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    Balfour Declaration

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    Willie Johnson
    The Balfour Declaration was a 1917 letter from the British government expressing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. It aimed to gain Jewish support for the Allies in World War 1. While supporting a Jewish homeland, it also aimed to protect the rights of Palestinian Arabs who comprised the vast majority of Palestinians. The declaration had long-lasting consequences, greatly increasing Zionist support worldwide but also contributing to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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    Balfour Declaration

    Uploaded by

    Willie Johnson
    136 views6 pages
    The Balfour Declaration was a 1917 letter from the British government expressing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. It aimed to gain Jewish support for the Allies in World War 1. While supporting a Jewish homeland, it also aimed to protect the rights of Palestinian Arabs who comprised the vast majority of Palestinians. The declaration had long-lasting consequences, greatly increasing Zionist support worldwide but also contributing to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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    The Balfour Declaration was a 1917 letter from the British government expressing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. It aimed to gain Jewish support for the Allies in World War 1. While supporting a Jewish homeland, it also aimed to protect the rights of Palestinian Arabs who comprised the vast majority of Palestinians. The declaration had long-lasting consequences, greatly increasing Zionist support worldwide but also contributing to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    136 views6 pages

    Balfour Declaration

    Uploaded by

    Willie Johnson
    The Balfour Declaration was a 1917 letter from the British government expressing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. It aimed to gain Jewish support for the Allies in World War 1. While supporting a Jewish homeland, it also aimed to protect the rights of Palestinian Arabs who comprised the vast majority of Palestinians. The declaration had long-lasting consequences, greatly increasing Zionist support worldwide but also contributing to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 announcing support for establishing a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine while protecting the rights of existing non-Jewish communities.

    The Balfour Declaration confirmed support from the British government for the establishment in Palestine of a 'national home' for the Jewish people.

    The declaration specified that nothing should be done to prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status of Jews in other countries.

    Balfour Declaration

    For the document on the Dominions of the British Empire, see ​Balfour
    Declaration of 1926​.

    Balfour Declaration
    The original letter from Balfour to
    Rothschild; the declaration
    reads:

    His Majesty's government view


    with favour the establishment in
    Palestine of a national home for
    the Jewish people, and will use
    their best endeavours to facilitate
    the achievement of this object, it
    being clearly understood that
    nothing shall be done which may
    prejudice the civil and religious
    rights of existing non-Jewish
    communities in Palestine, or the
    rights and political status
    enjoyed by Jews in any other
    country.

    Creat 2 November 1917


    ed

    Locat British Library


    ion

    Autho Walter Rothschild​,


    r(s) Arthur Balfour​, ​Leo
    Amery​, ​Lord Milner

    Signa Arthur James Balfour


    tories

    Purpo Confirming support


    se from ​the British
    government​ for the
    establishment in
    Palestine of a ​"national
    home"​ for the Jewish
    people, with two
    conditions

    The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British


    government in 1917 during the ​First World War​ announcing support
    for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in
    Palestine​, then an ​Ottoman​ region with a small minority ​Jewish
    population. The declaration was contained in a letter dated 2
    November 1917 from the United Kingdom's ​Foreign Secretary​ ​Arthur
    Balfour​ to ​Lord Rothschild​, a leader of the ​British Jewish community​,
    for transmission to the ​Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland​.
    The text of the declaration was published in the press on 9 November
    1917.

    Immediately following their declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire


    in November 1914, the ​British War Cabinet​ began to consider the
    future of Palestine; within two months ​a memorandum was circulated
    to the Cabinet​ by a Zionist Cabinet member, ​Herbert Samuel​,
    proposing the support of Zionist ambitions in order to enlist the
    support of Jews in the wider war. ​A committee​ was established in
    April 1915 by ​British Prime Minister​ ​H. H. Asquith​ to determine their
    policy toward the ​Ottoman Empire​ including Palestine. Asquith, who
    had favoured post-war reform of the Ottoman Empire, resigned in
    December 1916; his replacement ​David Lloyd George​, favoured
    partition of the Empire. The first negotiations between the British and
    the ​Zionists​ took place at a conference on 7 February 1917 that
    included ​Sir Mark Sykes​ and the Zionist leadership. Subsequent
    discussions led to Balfour's request, on 19 June, that Rothschild and
    Chaim Weizmann​ submit a draft of a public declaration. Further drafts
    were discussed by the British Cabinet during September and October,
    with input from Zionist and ​anti-Zionist​ Jews but with no
    representation from the local population in Palestine.

    By late 1917, in the lead up to the Balfour Declaration, the wider war
    had reached a stalemate, with two of ​Britain's allies​ not fully engaged:
    the United States had yet to suffer a casualty, and the Russians were
    in the midst of a ​revolution​ with ​Bolsheviks​ taking over the
    government. A ​stalemate in southern Palestine​ was broken by the
    Battle of Beersheba​ on 31 October 1917. The release of the final
    declaration was authorised on 31 October; the preceding Cabinet
    discussion had referenced perceived propaganda benefits amongst
    the worldwide Jewish community for the Allied war effort.

    The opening words of the declaration represented the first public


    expression of support for Zionism by a major political power. The
    term "national home" had no precedent in international law, and was
    intentionally vague as to whether a ​Jewish state​ was contemplated.
    The intended boundaries of Palestine were not specified, and the
    British government later confirmed that the words "in Palestine"
    meant that the Jewish national home was not intended to cover all of
    Palestine. The second half of the declaration was added to satisfy
    opponents of the policy, who had claimed that it would otherwise
    prejudice the position of the local population of Palestine and
    encourage ​antisemitism​ worldwide by "stamping the Jews as
    strangers in their native lands". The declaration called for
    safeguarding the civil and religious rights for the ​Palestinian Arabs​,
    who composed the ​vast majority of the local population​, and also the
    rights and political status of the Jewish communities in other
    countries outside of Palestine. The British government acknowledged
    in 1939 that the local population's views should have been taken into
    account, and recognised in 2017 that the declaration should have
    called for protection of the Palestinian Arabs' political rights.

    The declaration had many long-lasting consequences. It greatly


    increased popular support for ​Zionism​ within ​Jewish communities
    worldwide​, and became a core component of the ​British Mandate for
    Palestine​, the founding document of ​Mandatory Palestine​, which later
    became ​Israel​ and the ​Palestinian territories​. As a result, it is
    considered a principal cause of the ongoing ​Israeli–Palestinian
    conflict​, often described as the world's most intractable conflict.
    Controversy remains over a number of areas, such as whether the
    declaration contradicted earlier promises the British made to ​the
    Sharif of Mecca​ in the ​McMahon–Hussein correspondence​.

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