Balfour Declaration
Today, 99 years ago, on the 2.11.1917, Arthur James Balfour, the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary, signed the Balfour Declaration. This letter showed the United Kingdom’s support for “a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine”. The declaration was handed to Lord Rothschild, a Zionist and a philanthropist who then gave it to the Zionist Federation.
It was the first time one of the world powers supported the establishment of a Jewish state in a formal written document. The Balfour Declaration is deliberately ambiguous, because Britain did not want to show their complete commitment to the Jewish country Israel. Therefore, Balfour chose expressions such as “view with favour” instead of “support” and “national home” instead of “state” etc. Despite the obvious difficulties with the declaration, there is no question that this document pathed the way for the establishment of Israel.
Did you know? Many streets in Israel are called “2nd November
Next year will be 100 years since the issuing of the Balfour
Declaration, we should be thinking as a youth movement how we want to commemorate it.
For more information and resources on the Balfour Declaration follow the link below: http://www.balfour100.com/
