RAMALLAH, November 2, 2026 (WAFA) – Today, November 2, marks the 109th anniversary of the notorious Balfour Declaration, issued in 1917, when the British government formally pledged its support for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.
The declaration is considered a defining moment in the history of Palestine and the first major move by Western powers towards the establishment of a Jewish state, advancing the ambitions of the international Zionist movement at the expense of a people whose historical and cultural ties to the land extend back thousands of years.
The declaration was made by then British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour in a letter addressed to Lord Rothschild, a leading figure in the international Zionist movement, following three years of negotiations between the British government and Jewish representatives. The Zionist movement had succeeded in persuading Britain that its project could advance British political and strategic interests in the region.
Prior to its public announcement, the British government sought the approval of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, while France and Italy endorsed the declaration in 1918. In 1920, the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers, meeting at the San Remo Conference, granted Britain the mandate over Palestine, entrusting it with implementing the Balfour Declaration.
The League of Nations approved the mandate in July 1922, and it entered into force in September 1923. These developments demonstrated that the Balfour Declaration was not simply a British undertaking, but a commitment supported by the wider Western powers.
The declaration sparked widespread anger and condemnation throughout the Arab world. Seeking to contain the reaction, Britain sent a letter to Sharif Hussein, assuring him that Jewish settlement in Palestine would not exceed what was compatible with Arab interests. However, its actions on the ground contradicted these assurances. The British military administration in Palestine was instructed to comply with the directives of the Jewish Agency, headed by Chaim Weizmann, facilitating immigration from Russia and Eastern Europe and providing protection for incoming Jewish settlers.
The Palestinian people did not accept these developments passively. In response to British policies and the growing Zionist presence, they launched successive uprisings, beginning with the 1929 Buraq Uprising and followed by the 1936 Palestinian Revolt.
The international Zionist movement subsequently invoked the Balfour Declaration as a political and legal basis for its demands, foremost among them the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. This objective was realized on May 15, 1948, with the establishment of Israel, which received international backing despite being accompanied by the dispossession and displacement of the Palestinian population.
At the time, the Jewish population in Palestine numbered approximately 50,000, out of an estimated 12 million Jews worldwide. By contrast, the Arab population in Palestine stood at around 1.65 million, representing a society deeply rooted in the land and whose generations had cultivated and built their lives there for centuries.
Yet, the declaration largely disregarded the rights of this indigenous population, recognizing only limited civil and religious rights while excluding their political, economic and administrative rights.
Ultimately, the Balfour Declaration became a turning point in Palestine's history: a promise made by a foreign power to a movement seeking a national home in a land already inhabited by another people, whose rights, identity and aspirations were largely left out of the equation.
K.T
