RAMALLAH, November 2, 2024 (WAFA) – Today, November 2, marks the 107th anniversary of the infamous Balfour Declaration, a pivotal statement in 1917 by the British government that granted Jews the right to establish a national home in Palestine.
This declaration is often viewed as the first significant step by Western powers towards the creation of a Jewish state, made in response to the aspirations of global Zionism at the expense of a people deeply rooted in the land for thousands of years.
The Balfour Declaration was issued by then British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the global Zionist movement, following three years of negotiations between the British government and Jewish representatives. The Zionist movement had convinced Britain of their potential to further British interests in the region.
The British government sought the approval of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson before the public announcement, with France and Italy also endorsing the declaration in 1918. By 1920, the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers at the San Remo Conference entrusted Britain with the mandate over Palestine, which included implementing the Balfour promise.
The League of Nations subsequently approved the mandate in July 1922, coming into effect in September 1923. Thus, the Balfour Declaration can be seen as a Western promise, not solely a British one.
Arab responses to the declaration ranged from shock and outrage to outright condemnation. To mitigate the backlash, Britain sent a letter to Sharif Hussein, affirming that it would not permit Jewish settlement in Palestine beyond what aligned with Arab interests. However, at the same time, the British military administration in Palestine was instructed to comply with the orders of the Jewish Agency, led by Chaim Weizmann, facilitating Jewish immigration from Russia and Eastern Europe and providing necessary protection.
The Palestinian people did not passively accept British promises and the realities imposed by Zionist actions. They engaged in a series of revolts, the first of which was the 1929 Buraq Uprising, followed by the 1936 Revolt.
The global Zionist movement utilized the Balfour Declaration as a legal foundation for their demands, which included the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. This dream was realized on May 15, 1948, with the establishment of Israel, supported by the international community despite being founded on the dispossession of the Palestinian population.
The Balfour Declaration thus provided a homeland for Jews, who at the time constituted only about 50,000 in Palestine, amidst a total Jewish population of approximately 12 million worldwide. In contrast, the Arab population in Palestine was around 1.65 million, a community that had been cultivating their lives in this land for millennia, yet their rights were largely ignored by this fateful promise, which recognized only limited civil and religious rights while dismissing their political, economic, and administrative rights.
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