Balfour Declaration

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The Balfour Declaration on 2 November 1917 was a statement of British support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.

History

The declaration was made in a letter from the British foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lionel Walter Rothschild. It was later endorsed by the principal Allied powers and was included in the British mandate over Palestine Chaim Weizmann, leader of the World Jewish Congress and later the first president of Israel, was influential in its creation. A 1939 Winston Churchill memorandum stated that

"…it was not for light or sentimental reasons that Lord Balfour and the Government of 1917 made the promises to the Zionists which have been the cause of so much subsequent discussion. The influence of American Jewry was rated then as a factor of the highest importance, and we did not feel ourselves in such a strong position as to be able to treat it with indifference.[1]

See also

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