The first two-state solution: The forgotten partition of 1922

1920's Map of British Mandate for Palestine

When the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its July 2024 advisory opinion on Israel's presence in Judea, Samaria (the West Bank) and East Jerusalem, it framed the legal analysis almost exclusively around the "1967 baseline." This has become the default setting in international discourse: treating these areas as "Occupied Palestinian Territory" without reference to the legal framework that existed before.

Yet, the true legal foundation of modern Israel, and the region as a whole, begins not in 1967, but over four decades earlier. It is rooted in binding international commitments from 1920 and 1922 that partitioned the land long before any modern Palestinian statehood claim arose.

The fantasy state of ‘Palestine’

It’s time for the United States and the Jewish world to start holding their supposed champions’ feet to the fire.

Keir Starmer, the United Kingdom prime minister, meets with U.S. President Donald Trump at Trump Turnberry golf course, July 28, 2025. Credit: Lauren Hurley/No. 10 Downing Street.

(Sept. 25, 2025 / JNS)  In his barnstorming speech this week at the United Nations General Assembly, in which he lobbed one uncomfortable home truth after another at member states, U.S. President Donald Trump told the world body itself that it was useless. Instead of stopping wars and saving lives, he said, it produced only empty words.

The problem with the United Nations is rather more acute than that. Supposedly the guardian of peace and justice in the world, it has become instead an avatar of evil.

The 1922 League of Nations Mandate's Article 6 still legally binds the United Nations today

The official opening of the League of Nations, January 10, 1920. (Photo: Public domain)

In the world of international diplomacy and the campaign to delegitimize Jewish sovereignty in its ancestral heartland, a foundational truth is often ignored. It is a truth not found in failed political agreements, but in international law.

That truth is the legal power of the Mandate for Palestine, specifically Article 6, and its clear instruction to “facilitate Jewish immigration “ and “close settlement by Jews on the land.”

European recognition of a ‘Palestinian State’ - A betrayal rooted in self-interest and historical prejudice

(Image: Wikipedia Commons)

In a move that subverts the very foundation of direct negotiations and rewards terrorism, several key Western European nations are poised to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state within the United Nations framework. This action, led by France, Spain, Ireland, and Norway, with others considering following suit, is not a noble pursuit of peace. 

It is a calculated decision driven by cold geopolitical self-interest, intense domestic pressure from rapidly growing populations with roots in Muslim-majority countries, and a deeply troubling continuity with Europe’s long history of antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Furthermore, it leverages a United Nations apparatus that has long been weaponized against the world’s only Jewish state.

Libia, Siria, Libano, Irak, Jordania, Israel y Palestina: como los imperios crearon las naciones de hoy

El historiador Daniel Pipes señala que la decisión de los británicos y los franceses de separar Palestina de Siria en la Conferencia de San Remo en abril de 1920, con el fin de controlar ambas áreas, desencadenó protestas en toda Palestina. Se exigieron la independencia de una Siria unida que se extendiera desde Turquía hasta el Sinaí.

Después de que los franceses se apoderaran de Damasco en 1920, destruyendo el reino árabe, los sirios centraron su atención en liberar su país del dominio francés y unificar la comunidad nacional siria, en particular tratando de integrar las formidables minorías territoriales alauitas y drusas, afirma el historiador Moshe Ma’oz.

La ONU no puede crear un Estado palestino: la resolución 80 de su Carta se lo prohíbe

Durante tantos años lo han estado pidiendo, ¿qué impide a la Unión Europea, a los Estados Unidos y a la ONU crear el Estado de Palestina con el que sueñan? Sencillamente, el derecho internacional, que les prohíbe hacerlo. Si tuvieran este poder, lo habrían usado hace mucho tiempo.

Entonces ¿quién puede crear este estado? ¿Un voto unánime del Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU? No. ¿La Asamblea General de la ONU en sesión plenaria? No más.

La única entidad que tiene derecho a crear el Estado de Palestina, según el derecho internacional, es Israel, y sólo Israel.

La verdadera razón de la guerra contra Israel y Occidente

Israel se ha hecho un flaco favor a sí mismo y al mundo. No ha logrado explicar el alcance asesino del antisemitismo. Ha permitido que Occidente socave sus propias defensas contra una guerra santa que no entiende. Ha permitido que se propague una narrativa falsa sobre los palestinos sin un desafío fundamental y esencial.

Tan pronto como se supo que el primer ministro interino de Israel, Yair Lapid, le diría a la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas que apoya el establecimiento de un estado palestino, se sintió abrumado por la indignación, la incredulidad y la consternación. Los críticos lo acusaron de que estaba poniendo en peligro la seguridad de Israel al tratar de establecer un estado terrorista en la tierra a la que Israel tiene derecho legalmente. Esto, dijeron, incentivaría aún más el terrorismo palestino.

Palestine 1920: The Other Side of the Palestinian Story | Al Jazeera World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUCeQt8zg5o

Sionismo: madre de la identidad palestina

Hace unos 70 años nacían en el mundo árabe los movimientos nacionalistas laicos que hoy se derrumban, con estruendos de guerras civiles. Estas décadas (¡oh, casualidad!) coinciden con la instauración del primer estado democrático de la región (Israel, por si no lo habían adivinado). Uno no está acostumbrado a esto. Israel ya no es el principal protagonista de las noticias de Oriente Próximo. Lo que empezó con una movilización “primaveral” en el mundo árabe, se transformó en la más otoñal y sangrienta guerra civil musulmana de su historia.

