OCTOBER 2011 NEWSLETTER
A photo of the San Remo Conference in Italy in 1920 Israelnews, October 2011
Israel’s legal and historic rights to Palestine
Remember the WW1 San Remo Conference document!
The Conference of San Remo, April 19–26, 1920, was an international meeting convened at San Remo, on the Italian Riviera, to decide the future of the former territories of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, one of the defeated Central Powers in World War I. The conference was attended by the prime ministers of Great Britain, France, and Italy, and representatives of Japan, Greece, and BelgiumDforming the Supreme Council of the Principal Allied Powers.
The conference approved the final framework of the peace treaty with Turkey, provided for an independent Armenia, and autonomous Kurdistan, recognized Turkey’s current boundaries, and created two “A” mandates out of the old Ottoman province of Syria: the northern half (Syria and Lebanon) was mandated to France and the southern half, Palestine, to Great Britain. Acknowledging Jewish historic ties, the western half of the British Mandate of Palestine was given to the Jewish people by the Supreme Council, which set forth a document to reconstitute the Jewish national home in Palestine. Under the terms of an “A” mandate, the individual countries were deemed independent but subject to a mandatory power (France or Britain) until they reached political maturity.
It is important to point out that the same document granted legal rights also to Arabs in the two Arab mandates (four Arab countries) that were created from the former Ottoman EmpireDLebanon and Syria (French Mandate), Iraq and Trans-Jordan (eastern half of the British Mandate). Palestine, the western half of the British Mandate, was designated to Jews. This document remains irrevocable, legally binding and valid to this day. The outcome of creating the mandates gave birth to the “Mandate of Palestine,” a historical League of Nations document that laid down the Jewish legal right to settle anywhere in the western British Mandate of Palestine (see the map).
On July 24, 1922, the entire League of Nations (fifty-one member countries) unanimously declared: “Whereas recognition has 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 statement from the 2010 commemoration of the 90th Anniversary of the San Remo 1920 Conference attests:
“Recalling that such a seminal event as the San Remo Conference in 1920 has been forgotten or ignored by the community of nations, and [that] the rights it conferred upon the Jewish people have been unlawfully dismissed, curtailed and denied. Asserting that a just and lasting peace, leading to the acceptance of secure and recognized borders between all states in the region, can only be achieved by recognizing the long established right of the Jewish people under international law.” Any attempt to negate the Jewish people’s right to Palestine, the land of Israel today, and to deny them access and control over the area designated for the Jewish people is a serious infringement of international law.
The British Mandate of Palestine (1923-1948):
Western half was designated as the Jewish National Home, and the eastern half, Trans-Jordan (and Iraq), as Arab mandates.
(Excerpts: Statement from the Commemoration of the 90th Anniversary of the San Remo1920 Conference, held in San Remo, Italy, April 25, 2010; “Give Peace a Chance” documentary, Encyclopedia Britannica and other on-line resources.)
Prophetic Word for Great Britain, delivered by Lance Lambert
On August 6–10, several London neighborhoods and districts of cities and towns across England suffered widespread rioting, looting and arson. Also in this case the social media was used to mobilize people to riot, urging them to overcome the police forces, which they did. Looting and burning on an unprecedented level destroyed businesses and homes. Five people died and hundreds more were injured. The timing of these events was remarkable since the following word to Lance was given in the first day of the riots, August 6.
“Hear the voice of the Lord, O Isles that I have so greatly loved and favored. I, the Lord, the Almighty, I took you when you were nothing, clothed with skins and rags, and through My saving power, I made you great. When you were nothing, through My Word and your faith in Me, I lifted you and made you Great Britain. Through many awakenings and many revivals, stage by stage, I took you until you became a great power with the greatest Empire in the history of the nations. From you My Gospel and My Word went throughout the world, and tens of thousands came into an experience of saving faith.
