Nearly ten years ago, while researching and studying the hundred years of modern Zionism, I came across writings of Professor Eugene Rostow, the past Dean of Yale Law School (1955-66) and a key draftee of the UN Resolution 242.

Professor Rostow was an expert in international law and more specifically the Mandate for Palestine. The Mandate granted Jews the irrevocable right to settle anywhere in Jewish Palestine, the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, a right unaltered in international law and valid to this day.

This right of Jews is protected by Article 80 of the United Nations Charter. The Article recognizes the continued validity of the rights granted to all states or peoples, or already existing international instruments including those adopted by the League of Nations.

It is interesting to learn how Article 80 made its way into the UN Charter.

Professor Rostow recalls:

“I am indebted to my learned friend Dr. Paul Riebenfeld, who has for many years been my mentor on the history of Zionism, for reminding me of some of the circumstances which led to the adoption of Article 80 of the Charter. Strong Jewish delegations representing differing political tendencies within Jewry attended the San Francisco Conference in 1945. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, Peter Bergson, Eliahu Elath, Professor Ben-Zion Netanyahu and A. S. Yehuda, and Harry Selden were among the Jewish representatives. Their mission was to protect the Jewish right of settlement in Palestine under the mandate against erosion in a world of ambitious states. Article 80 was the result of their efforts.”