We are consistently told that The League of Nations “ gave Palestine to the Jews “. It is hard to believe that such nonsense could gain any currency but it seems that it has.
A variant is that it was given to The State of Israel, despite the fact that Israel didn’t exist so could not be given anything or be capable of receiving anything. Then the massive leap to “ Israel therefore was simply recovering what it already owned when it occupied the west bank."
I ran this story past my cat and he thinks I am nuts.
In the closing stages of the war , including the time of the Balfour declaration, the British were all over the near east like a rash. At the end of the war there were 200,000 British troops in Palestine... the fact on the ground ( and I know Israel is very fond of facts on the ground). The British knew at the time of The Balfour Declaration that they would be in charge in Palestine at the end of the war, hence they were able to make declarations such as the one associated with Balfour.
The geography of the Palestine Mandate was agreed between Britain and France and the world was told that was how it was going to be.
The League of Nations duly mandated Palestine to the British.
Let me repeat. THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS DULY MANDATED PALESTINE TO BRITAIN it did not “GIVE PALESTINE TO THE JEWS”
The Mandate included an acknowledgment that the mandatory power would be responsible for putting into effect the Balfour Declaration.
“ Whereas the Principle Allied Powers have also agreed that the mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the government of His Brittanic Majesty, and adopted by the said powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”
So the British are in charge. It was their declaration, and are mandated to give effect to it.
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