The Balfour Declaration (November 2, 1917)

The Balfour Declaration
(November 2, 1917)

The Balfour Declaration
(November 2, 1917)

The Balfour Declaration was a British statement of foreign policy. It originally had no legal force, and the British had merely committed to "use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object (i.e.: the reconstitution of the Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine).

At the San Remo Peace Conference, April 25, 1920, the British accepted the role as Mandatory, the administrators, of the Mandate for Palestine. The San Remo Declaration transformed the Balfour declaration from  a British commitment to use their "best endeavours" to a legal obligation to "put into effect" the creation of a Jewish country called Palestine.





Foreign Office
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