Why Britain Did Not Abandon the Balfour Declaration

Abstract

The declaration issued in 1917 by Great Britain favoring a Jewish national home in Palestine was a seminal event in shaping the Arab-Israeli conflict. Known as the Balfour Declaration, it was written into the mandate that the League of Nations gave Britain to administer Palestine, thereby according it international imprimatur. In reporting to the League on implementation of the Balfour Declaration, Britain averred that Jewish migration to Palestine could be carried out consonant with the rights and status of the existing population of Palestine. In 1923, however, the British Government carried out an internal, and confidential assessment that concluded that continued Jewish migration to Palestine would lead to violence and chaos. For reasons of its own national interest, Britain continued to implement the Balfour Declaration and continued to tell the League that Jewish migration could be accommodated peacefully.