Balfour Declaration

A 1917 statement by the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, supporting the right of the Jewish people to a state in the British Mandate of Palestine.

The short statement said:

"November 2nd, 1917

Dear Lord Rothschild,

I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

Yours sincerely,

Arthur James Balfour

Other British agreements

In the Sykes-McMahon Correspondence of 1915, there is no mention of a Palestinian state in the British agreement to Arabs to fight, on the British side, against the Turks in WWI.

There was some conflict between the Declaration and the British-French position in the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916.