Los centenares de millones de árabes reubicados al final de la Primera Guerra Mundial (tras la caída del Imperio Otomano) en decenas de países (la mayoría de muy reciente invención, como Tranjordania o Kuwait) comprendieron que su

Los asentamientos israelíes son legítimos según el derecho internacional

El Mandato de Palestina es un documento internacional legalmente vinculante que fue aprobado por unanimidad por los 51 miembros de la Liga de Naciones en 1922,

Asentamiento.

La semana pasada, 73 miembros de la Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos enviaron una carta al presidente Joe Biden instándolo a considerar los asentamientos israelíes como incompatibles con el derecho internacional. Sin embargo, esta afirmación es inequívocamente falsa, ya que los asentamientos israelíes tienen legitimidad bajo el derecho internacional a través de diferentes

The Balfour Declaration's impact, 100 years on | The Economist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbdvn8QHyX8

Entrevista a Golda Meir en 1970: “La diferencia es que nosotros valoramos la vida”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soTN0KexY4g

“El desconocimiento sobre vuestros derechos sobre la tierra provoca divisiones internas”

Entrevista a Dr. Jacques Gauthier.

Foto de la portada – Recibieron la autoridad de los poderes derrotados. Representantes de los países vencedores en torno a la mesa de negociaciones en San Remo 1920

Conferencia de San Remo

Durante veinte años, el Dr. Jacques Gauthier ha estado trabajando en su tesis doctoral sobre el aspecto legal de la Conferencia de San Remo. Se trata de una persona considerada, en la actualidad, como un especialista mundial en el tema, nos explica el significado de las decisiones adoptadas en la Conferencia (“Los judíos no violan en la actualidad la ley”). Nos cuenta su relación especial hacia el estado: “No estoy conectado a una religión en particular, pero cuando viajo a Israel

Pre-State Israel: The San Remo Conference (April 19-26, 1920)

The San Remo Conference was an international meeting held following the conclusion of World War I that determined the precise boundaries for territories captured by the Allies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijS8mFP4I1A

The conference, attended by Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan – with the United States as a neutral observer, was held in San Remo, Italy, in April 1920. The conference was a continuation of a previous meeting between these Allied powers

THE VIDEO THE UNITED NATIONS WISHED DIDN’T GET OUT

The United Nations is always attacking Israel. But is it justified? Not even a little bit. Biblically, historically, legally – Israel deserves to exist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12KJa4a0d64

Dershowitz Slams United Nations

It is hard to argue with top attorney and Harvard law professor, Alan Dershowitz. He is not a Republican, and that is important to realize. But he does not understand

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: We Say “No, No, No” to Deal of the Century One Thousand Times

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4TmZM_ZjK8&t=313s

On January 28, 2020, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke at a press conference in response to the release of the details of the "Deal of the Century" peace plan. Saying the deal is the "culmination" of the Balfour Declaration, which he claimed the United States had founded, Abbas said that the Palestinians reject

What Can Israel Learn from the Descent of Lebanon?

Hezbollah fighters at ceremony holding Hezbollah and Lebanese flags, image via Wikimedia Commons

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,901, January 24, 2021

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Lebanon was founded to serve as a home for Christians and other minority groups in the region. Over the years, however, it gave up its national character and symbols and began to fall apart from within. If Israel does not learn from the Lebanese case, it could find itself in a situation no less serious.

Lebanon, like Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Israel, was born on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire after its lands were conquered by Britain, which, together with France, was

Origins of the Word Palestine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHsqVB9nxFY&t=3s

Recalling San Remo and international law regarding the Jewish state, 100 years later

An online broadcast featured interviews with academics, legal experts and other leading Israeli personalities to discuss the details of the mandate in Italy three years after the Balfour Declaration.

BY JOSH HASTEN

Delegates at the San Remo conference in 1920. Screenshot.

(April 27, 2020 / JNS) Exactly 100 years ago this week, World War I allied powers including the British Empire, Italy, France and Japan, along with the United States serving as an observer nation, met in San Remo, Italy, and ratified the 1917 Balfour Declaration, calling for a national home for the Jewish people in “Palestine.”

Known as the “San Remo Conference,” Britain was given the mandate to control the areas, which consist of what is now modern-day Israel and Jordan (along with I

THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE JEWISH STATE OF ISRAEL – 100 YEARS AGO

The 100th anniversary of the San Remo Resolution, when the powers of the world decided that the British would be responsible for turning the Mandate of Palestine into the national homeland of the Jewish people. This is the last international law that set the precedent for the Jewish people to have the legal right to the whole mandate of Palestine, including Judea, Samaria and the area today known as Jordan. The program includes historical flashbacks and speeches from experts and world leaders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9H8edygnsw

Written by Avi Abelow

Organizational psychologist/management consultant turned Movie Producer (“Home Game” on Gush Katif), Avi is now CEO of 12Tribe Films, a business specializing in video and social media marketing for Israel. You can also follow my mobile updates on Telegram: https://t.me/aviabelowupdates

29/04/2020 by ISRAEL UNWIRED

https://www.israelunwired.com/the-birthplace-of-the-jewish-state-of-israel-100-years-ago-today/