The Zionist Movement and the 1917 Balfour Declaration

Abstract

In the 1917 Balfour Declaration, Britain recognised the Jews as a people and promised them a national home in Palestine. Although not legally binding in 1917, the Balfour Declaration was of cardinal importance in providing international political support for the idea of recreating a Jewish national home in Palestine. The Declaration was at first a conditional promise, but subsequent to the Declaration, Turkey renounced its claim to Palestine and Britain took control of the whole of Palestine and was in a position to implement it. The Declaration subsequently obtained binding international legal status in the San Remo Resolution and in the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine. The Balfour Declaration obliged the British Government to preserve the individual rights of the Arab population of Palestine but did not recognise them as a people or promise them national rights, although they constituted a majority of the population at the time. This caused anger amongst the Arab population of Palestine and contradicted the Arab interpretation of the McMahon Hussein correspondence, whereby Palestine was to be part of an independent Arab State.