Arthur Balfour's Balfour Declaration

On November 2, 1917, the then British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued the "Balfour Declaration", announcing that the British cabinet supported the Zionists in establishing a Jewish "national home" in Palestine.

The "Balfour Declaration" is an important document in the history of Britain's Middle East policy and the founding of the state of Israel.

The "Balfour Declaration" was originally written as a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to British Jewish leader Walter Rothschild (2nd Baron Rothschild) on November 2, 1917. Appears in the form of a letter.

Manuscript of the "Balfour Declaration"

Balfort Rothschild forwarded this letter to a private Zionist organization, the "Zionist Federation".

The "Balfour Declaration" officially announced the resolution passed by the British Cabinet at a meeting on October 31 of the same year: to support Zionists in establishing a Jewish "national home" in Palestine, on the condition that it does not harm the local area. already have national rights.

Excluding the header and signature, there are only three sentences in the full text, with a total of 125 words in English. But its impact on Middle Eastern history was far-reaching. The contents of this declaration were later included in the Treaty of Sèvres.

One of the leading Jewish figures who participated in the negotiations for the declaration was Chaim Weizmann. When Balfour first met Weizmann in 1906, he had a good impression of him. Balfour asked Weizmann why the central issue of Zionism was Palestine and not elsewhere. Weizmann said that other places are false idols, and added: "Mr. Balfour, this is like taking away your London and replacing it with Paris. Would you agree?" Balfour retorted: "Dr. Weizmann , but London is already ours." Weizmann replied: "That's true. But when London was still a swamp, Jerusalem was ours." At the end of the 19th century, a large-scale wave of anti-Semitism occurred in Europe. At the same time, the Zionist movement also emerged among the Jews, advocating the establishment of a Jewish nation-state. In 1897, the first World Zionist Organization Congress held in Basel, Switzerland, set its destination in Palestine, the homeland of Israel.

Zionists appeal for support from major countries in the world, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the United States. Russia became the target of their hostility because of its active persecution of the Jews. At that time, the British Empire was the most powerful country in the world, and in recent years Jews had lived a more stable and protected life there - Benjamin Disraeli, one of the British Prime Ministers, was himself of Jewish descent. Therefore, Zionists regard Britain as an important potential partner. The British chemist Chaim Weizmann used his high-level connections to actively lobby the British government to support the Zionist movement.

Meanwhile in Europe, World War I was at a stalemate. Both the Allies and the Entente were aware of the widespread influence of Zionists in various countries and wanted help from the movement. However, due to the fact that the Palestinian area belonged to the territory of its ally, the Ottoman Empire, Germany was reluctant to promise too much.

At the end of 1916, the new British government cabinet with David Lloyd George as Prime Minister took office. Both George and his Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour were sympathetic to the Zionist movement. Lloyd George had served as a legal adviser to the Zionists before the war, and later, while serving as Minister of Munitions, he met Chaim Weizmann, who worked at the Royal Naval Laboratory.

During 1917, there was a long and heated debate within the British government over whether and how to address the issue of support for Zionism; the debate involved Jews who supported and opposed Zionism.

From the British perspective, the "Balfour Declaration" had multiple purposes: to prompt the world's Jews to financially support the Allied Powers; to dispel Germany's plan to seek help from Zionism; to suppress Russia, where Jews accounted for a large proportion. The Bolsheviks prevented it from negotiating peace with Germany; they alienated the Allied governments and the Jewish communities under their rule. The Balfour Declaration promulgated by Arthur Balfour was the first declaration by a major country in the world to formally support the return of Jews to Palestine. Arthur Koestler, a British writer born in Hungary, summed it up as "one country formally promising the land of a third country to a second country."

Israel Cohen said: "Balfour has an unchallenged and immortal status...The Balfour Declaration ushered in a new era in the history of the Jews."

The declaration was approved by the Allied Powers The confirmation of the governments became the main basis for the League of Nations in 1920 to appoint Britain to rule Palestine.

Zionists interpreted this as formal British support for Jewish immigration to Palestine. Since then, the number of Jewish immigrants entering Palestine has increased dramatically; they have also begun to ignore the clause in the declaration that "the interests of other local peoples shall not be harmed" and exclude local Arabs.

An intriguing point is that the declaration uses "national home" instead of "state". This vague definition is partly responsible for the subsequent history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There are also views that the promises made to both Jews and non-Jews in the Balfour Declaration are inherently contradictory: it is impossible to immigrate to Palestine in large numbers without harming the interests of the local residents.

Historian Mayir Verete believes that even if there was no Jewish statehood movement at this time, the British would have invented one themselves. The British Government expressed its approval of the public assurances of a Jewish state in Palestine. In August 1897, the Zionists headed by T. Herzl held their first congress in Basel, Switzerland, and adopted a restoration program for the establishment of a "Jewish home" in Palestine. Britain had coveted Palestine for a long time and decided to use Zionism to seize Palestine and then control the Middle East.

Balfour in his later years

On November 2, 1917, Arthur Balfour wrote to L.W. Rothschild, Vice Chairman of the British Zionist Union. The letter stated:

“His Majesty’s Government supports the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine and is willing to do its utmost to promote its realization; however, it should be clearly understood that nothing should be done to damage the current status quo of Palestine. the civil and religious rights of the Jews, or undermine the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in other countries.”

The letter became known as the Balfour Declaration. The "national home of the Jewish people" in the declaration is actually the Jewish state.

The Balfour Declaration had a profound impact on the development of Zionism and the situation in the Middle East. The declaration was endorsed by major Allied countries, including the United States.

The Balfour Declaration is the earliest policy document of the British government supporting world Zionism.

Arthur Balfour (1848-1930), on behalf of His Majesty's Government, sent a letter to Lionel Walter, Vice Chairman of the Zionist Union, in the form of a notice. Lord Rothschild declared that Britain would support the establishment of a "Jewish National Home" in Palestine as long as the civil interests and religious rights of existing non-Jewish groups in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jewish people in other countries were not harmed. . This declaration was confirmed by all the Allied governments and became the main basis for the League of Nations to mandate British rule over Palestine at the San Remo Conference in 1920.

The "Declaration" provided the basis for the Zionists to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, and also laid the foundation for disputes and conflicts between Zionists and Arabs.