San Remo Conference

From 19 to 26 April 1920 the Supreme Council of the Allied powers, led by the prime ministers of Britain, France and Italy, David Lloyd George, Alexandre Millerand and Francesco Nitti, met at the Villa Devachan in Sanremo to divide the former Ottoman lands. On 25 April it gave Britain the Mandate over the Land of Israel and Mesopotamia, and France Syria and Lebanon. The resolution wrote the Balfour Declaration into the Mandate: Britain would be responsible for putting into effect the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people. Chaim Weizmann and Nahum Sokolow were present for the Zionist Organization, and Jewish communities around the world held celebrations.

San Remo turned a British wartime promise into a commitment of international law. The League of Nations approved the text of the Mandate in July 1922, and it took effect in 1923. Days after the conference Herbert Samuel was named the first High Commissioner, and the civil administration of the British Mandate began on 1 July 1920.