British Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur Balfour, pictured in
1930 ( AP )
What is the Balfour Declaration?
The British pledge that paved the way for Israel's
creation. The declaration saw Britain, a major
world power, make the first key declaration
backing a Jewish “national home” in what was
known as Palestine.
It was contained in a letter dated 2 November 1917
by the then British Foreign Secretary Arthur
Balfour to British Jewish community leader Lord
Rothschild.
What does it say?
The letter, which states it is a “declaration of
sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations”,
promises British assistance to create a Jewish
homeland.
Here's the text in full:
Foreign Office
November 2nd, 1917
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you. on
behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following
declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist
aspirations which has been submitted to, and
approved by, the Cabinet
His Majesty's Government view with favour the
establishment in Palestine of a national home for
the Jewish people, and will use their best
endeavors 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.
I should be grateful if you would bring this
declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist
Federation.
Yours,
Arthur James Balfour
How do historians view the declaration?
The Foreign Secretary's intention in making the
declaration is a hot topic of debate as the letter
does not use the word “state” and also stresses
that that “nothing should be done which may
prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing
non-Jewish communities in Palestine”.
Historian Simon Schama, in delivering the Balfour
Centenary Lecture at the Royal Society, described
Israel as a “living, breathing, thriving democracy”
of “six million Jews who are nothing short of a
crushing retort to Hitler and the Shoah”. He also
pointed to schools like Yad Ve'Yad where the
governing bodies, both Israeli and Palestinians,
work together.“
How do Palestinians view the declaration?
To this day it remains hugely divisive as it is
despised by Palestinians while being celebrated by
Israel.
Zionists feel it is the foundation for modern Israel
while non-Jewish Palestinians and Arabs speak of
loss and dispossession.
Palestinians feel it signalled their “nakba”, or
catastrophe, the mass displacement that resulted
from the war surrounding Israel's creation in
1948.
Palestinians have argued that Israel, through the
declaration and its British backers, is a colonial
enterprise. They have called for an apology from
the British to the Palestinian people.
Israel sees the letter as the first step and
recognition from a major world power in backing
the Jewish people's hopes of a national home.
