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TO CONGRATULATE GREAT BRITAIN ON THE OCCASION OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SIGNING OF THE BALFOUR DECLARATION OF 1917, AND TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR THE SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION MADE BY GREAT BRITAIN A CENTURY AGO IN FACILITATING THE REESTABLISHMENT OF THE JEWISH NATIONAL HOME IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL.
Whereas, the South Carolina House of Representatives is pleased to note that the United Kingdom will celebrate the centennial anniversary of the signing of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, a seminal document that helped initiate the reestablishment of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel; and
Whereas, in November 2017, British Prime Minister Theresa May will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the United Kingdom to commemorate the Balfour Declaration's one hundredth anniversary; and
Whereas, the Government of Great Britain issued the Balfour Declaration on November 2, 1917, defining the objective of reestablishing the Jewish National Home in the Land of Israel and facilitating its eventual independence as a modern Jewish State, a declaration accepted by every Allied and associated country at that time; and
Whereas, the text of the Balfour Declaration reads as follows: "His Majesty's government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country"; and
Whereas, following the commitment made in the Balfour Declaration, the legal basis for the reestablishment of the Jewish National Home in the Land of Israel and eventual declaration of Israel's independence as the modern Jewish State was then set forth in a binding instrument of international law enacted in the San Remo Resolution on April 25, 1920 by the Principal Allied Powers and associated countries; and
Whereas, that binding act of international law was then further recognized and incorporated in subsequent binding instruments of international law, namely Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, the Mandate for Palestine, the 1920 Franco-British Boundary Convention as modified by the 1922 Demarcation Agreement, and the 1924 U.S.-U.K. treaty; and
Whereas, none of the national and political rights thereby recognized as inhering in the Jewish people have ever been revoked, nullified or superseded by a subsequent legally valid and binding document of international law; and
Whereas, Article 80 of the United Nations charter recognized the continued inviolable validity of the rights granted to states or peoples which already existed under international instruments, including the binding act of international law enacted in the San Remo Resolution; and
Whereas, the San Remo Resolution and League of Nations Mandate, and other aforementioned supporting subsequent acts, instruments and agreements of binding international law, legally predicated the eventual declaration of the modern State of Israel's independence on May 14, 1948 as the Jewish National Home in the Land of Israel, including the Jewish ancestral regions of Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem, therefore making it legally wrong to in any way characterize the State of Israel as an occupier or to suggest that the approximately 750,000 Jews currently living there do so illegally or illegitimately; and
Whereas, the Israeli government and friends of Israel around the world see the Balfour Declaration as a significant matter to be celebrated, marking the first time a great world power recognized the Jewish people as a nation with the right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland; and
Whereas, the House of Representatives of the State of South Carolina celebrates with Israel and the United Kingdom upon the centennial anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, and the members congratulate the British resolve to recognize the State of Israel as its steadfast ally. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:
That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, congratulate Great Britain on the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, and recognize and honor the significant contribution made by Great Britain a century ago in facilitating the establishment of the modern State of Israel and celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Balfour Declaration of 1917.
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be provided to British Prime Minister Theresa May and the Honorable David Burrows, Chairman of the British Parliamentary Israel Allies Caucus.
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