June 2017
The Forgotten Truth about the Balfour Declaration
By Martin KramerFor 100 years the British statement, which inaugurated Zionism's legitimation in the eyes of the world, has been seen as the isolated act of a single nation. The truth is much different.
On November 2, 1917, a century ago, Arthur James Balfour, the British foreign secretary, conveyed the following pledge in a public letter to a prominent British Zionist, Lord Walter Rothschild:
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.
At the time, as World War I raged, British and Australian forces were fighting deep in Palestine against the Ottomans, and were poised to take Jerusalem.
Responses to June ’s Essay
June 2017
How the Balfour Declaration Became Part of International Law
By Nicholas Rostow
June 2017
How Gentile Zionism Affected the Statesmen Behind the Balfour Declaration
By Allan Arkush
June 2017
Jabotinsky’s Role, and the Jewish Legion’s, in Securing the Balfour Declaration
By Colin Shindler
June 2017
The Balfour Declaration Was More than the Promise of One Nation
By Martin Kramer
