DECLARATION CONCERNING ISRAEL AND THE HOLY LAND

The Contracting States affirm that Almighty God has made an everlasting Covenant with Abraham, by virtue of which He has constituted the matrilineal descendants of his grandson Israel as a people who will forever remain as a distinct nation before Him, the principal witness among the nations to the Creator and to His holy law, bound until the end of time to that Land which He declared to be Holy and destined for His Messiah to possess in perpetuity. The Contracting States affirm that Almighty God has made an everlasting Covenant with His Majesty King David of happy memory, by virtue of which He has set his Throne over the entire Holy Land and conferred on it in perpetuity a sovereignty which is of divine right and consequently imperishable in law. By the same Covenant, Almighty God also guaranteed that King David would never lack a male descendant to succeed him on his Throne.

The Contracting States affirm that the Lord Jesus is from birth the legitimate Heir and Successor of King David by hereditary right, and was divinely confirmed forever in possession of his Throne on the occasion of His Resurrection from the dead.

These affirmations have the following consequences for relations between the Contracting States and Israel:

1. The entire Holy Land is by divine right constituted as the Patrimony of David, such that Israel and every other State and public authority established wholly or predominantly within it, and every individual in or belonging to it, owes a duty of public allegiance to his Sovereign Throne. Any State established predominantly outside it, but part of whose territory lies within the Patrimony of David, holds that territory of his Crown and owes allegiance to the Crown with respect to it.

2. Israel and every other State which is within the allegiance to the Sovereign Throne of David is ipso facto a Kingdom vested in his legitimate Heir and Successor and must acknowledge this fact in its public laws, ceremonies and affairs, including its relations with other States.

3. The supreme civil authorities in Israel or any other State within the allegiance to the Sovereign Throne of David are Regencies of the Throne and must be acknowledged and dealt with as such in both the internal and the external relations of the State.

4. Diplomatic and consular agents and missions sent to other States or other persons of international law from Israel or any other State within the allegiance to the Sovereign Throne of David are Royal emissaries and missions, and their credentials shall reflect this fact. Diplomatic and consular agents and missions sent in exchange for them shall bear credentials addressed to the King and shall present them to the Regent as His lawful representative on earth.

5. Treaties and other international instruments entered into by Israel or any other State within the allegiance to the Sovereign Throne of David shall, when done in Heads of State form, bear the name of the King or the Throne accordingly.

6. In so far as States are to be placed in order of precedence for ceremonial purposes, the Kingdom of Israel shall take second place after the Holy See and shall immediately precede other States established wholly or predominantly within the Patrimony of David. Other States shall be placed next in due order.

7. In so far as Heads of State are to be placed in order of precedence for ceremonial purposes, the Throne of David shall precede the Holy See, which in turn shall be followed by other Heads of State in due order.

8. The Throne of David is synonymous with the Person of the King in His official and public capacity as the Successor of David, and is at the same time distinct from Him considered as a divine Person, or in respect of His human nature. Of itself it shall, with respect to States vested in it, stand to other States and to the Holy See on the basis of sovereign equality, without prejudice to the pre-eminent and universal jurisdiction otherwise conferred on Our Lord Jesus Christ by His Eternal Father or belonging to Him by reason of His Divinity.