SAN REMO, Italy – One hundred and five years ago, world leaders met in Italy for a discussion that would determine the future and fate of the Middle East. It also established the legal foundation for the modern State of Israel.
We stood in the place in this town on the Mediterranean, just a few miles from the French border, where world leaders gathered in 1920 to redraw the Middle East map.
The conference was held in Castle Devachan, and the event was a little-known meeting that shaped the destiny of nations.
While the guns of World War I had fallen silent, battles over borders and sovereignty were only beginning.
The 400-year-old Ottoman Empire, called “the sick man of Europe,” was crumbling. The Allied powers of France, Britain, Italy, and Japan – with the U.S. attending as an observer – now faced the issue of dividing the vast territories of Iraq, Syria, and the land called Palestine.
San Remo served as the stage for those decisions to be made.
Tomas Sandell, founder of the European Coalition for Israel, told CBN News, “This is during the course of one week, and especially then, the last day of that week, they were looking into what would happen with what was then called Palestine.”
Sandell explained that in April 1920, the fate of the Jewish nation hung in the balance.
“It was a bit of a wrestling match with the British, with the French: would the Balfour Declaration (calling for a Jewish homeland) get acceptance by the international community, be incorporated into international law?”
The British prevailed, and the Balfour Declaration – nearly word for word – would become part of the San Remo Resolution.
The 1917 Balfour Declaration stated: “The British government views with favor the establishment of a Jewish state in the land called Palestine.”
“The people that had been – had a clear connection to the Land of Israel – were recognized under international law, the Balfour Declaration, which said that the Jewish people should have a national home, in Eretz Israel,” Sandell noted.
After nearly two thousand years, the Jewish people would have a homeland, one recognized under international law.
One English diplomat, Lord Curzon, called the resolution Israel’s Magna Carta.
Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann considered it so important, he declared the modern State of Israel was born on the 25th of April, 1920, in San Remo.
“There was a small window where the leaders of, like Great Britain and France, were open to the understanding that there needed to be a Jewish homeland,” Sandell explained. “The British leaders – it was based on Scripture – they were adamant that we cannot miss this opportunity.”
Two years later, the 51 members of the League of Nations ratified the San Remo Resolution. It gave the Jews exclusive legal and political rights in Palestine, while the rest of the Middle East was apportioned to the Arabs.
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Rick Ridings, founder of the Succat Hallel prayer and teaching center in Jerusalem, told us, “The International Legal Foundation for the Middle East was laid here, and it was never changed. And so, unless it’s specifically totally changed and overturned by the United Nations, which it has not, then they actually did recognize the modern nation state of Israel – that it means Israel has a legal right to be there and to be a Jewish homeland.”
Ridings believes more Christian leaders need to know the story.
“Of course, they have the right, biblically, to be in their homeland that God promised to them,” he said. “But in the political realm, you need to come back to the legal basis. That’s why it’s important that Christian leaders who understand God’s heart and purposes for Israel become aware of these legal, international legal issues.”
After October 7th, 2023, and the ensuing war after the murderous Hamas attack on southern Israel, a global chorus accused Israel of being illegitimate.
Sandell contends that it’s why the story of San Remo is more important than ever, as Israel’s adversaries raise questions about its right to exist by rewriting history.
He pointed out, “Because it comes back to the narrative that we hear in our elite universities, of the Jewish state just being an expression of colonialism, where the opposite is true. And I think it’s not a difficult story to tell. You have all the historical verification to explain that, and we need to become better at retelling the miracle of Israel.”
It’s a story mostly forgotten, but one that needs to be told again and again. That’s why Sandell would like to see Villa Devachan become a destination for leaders and policy-makers.
“So, this is a place, really, that is so significant for Jewish history. Most people, Christians, Jews, and others – they don’t know it. And I think this is a beautiful story to be retold – the city where history was rewritten, and I think it creates, looking at the future, I would like to see similar meetings taking place here.”
The San Remo Resolution was a turning point in history, a foundation for the rebirth of Israel after nearly two thousand years. It wasn’t just politics at work. It was a prophecy unfolding. It’s the hope of many that what happened here more than a century ago will inform the leaders of today.
