The San Remo conference is one of the most significant events in the Jewish people's journey back to their land after they were scattered across the world following the destruction of the Second Temple by the Roman Empire.
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We were scattered among the nations of the world, seeking a place to reside for a generation or two before fleeing persecution or being expelled again.
In the 18th century, Torah scholar Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Shlomo Zalman, better known as the Vilna Gaon, described living in the Diaspora as follows: "And so we are in an exile … because from the time the Temple was destroyed our spirit has left us … and we were left alone … a body … without a soul."
In the 19th century, American writer Mark Twain visited the land of Israel when few Jews were living in it and described it as a "desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds – a silent mournful expanse ... A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action."
The land of Israel, he wrote, "sits in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies."
Some 50 years after the destruction of the Second Temple, the Jews revolted against the Roman Empire in the Bar Kokhba revolt and managed to gain control of Jerusalem and Judea, albeit for a short time.
The Roman Empire sent a large-scale force to crush to revolt, which resulted in the extensive depopulation of Judean communities.
Emperor Hadrian renamed the land from Judea to Syria Palaestina in the hopes that within a generation or two, the Jewish people would forget their land.
What Hadrian did not know is that exiled Jews had promised never to forget Jerusalem, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither, let my tongue cleave to my palate if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy."
Indeed, we did not forget. We did not give up. When we ate bread, we always prayed for the rebuilding of our sacred city. Our sages taught us that just like a person cannot survive without sustenance, so too the Jewish people cannot survive without Jerusalem.
The truth is that we were never allowed to forget where we came from and where we wanted to return. No other nation in history contributed to humanity as much as the Jewish people, yet in return, we were humiliated, murdered, gassed, and exiled.
When we wandered the world, we were told: Jews, go back to Palestine. Now that we have returned home, they tell us: Jews, leave Palestine. Antisemitism has changed but has not disappeared.
The Balfour Declaration and afterward the San Remo conference were attempts on behalf of nations to resolve this disgrace and help the Jewish people return to their national homeland. The initiative was supported by those among the nations who believed in the Biblical prophecy of returning to Zion. For them, it was a duty to help the divine plan come true.
On February 27, 1919, Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann appeared before the victorious Allies at the Paris Peace Conference to secure the nation's recognition of the Jewish people's right to their land. He only had one request: allow the Jewish people to rebuild their homeland.
The Allies could not decide on the matter at the Peace Conference, and to that end, the Supreme Council convened in April 1920 at Villa Devachan in San Remo.
The Covenant of the League of Nations had been signed previously, giving all those in the villa full authority to decide the future of the territories they gained after the abolition of the Ottoman Empire.
They accepted the Arabs' demands, and the vast majority of the Ottoman Empire territory was given to them, which now includes Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.
They discussed Palestine at the end of the week, and on April 25, the leaders decided to accept the Jews' claims. A decision was made to integrate the Balfour Declaration into the charter. They recognized our right to Palestine and agreed to the request to "reconstitute" what had once been ours.
In effect, for the first time since the destruction of the first century CE, the nations of the world had recognized the Jewish people as a legitimate claimant to its ancient land.
Few Jews lived in their homeland 1850 years after the destruction of the Second Temple. The majority dispersed across the globe. That is why the mandate over Palestine was so unique.
The decision's other beneficiaries - Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon - were local residents, whereas the beneficiaries of the Palestine mandate were all the Jews of the world, even if they did not reside in the land at the time.
British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who led the meeting at the villa, was asked what the borders of the future State of Israel would look like.
"From Dan to Beersheba," he answered and pointed to the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the Holy Land by Scottish theologian George Adam Smith, which showed the map of the land at the time of King David and King Solomon.
After the conference, at the Treaty of Sèvres, Turkey relinquished sovereignty over much of the Ottoman Empire and transferred ownership of the territory to the Allies. Article 95 of the treaty incorporated the terms of the Balfour Declaration, which officially became part of international law.
The same was stated in the mandate that Britain received from the League of Nations. Britain vowed to help establish our national homeland. All of this was written and signed in the document. The 80th article of the UN Charter states that the rights given earlier by the League of Nations must be upheld. What had been granted could not be taken away.
Weizmann understood how momentous an occasion the San Remo conference was. He said, "The San Remo Resolution, that recognition to our rights to Palestine, which was included in the charter with Turkey and became part of international law – is the biggest political event in the history of our movement [the Zionist movement] and possibly – it would not be an exaggeration to say – the entire history of the Jewish people, since the exile."
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One last observation: I went to check the Hebrew date of the conference. I discovered that it began on the first day of Eyar, and lasted a week. The discussion about the Land of Israel took place on the last two days, the 6th and 7th days of Eyar. Thus far, we knew that the State of Israel was established on the 5th of Eyar, and Jerusalem was liberated on the 28th of Eyar. On the 18th of Eyar, we celebrate Lag Ba'omer, which is also linked to the war for our people's freedom. To these three dates of celebration, we can definitely add the 7th of Eyar, the Hebrew date of the San Remo decision, which 28 years later led to the revival of the state of Israel.
This piece is a short overview of one of the most significant events in Jewish history, and I encourage you to learn more about the San Remo conference. It is due to its significance that we, the Israeli embassy in Italy, work hard to research the subject and hold events in San Remo to educate about it. There is a direct connection between studying this part of history and ensuring our future on this land.
Dror Eydar is Israel's ambassador to Italy.
