Balfour Declaration

• The Balfour Declaration was issued on November 2, 1917.
• Through this declaration, British publicly pledged to establish “a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine”.
• The Balfour Declaration (“Balfour’s promise” in Arabic) was a public pledge by Britain in 1917 declaring its aim to establish “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.
• It was made during World War I (1914-1918) and was included in the terms of the British Mandate for Palestine after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
• Earlier to this declaration in 1916 Sykes-Picot treaty was also agreed between Britain and France.
• The declared aim of the mandate system was to allow the winners of the war to administer the newly emerging states until they could become independent.
• The system transferred rule from the territories that were previously controlled by the powers defeated in the war, Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, to the victors.
• The declaration got support from the allies and later international support through the ‘League of Nations’.
• The declaration became a ground for the establishment of Israel state in Palestine.

Reasons behind the Balfour Declaration

• British hoped that Palestine of a pro-British Jewish population might help to protect the approaches to the Suez Canal in neighbouring Egypt.
• It was also declared to garner the support of US and Russia in the World War I, with the help of Jews diaspore living there.