ABSTRACT
The case of the imposition of the State of Israel on the Middle East is the most obvious example of the qualitatively different manner in which international law is applied in the region. Zionism, as a State policy, found voice in November 1917, with the declaration by the British War Cabinet of its government’s sympathy toward ‘Jewish Zionist aspirations’ and thus calling for the ‘establishment in Palestine of a national homeland for Jewish people’. The ability of Britain to gain the League of Nations’ Mandate for Palestine which it accepted in 1920, stems from its military successes in the Middle East and the commitment by Allied States to the Balfour Declaration. The Proclamation of the State of Israel, in and of itself, carries no juridical weight internationally. It is clear that had Israel not been able to repel the intervention of 1948, its status as a State would have receded, becoming little more than an historical footnote.
