Summary
The argument emphasizes July 24, 1922 as a foundational milestone in Israel’s history due to the League of Nations’ approval of the Mandate for Palestine. It contends that this decision established international recognition of the Jewish people’s historical connection to the land decades before Israel’s declaration of independence. It also argues that later developments, including the United Nations Charter and the rejection of the 1947 Partition Plan by Arab leaders, reinforced the significance of this earlier decision. The conclusion calls for national recognition of July 24 as a holiday commemorating this historical milestone.
Key Takeaways
- July 24, 1922 is presented as a pivotal date because the League of Nations approved the Mandate for Palestine, recognizing the historical connection of the Jewish people to the land and supporting the reconstitution of a national home.
- The argument maintains that international recognition of a Jewish national homeland predated both the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel, challenging claims that Israel’s legitimacy arose solely from post-World War II events.
- The conclusion proposes that July 24 should become a national holiday to commemorate the international recognition viewed as a foundational source of Israel’s legitimacy.
Of all the foundational dates in Israel’s history, July 24th is the most significant omission from the national holiday schedule.
In Israel, the most important non-religious date is the 5th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar. That was the day on the Jewish calendar that corresponded to May 14, 1948, when David Ben Gurion declared the establishment and independence of the State of Israel.
While July 24th is less widely celebrated, it is arguably the most significant in establishing Israel’s legitimacy. This is the main argument of this piece.
Critics often falsely claim that Israel was created only as a result of European guilt for the Holocaust. This claim aims to deny the Jewish people’s historical connection to Israel, promote propaganda that labels Israel as a colonialist state, and rewrite history.
In reality, the international community decided to allocate the area from Lebanon in the north, to the Red Sea in the south, and from the Jordan River in the east, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, for the purpose of “reestablishing” the Jewish national homeland 26 years before Ben Gurion’s declaration. The community made this decision more than a decade before Hitler and his Nazi Party came to power in Germany.
After WWI, the Allied Powers met in Paris to discuss the division of the defeated Ottoman Empire. Among their decisions was allocating the area called “Palestine” to create a Jewish national homeland. These decisions were ratified in April 1920 at the San Remo Conference in Italy.
To implement the decisions, the newly founded League of Nations established the Mandate system. Under it, an allied power temporarily controlled an area until the local population could assume its own governance.
On July 18th and 20th, 1922, the League of Nations granted mandates over different areas to France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. On July 24th, it addressed the Middle East, issuing two mandates. France received the mandate over Syria and Lebanon, and the United Kingdom received the mandate over Palestine.
The French Mandate over Syria and Lebanon was the final nail in Faisal bin Hussein’s failed attempt to declare Syrian independence.
In contrast to other mandates, the League of Nations made the Mandate for Palestine clear. The mandate stated that establishing the Jewish national homeland in Palestine did not result from random colonialism, but was a recognized historical fact. The preamble explicitly noted, “recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.” The mandate also required the Mandatory to ensure that no Palestine territory would be ceded, leased, or placed under the control of any foreign Power.
At that time, Palestine included modern-day Israel, Judea, Samaria, and all of Jerusalem. The League of Nations granted the United Kingdom authority to partition an area east of the Jordan River, later known as “Trans-Jordan.” This new area would become the modern-day Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
From a historical perspective, July 24, 1922, marks the day the international community both recognized the Jewish people’s historical connection to the Land of Israel and formally ordered the reconstitution of their national homeland.
The League of Nations was disbanded after World War II and replaced by the United Nations. Article 80 of the UN charter kept mandates still in force, including the Mandate for Palestine, without reservation or amendment.
Accordingly, in its charter, the UN adopted the international community’s decision to reconstitute the Jewish national homeland in the entire area from Lebanon in the north to the Red Sea in the south, from the Jordan River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
In 1947, the UN General Assembly tried to change the Mandate through the UN Partition Plan. Adopting this plan could have created a second country to the west of the Jordan River. However, the Arabs rejected the option, refusing any Jewish state on any territory.
Ben Gurion’s declaration of independence was of tremendous historical importance. Equally important, though now forgotten, was the international community’s recognition of the Jewish people’s right to reconstitute their national entity in their ancestral homeland.
This is why, to commemorate the international community’s decisive recognition, Israel should designate July 24th as a national holiday, highlighting the foundational legitimacy rooted in this date.