That Empire, with all of its many failings and weaknesses, was still one of the most just and righteous empires of history. Those isles of yours were soaked with the blood of My faithful martyrs, and its soil received the burnt ashes of those who would not renounce My Name, My Truth, and My Word. I, the Lord, have not forgotten those who gave their all for Me.
But now, the whole nation that I created and sustained has turned from Me. They paganize their land, state and institutions; there is no voice heard to warn the nation. False religion, the work of world rulers of darkness, covers your isles; a Laodicean church, neither hot nor cold, rumbles on like machinery. It is a church where I am outside of its routine, its organization and its methodology. It is Christianity without Me: Religion without Me!
My being is seared with pain, for judgment is determined against your land. I can do no other. I will destroy the vestiges of her greatness; I will return her to her first estate. I will wreck her economy, destabilize her in every way. I will change her climate, even her weather. I will prove to her that the way of the transgressor is hard and terrible. I will allow demonic forces held in check erstwhile by My Word and Gospel, and the living faith of so many to become rampant in her social life, to the destruction of her society.
Will you who know Me and love Me go blind and dumb and deaf into this judgment? It is time for you who love Me, who are faithful to Me, to take action! Stand before Me and plead the finished work of My Son. At least cry out to Me, that there will be those who turn from darkness, from sin, and be saved. For whosoever shall call upon My Name in the midst of these judgments, I will save!
It will cost you everything to stand in the gap, but you will enter into My heart and know deep fellowship with Me. Such travail conceived in your heart by My Spirit will cost you deeply, but it will end in My Throne and Glory.” Lance Lambert, Jerusalem
(For additional prophetic words delivered by Lance Lambert, visit www.lancelambert.org.) Photo: Firefighters douse one of the many shops and flats destroyed by arson during riots in North London in August.)
Israel under siege
Unilateral declaration of a new state?
When you read this newsletter, a vote at the UN Security Council for another Arab state has most likely taken place. The Palestinian Authority is demanding a state for its population of about 5 million, with East Jerusalem as its capital. It seems that the PA leadership has forgotten that there are already 21existing Middle East Arab states with population of about 280 million, where Palestinians may well settle among their brethren. Note that there is only one Jewish state in the world as decided in San Remo in 1920.
As you read in the cover page, the 1920 San Remo Document granted Arabs right to settle in the other mandates that were formed from the former Ottoman Empire. Their rights were and still are fully protected in 21 Arab states, but not in Israel, which is the Jewish western-half of the British Mandate of Palestine. (Trans-) Jordan would be a natural choice for the PA Palestinians, as it is one of the original Arab mandates and because 68 percent of today’s Jordanians are classified as Palestinians. However, meeting with writers and academics in Amman in September, Jordanian King Abdullah II said that the “Jordanian option,” or the “resettlement of Palestinian Arabs in Jordan as their future state, is a baseless political fantasy!” His father, King Hussein, drove Yasser Arafat and his forces out of Jordan in 1971, and since Abdullah succeeded him in 1999, he has kept the current Palestinians out of his country, as well. When Jordan ousted Arafat’s forces, they entered Lebanon since Syria did not welcome them, either. For years they caused chaos and hundreds of thousands of casualties, especially among Lebanese Christians, before Arafat was exiled to Tunisia in 1993. Only a year later Arafat and his forces were allowed into Jericho─leading to the long road of “Peace Accords.”
Turkey cuts diplomatic ties with Israel
On September 11, Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey “totally suspends” trade, military and defense industry ties with Israel over Israel’s raid on the Turkey-sponsored [terrorist] flotilla, Mavi Marmara, last year. On September 12, Erdogan significantly increased the likelihood of an Israeli-Turkish military clash when he dispatched a naval task force to the eastern Mediterranean with orders to confront Israeli warships. Israel says it will not back down on its maritime blockade of Gaza, which the UN-commissioned Palmer Committee certified just last month as legal and legitimate. While the Palmer Report criticized Israel for the level of force used in subduing the Turkish flotilla in 2010, it approved of Israel’s enforcement of the Gaza blockade, even in international waters.
