Commentary on the Declaration
On November 2, 1917, Britain issued the Balfour
Declaration:
His Majesty's Government
views with favor the establishment in Palestine
of a national home for the Jewish people,
and will use their best endeavors to facilitate
the achievement of this object, it being
clearly understood that nothing shall be
done which may prejudice the civil and religious
rights of existing non-Jewish communities
in Palestine or the rights and political
status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
According to the Peel
Commission, appointed by the British Government
to investigate the cause of the 1936
Arab riots, "the field in which the
Jewish National Home was to be established
was understood, at the time of the Balfour
Declaration, to be the whole of historic Palestine,
including Transjordan."
The Mandate for Palestine's purpose was to
put into effect the Balfour Declaration. It
specifically referred to "the historical
connections of the Jewish people with Palestine"
and to the moral validity of "reconstituting
their National Home in that country."
The term "reconstituting"
shows recognition of the fact that Palestine
had been the Jews' home. Furthermore, the
British were instructed to "use their
best endeavors to facilitate" Jewish
immigration, to encourage settlement on the
land and to "secure" the Jewish
National Home. The word "Arab" does
not appear in the Mandatory award.
The Mandate was formalized
by the 52 governments at the League of Nations
on July 24, 1922.
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