Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - 1917 Balfour Declaration
The Balfour
Declaration was a letter dated November 2, 1917 from British Foreign
Secretary Arthur James Balfour, to Lord Rothschild (Walter Rothschild,
2nd Baron Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community, for
transmission to the Zionist Federation, a private Zionist organization.
The letter stated the position, agreed to at a British Cabinet meeting
on October 31, 1917, that the British government supported Zionist plans
for a Jewish "national home" in Palestine, with the condition that
nothing should be done which might prejudice the rights of existing
communities there.
At the time, most of the area of Palestine was still under the control
of the Ottoman Empire, and the borders of what would become Palestine
had been outlined as part of the May 16, 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement
between Britain and France. In exchange for the commitment in the
declaration, the Jewish community would seek to encourage the United
States to join World War I. That was not the sole reason, for there had
long been considerable support in Britain for the idea of a Jewish
homeland, but the timing was influenced by the possibility.
Language from the Declaration was later incorporated into the Sèvres
peace treaty with Turkey and the Mandate for Palestine.
----------------------------------------------------------
Text of the declaration
The declaration, a typed letter signed in ink by Balfour, reads as
follows:
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 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."
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the
knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely, Arthur James Balfour
------------------------------------------------------------
Development and differing views
The record of discussions that led up to the final text of the Balfour
Declaration clarifies some details of its wording. The phrase "national
home" was intentionally used instead of "state", and the British devoted
some effort over the following decades to denying that a state was the
intention, including the Churchill White Paper, 1922. However, in
private, many British officials agreed with the interpretation of the
Zionists that a state would be the eventual outcome.
An early draft used the word that in referring to Palestine as a Jewish
homeland, which was changed to in Palestine to avoid committing to it
being the whole of Palestine. Similarly, an early draft did not include
the commitment to not prejudicing the rights of the non-Jewish
communities. These changes came about partly as the result of the
urgings of Edwin Samuel Montagu, an influential anti-Zionist Jew and
Secretary of State for India, who, among others, was concerned that the
declaration without those changes could result in increased anti-Semitic
persecution.
Like the preceding Sykes-Picot Agreement, the declaration is viewed by
many Arabs as a gross betrayal of Britain's undertakings to support Arab
independence in the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence of 1915–1916.
Negotiation
One of the main Jewish figures who negotiated the granting of the
declaration was Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the leading spokesman for organized
Zionism in Britain. During meetings in 1906 between Chaim Weizmann and
Balfour, the Unionist leader was impressed by Weizman's personality.
Balfour asked Weizmann why Palestine—and Palestine alone—could be the
basis for Zionism. "Anything else would be idolatry", Weizmann
protested, adding: "Mr. Balfour, supposing I were to offer you Paris
instead of London, would you take it?" "But Dr. Weizmann", Balfour
retorted, "we have London", to which Weizmann rejoined, "That is true,
but we had Jerusalem when London was a marsh."
Weizmann was a chemist who managed to synthesize acetone via
fermentation. Acetone is needed in the production of cordite, a
propellant needed to lob artillery shells. Germany had a corner on a key
acetone ingredient, calcium acetate. Without calcium acetate, Britain
could not produce acetone and without acetone there would be no cordite.
Without cordite, then Britain may have lost the Great War. When asked
what payment Weizmann would like, Weizmann responded, "There is only one
thing I want. A national home for my people." He received both payment
for the chemical work and a role in the history of the origins of the
state of Israel.
Contradictory assurances
In his November, 2002 interview with the New Statesman magazine, the UK
Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, has blamed Britain's imperial past for
many of the modern political problems, including the Arab-Israeli
conflict.
"The Balfour declaration and the contradictory assurances which were
being given to Palestinians in private at the same time as they were
being given to the Israelis—again, an interesting history for us, but
not an honourable one," he said.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration_1917
Back to Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
|
|
