Balfour Declaration

Describe and Explain the Balfour Declaration The Balfour Declaration was letter dated 2nd of November 1917 from the United Kingdom 's Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Walter Rothschild, the leader of the British Jewish Community. This letter expressed the British government’s support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The letter expressed that it would bring about “a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.” The results of this was a power house western support for a Jewish home in Palestine and eventually fuel to long tension between Jewish people and the people of Palestine. This document led to the founding of the Jewish state of Israel. The truly explain the results of the Balfour Declaration, one must first examine the political climate before it was released. About halfway through the first world war three different components led to the writing of the Balfour declaration; the military and naval positions and the status of British Zionist negotiations. At this point of the war the British military began to exhaust. After fighting on multiple fronts and supporting the more exhausted French British resources began to run out.

The goals the Britain were trying to accomplish were numerous and so were unclear. Myths about the true motives of the declaration still swirl but, historians focus on the diplomatic and political motives behind the declaration. It is very important to note that soon after the declaration, on December 9th 1917, Britain captured Jerusalem. This ended a nearly 400-year rule by the ottoman empire. They were later granted the league of nation mandate for the control of Palestine in 1920. This was after they were granted temporary control of Palestine by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. This accomplished one goal of the declaration that was to secure post-war control over