July 24, 1922, marks the 94th anniversary of the affirmation of Jewish self-determination by the League of Nations.
On July 24, 1922, the League of Nations, the precursor to the United Nations, officially recognized the “historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine” and agreed to the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
According to the document of the Council of the League of Nations, “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.”
This historic affirmation of Jewish self-determination in their ancestral homeland paved the way for the millennium-old dream of a sovereign Jewish nation to be realized in 1948, when the State of Israel was born. The international community thereby recognized the ancestral rights of the Jewish people in their original homeland. Although they had been forcibly removed in the past, their presence in and bond with the land was never severed.
“Palestine” referred at the time to a geographic region that included the historical Land of Israel, without any clearly defined ethnic or political connotations. At the time, “Palestinians” referred to both Jews and Arabs residing in the land.
By: United with Israel Staff
(With files from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)