Why did Britain produce the Balfour Declaration in support of Zionist objectives in Palestine? Mahsa Ali Introduction to the Modern Middle East Andrew Shaben 1st June 2015 The Balfour Declaration was written on 2nd of November 1917 in the form of a letter of correspondence between the Foreign Secretary of British Union Arthur James Balfour, and Mr. Walter Rothschild, the head of the British Jews. The document stated that the British Government had formally expressed interest in making Palestine a country for the Jews and would do everything to make this idea a reality. The document also stated that the wishes and rights of the locals would be respected and would not be trampled upon (which was later considered to be false …show more content…
The Russians were busy in their own revolution around this time period, and several of their notable leaders were Jewish. This included the famous Leon Trotsky. Therefore, the British thought that accepting the call for a Jewish homeland in Palestine would enlist the continued support of the Russians for the war effort as well. A separate Jewish homeland was a sensitive issue, and the Jewish leaders of the Russian revolution would most certainly lend their hand to build public opinion towards continuing Russian involvement in the war. Prime Minister Lloyd George perfectly summed up the extent of Jewish help in the following words: “The Zionist leaders gave us a definite promise that, if the Allies committed themselves to giving facilities for the establishment of a national home for the Jews in Palestine, they would do their best to rally Jewish sentiment and support throughout the world to the Allied cause. They kept their word.”4 Lloyd George later went on to say …show more content…
Weizmann was chemist and had, for years, organized Jewish opinion in Britain for the establishment of Israel, and he had worked for the development of a separate Jewish homeland diligently at every forum. The British realized his usefulness when they ran out of acetone in the war effort. Acetone was a key ingredient in the making of a substance called Cordite which was used to launch projectiles without generating visible smoke. The Germans had captured most of the reserves of calcium acetate which is used in the production of acetone thus effectively preventing the British from acquiring any. The big break for the British came in the form of Weizmann who had developed a formula to make acetone synthetically. In return for his formula, the British agreed to support Weizmann’s demands for a separate Jewish homeland. However, later historical evidence has reported that the British officials had started talks and meetings with Weizmann at least a decade, before the war in regard to the Jewish problem due to his elevated status as a campaigner and advocator of Jewish