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Starting from an analysis of the 1922 House of Lords debate on the Mandate on Palestine, this paper proposes a reading of the history of the transformation of Palestine based on three structuring moments: 1917-1922, 1947-1949, and 1989-93. The rules of the game that were set during each of these moments have predetermined the range of possible outcomes for the following decades. Each moment is characterized by a different recourse to international law by the Zionist movement, then by Israel: at first, a legitimation of the project by an indirect recourse to international law, via the mandatory power; then a selective recourse to international law as a State actor; and finally a bypassing of international law by a removal of the negotiating process from the realm of the UN.