100 years after the Balfour Declaration
JERUSALEM: Britain’s Balfour Declaration turns 100 this week, hailed by Israel for helping lead to its founding, but viewed by Palestinians as contributing to a catastrophe that stole their land. The November 2, 1917 declaration by then British foreign minister Arthur Balfour said his government viewed “with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”.
It was only one sentence of 67 words, but it was the strongest support yet from a world power for the goals of the Zionist movement-Jews, including those facing persecution, resettling in the land of their ancient ancestors. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will commemorate the anniversary in London, where he will attend a dinner in honor of the declaration with his British counterpart Theresa May.
May has said she will mark the date with “pride”, but there is also criticism in Britain over the anniversary because of Israel’s continuing half-century occupation of the West Bank. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn of the Labor party has said he cannot attend the dinner-without explaining further-although shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry will. Palestinians are planning a demonstration tomorrow in Ramallah as part of their campaign calling on Britain to apologize for the declaration. They have also explored suing Britain over it.
‘Historic injustice’
Netanyahu said this week that the declaration “advanced the international moves that established the state of Israel”. “While the state would not have arisen without settlement, sacrifice and a willingness to fight for it, the international impetus was, undoubtedly, the Balfour Declaration,” he said. For Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah, Britain should apologize for a “historic injustice it committed against our people and to correct it instead of celebrating it”.
“The international community is obliged, while we approach the first centennial of the ominous Balfour Declaration, to end the historic injustice that has been inflicted on our people.” The declaration came in a letter from Balfour to Lord Walter Rothschild, a leader of the Jewish community in Britain, and had British cabinet approval. Some argue today that later events-conflicting policies from Britain and the Zionists’ own efforts to realize their dream-diminished the Balfour Declaration’s importance. But others see it as monumental, having helped lay the groundwork not only for the creation of the modern state of Israel, but also the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.
‘It’s dramatic’
“It’s dramatic,” Jonathan Schneer, an American historian and author of the book “The Balfour Declaration” said. “And they’re both right,” he said, referring to the starkly different viewpoints of Israelis and Palestinians. “The Israelis see it as a foundation stone for the birth of a Jewish state, and the Arabs see it as a foundation stone leading towards their dispossession and misery.” According to Schneer, the declaration ironically grew to a large degree out of anti-Semitic myths. British leaders saw the Jewish community as capable of helping them win World War I due to its perceived influence in finance and within Russia, he said. Others say that Britain was also seeking a firm foothold in the Middle East after the war. But regardless of the motivations that created it, “if someone has to choose five documents that shaped Israel’s history and existence, then the Balfour Declaration has to be one of them”, said Paula Kabalo, director of Israel’s Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism. For Palestinians, the declaration is colonialist and even racist.