Today in Labor History Nov 2, 1917: The Balfour Declaration proclaimed British support for the creation of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, then part of the Ottoman empire. It was during World War One, when the British were at war with the Ottomans. The declaration supposedly said "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities." Though the declaration called for a National Home for the Jewish people, there was no such thing as a “National Home” under existing international law. The declaration was purposefully vague about aspirations for creating a future Jewish state, as well as the boundaries of the Jewish “National Home,” that would be created. Furthermore, while the declaration called for the protection of Arab civil and religious rights, it made no mention of protecting their political rights, even though they comprised the overwhelming majority of residents living in Palestine (90% of the local residents at that time were Christian or Muslim Arabs). The declaration is widely considered to be a principal cause of the ongoing conflict in the region, as it led to an increase in Jewish immigration to Palestine, as well as the creation of the Israeli state. Palestinian Arabs considered the declaration to have imposed on them by a foreign power, "in a flat disregard of both the presence and the wishes of the native majority resident in that territory."
It should be noted that the declaration was made at a time of intense antisemitism in Europe, which likely played a significant role in Britain’s decision to issue it. Many British political leaders wanted the Jews out of Britain. Others saw the declaration as a tool for exploiting “international Jewish power” to support their imperial and wartime objectives. Many Zionist leaders were happy to encourage these views, since they supported their objective of creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
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