Balfour Declaration

The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British Government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population. The declaration was contained in a letter dated 2 November 1917 from Arthur Balfour, the British foreign secretary, to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the w:Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. The text of the declaration was published in the press on 9 November 1917.

Quotes

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.
- Arthur James Balfour, Balfour Declaration (November 2, 1917)

[The Balfour Declaration is] the root of the suffering of the Palestinian people and paved the way for the violation of their rights and the confiscation of their land and capabilities.
The British government and everyone who participated in the implementation of this permit, [bear responsibility for] the massacres and tragedies that the Palestinian people were subjected to, especially the crime of uprooting and displacing them, which is ongoing.
- Munib al-Masri, quoted in "Palestinians are suing Britain, and why not?", Middle East Monitor, (October 20, 2020)

The Balfour Declaration is unacceptable, it was not just a declaration, but a birth certificate of a state with letters of shame, injustice, nullifying, and a replacement tactic drawn by Britain in partnership with the Zionist movement, ignoring the rights of more than 93% of our Palestinian people, and granting the Jews, who at the time composed only 7% of the population, full rights.
- Munib al-Masri, quoted in "Palestinians Initiate Lawsuit against Britain over Balfour Declaration", Palestine Chronicle, October 22, 2020.