld from you for thousands of years, your political existence as a nation among the nations, and the unlimited natural right to worship Jehovah in accordance with your faith, publicly and most probably forever (JoeI 4,20).
Napoleon and the Jews - Napoleon was the first leader in Europe to grant liberty, equality and fraternity to all religions
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