The Perfidy of Albion: Britain's Secret Re-Assessment of the Balfour Declaration

Abstract

The issuance by the Government of Great Britain of the Balfour Declaration in 1917 had great consequences for the subsequent history of Palestine and the Middle East. As it was administering Palestine and implementing the Balfour Declaration in the 1920s, the British Government reported to the League of Nations that it could successfully achieve the Declaration's aim, namely, the promotion of a Jewish national home in Palestine, while at the same time respecting the rights of the existing (predominantly Arab) population. In its own internal discussion of Palestine, however, the British Government concluded that these two goals were incompatible, and that serious conflict was inevitable. It decided nonetheless, for reasons relating to its own geostrategic interests, to continue to administer Palestine and to implement the Balfour Declaration, and to continue to tell the League of Nations that it could do so successfully.