THE 90th ANNIVERSARY OF THE
BALFOUR DECLARATION by Clive Rosen
With the change of
British government in 1916 when Lloyd George became Prime
Minister and Lord Balfour his foreign secretary, the
decision was taken in favour of a British invasion of
Palestine.
After years of lobbying
by Zionist leaders such as Weitzman and Sokolow for support
for a Jewish Home in Palestine, a meeting was convened in
February 1917. This was attended by Zionist Leaders, Herbert
Samuel, a cabinet member, and Sir Mark Sykes, one of the
government’s most influential advisors on eastern affairs.
Thus negotiations were opened which were to lead to the
Balfour Declaration.
The propaganda value of
the Declaration was emphasised by Balfour in commending it
to the war cabinet which approved it on 31st October 1917,
on the grounds that “it would rally Jewry on a world-wide
scale to the Allied cause”.
The Declaration was
approved on 24th April 1920, at the Allies’ conference at
San Remo and incorporated in the Mandate on Palestine
conferred upon Britain by the League of Nations on 24th
July, 1922.
The struggle over its
practical implementation lasted throughout the entire 30
years of British rule in Palestine.
The issuance of the
Declaration gave rise to the observance of Balfour Day, 2nd
November, the date on which Balfour wrote to Lord Rothschild
requesting the Declaration be brought to the knowledge of
the Zionist Federation.