Israeli Embassy in Cairo attacked
An angry mob, storming the Israeli Embassy in Cairo on September 9, nearly ended in a catastrophe that could have set off a regional wildfire. The incident began when close to 5,000 Egyptian demonstrators, taking part in an ongoing anti-government protest in central Cairo, decided to take out their frustration on the nearby Israeli Embassy. Protestors were armed with a variety of metal bars and other weapons. As the sustained assault continued into the night, Israel decided to evacuate the Embassy staff of about 80 diplomats and their families. A team of Egyptian commandoes led Israelis away to the airport and to safety in Israel. But left behind were six Israeli security guards.
What started out as a presumably symbolic assault, by taking down the Israeli flag, turned deadly when some of the rioters entered the Embassy compound. As the situation became increasingly dangerous and fearing to be lynched, the guards were in contact with PM Netanyahu, asking him personally to pass on their farewells to their families. According to the Israeli news media, Netanyahu called President Obama to get the Egyptians finally to move and rescue the trapped guards. After the guards were safely in Israel, Netanyahu expressed his gratitude toward Obama, Egyptian government and the Egyptian commandoes for the rescue operation. Israel’s reaction to the assault was not to lash out at Egypt, but rather to reassert its commitment to peace with its neighbor and to thank the current Egyptian regime for its commitment to protecting the Israeli mission.
It was interesting to contrast that response to the Egyptian government’s hostile outburst last month following the deaths of five Egyptian police officers caught in the crossfire when Israeli forces were hunting Palestinian terrorists along the Israel-Egypt border. Many Israeli commentators note that, had that Cairo event taken place at the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel would have been held directly responsible and the UN would have ordered a commission to investigate. (The Jerusalem Post, Israel Today Magazine)
October project: IDF soldiers
A letter from Malkia
Troops thank you
In May we visited the 605th Ha-MaHatz (or “The Crush” ) Armored Engineer Battalion, Unit 10, on the Lebanon border. In August we received an official thank you letter (in Hebrew) from the base Commander Or, who wrote on behalf of the troops. He expressed their sincere appreciation, saying that they will never forget the kindness and the practical help you and we had provided them. I am pleased to convey the Commander’s thanks to you, because without you, dear friends and supporters, we would not have had much to give them. I am going to frame the letter and post it in a prominent location in our office.
We want to continue providing practical assistance and encouragement to soldiers in several IDF bases; therefore, this October’s appeal is for lonely, injured, and other needy soldiers in all the bases throughout Israel. –Hannele Pardain
CFI–USA Calendar 2012
Order now our full color calendar with monthly Bible quotations. Purchasing a calendar will help us to continue supporting Israel in these darkening days. The cover photo is from the Israel Supreme Court in Jerusalem. Purchase CAL $15.00
Yom Kippur War in 1973 (DVD)
In September 6, 1973, Israel’s enemies joined together to strike her in a surprise attack that left the tiny nation pathetically outnumbered. Warnings of attack had gone unheeded, for it was too unbelievable that even the most heartless foe would declare war on the holiest day in the Jewish year. This black day marked the beginning of what was to become one of Israel’s most fatal wars. Against far more advanced Soviet weapons, the entire populace of Israel rushed from their synagogues to the battlefronts to defend the Jewish Homeland with whatever they had. Yet despite the rapid defeat of the Arab forces, this war, more than any other, would leave a lasting scar on the hearts and minds of the Jewish people. Out of darkness and betrayal have come countless stories of heroism, marvelous defeats, legendary victories, and most of all: miraculous survival! The Story of the Yom Kippur War carries you through those suspenseful days, from warning to ceasefire, with detailed maps, clearly illustrated attack points, and up-close footage from both the home and the war fronts. Purchase DVD07 $18.00
Israeli prisoners of war in 1973 held by Syria. The Syrian government ignored the Geneva Conventions and the Israeli POWs were subjected to physical and psychological torture.