We read, “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.” It was on April 25, 1920, in San Remo, that Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann declared the modern State of Israel was born.
Based on Scripture, leaders of Great Britain and France were open to the idea that there needed to be a Jewish homeland. Two years later, the 51 members of the League of Nations ratified the San Remo Resolution, giving the Jews “exclusive legal and political rights in Palestine, while the rest of the Middle East was apportioned to the Arabs.” Some consider Weizmann’s San Remo Resolution Israel’s “Magna Carta,” the legal document laying the groundwork for the future State of Israel.
It was on November 9,1917 that The Balfour Declaration was published by the British government during World War 1, expressing support for a “national home for Jewish people in Palestine.” (It is to be noted, that the word Palestine used here was a reference to an general area, not a specific country since there was not at that time, nor ever before it, or since, a country of Palestine. At that time that area was home to different people groups included Jews and Arabs). Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour sent a letter to Lord Rothschild which was the first public endorsement of Zionism by a major power. This declaration led many Jews to migrate to the area Palestine, joining the Jewish population that was already there, and which had been there continuously since the time of Joshua, contributing to the events leading to the establishment of Israel in 1948.
As noted earlier, important to this story is Chaim Weizmann (1894-1952), who was born in Russia to a traditional Jewish family. He graduated with honors from the Real-Gymnasium in Pinsk, then studied chemistry in Germany and Switzerland. He was awarded a doctoral degree in 1899 in organic chemistry by the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He visited Israel in 1907 where he realized those were hard times for Jewish immigrants working to cultivate the land, draining swamps and fighting malaria. In 1919 with Faisal, he signed an agreement between the two national movements, Jewish and Arab, toward the development of the Land of Israel.
In 1921 Weizmann, at age 27, was elected President of the World Zionist Organization. He traveled to the U.S., and with Albert Einstein, undertook a fundraising campaign advancing Zionism. Together with Lord Balfour, in 1925 Weizmann inaugurated the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, saying: “We must create a high culture, based on Jewish morality, and make it a center of human culture.” He placed great emphasis on integrating science and industry and promoted advanced enterprises such as the phosphates plant at the Dead Sea and the hydroelectric power plant at Naharayim. Due to an economic crisis Weizmann established the Jewish Agency in 1929. He discovered synthetic acetone, a cordite explosive propellant used in the Allied war effort.
After Arab riots with bloody events in 1929, and the Nazis’ rise to power in Germany, “Weizmann dedicated himself to saving European Jewry. He was convinced that the Jewish people must stand by England in its struggle against the Germans, and promoted the formation of a Jewish Brigade. His two sons served in the British Army.” We note that Yad Chaim Weizmann, Weizmann’s House, was established by the Government of Israel and the World Zionist Organization on June 15, 1954. It is a memorial center for education and culture, preserving the memory and heritage of the first President of the State of Israel. It is located on the campus of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
While there are adversaries that raise questions about Israel’s right to exist, one concludes that the story of Israel is indeed a “miracle story.” The Villa Devachan where world leaders met in Italy still exists. Tomas Sandell, founder of the European Coalition for Israel, would like to see this castle become a destination for leaders and policymakers. “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.” In conclusion, “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.”
