Shownotes Transcript
(Bonus) 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 the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary) Arthur Balfour) to Lord Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community), for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland). The text of the declaration was published in the press on 9 November 1917.
Immediately following their declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire) in November 1914, the British War Cabinet) began to consider the future of Palestine; within two months a memorandum was circulated to the Cabinet) by a Zionist Cabinet member, Herbert Samuel), proposing the support of Zionist ambitions in order to enlist the support of Jews in the wider war. A committee) was established in April 1915 by British Prime Minister) H. H. Asquith) to determine their policy towards the Ottoman Empire including Palestine. Asquith, who had favoured post-war reform of the Ottoman Empire, resigned in December 1916; his replacement David Lloyd George) favoured partition of the Empire. The first negotiations between the British and the Zionists) took place at a conference on 7 February 1917 that included Sir Mark Sykes) and the Zionist leadership. Subsequent discussions led to Balfour's request, on 19 June, that Rothschild and Chaim Weizmann) submit a draft of a public declaration. Further drafts were discussed by the British Cabinet during September and October, with input from Zionist and anti-Zionist) Jews but with no representation from the local population in Palestine.