Balfour Declaration, 1917

The Balfour Declaration was a document published on November 2 1917 by British foreign minister Arthur James Balfour, which stated that Great Britain supported the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The precondition for such a homeland was that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine".

In return for a homeland in Palestine, the Zionists should work intensively to get all Jews of the world to join the British side in the ongoing war against Germany.

The Declaration was later made part of Sèvres peace treaty with Turkey and then was incorporated into the document establishing the British Mandate of Palestine.

This declaration was made in a typescript letter to Lord Rothschild, and expressed the view of the British Cabinet, agreed at a meeting on October 31 1917.

The declaration read 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,

[signed] Arthur James Balfour

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. However, in private, many British officials agreed with the interpretation of the Zionists that a state would be the eventual outcome. Similarly, the words "in Palestine" were carefully chosen so as not to imply that the whole of Palestine was intended.