| "Palestine for the Jews!” That was the London Times headline (November 9, 1917) that informed the world of the British government’s decision to issue a letter that became known as the Balfour Declaration. The letter, sent by the British foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild a week earlier (November 2) stated that the British government viewed 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 objective. British prime minister David Lloyd George and Balfour were part of a British generation that was inspired by romantic notions of the Jews’ return to their ancestral homeland. Lord Roderick Balfour, the great-grandson of Arthur’s brother Gerald William Balfour, recently spoke with The Jerusalem Post Magazine about how these statesmen wholeheartedly adopted such notions. “They were brought up singing the songs of David, and reading the Old Testament. It was completely natural that Christians should support the return of the Jews to the Holy Land.” Indeed, Lloyd George said he was taught far more about the history of the Jews than about that of his own people. In 1917, as British forces were advancing through Palestine, he stated that he wished to give Jerusalem as “a Christmas present for the British people.” But Lloyd George’s great-granddaughter, the renowned historian Prof. Margaret MacMillan of Oxford University, warns not to overestimate the religious motivations. “No doubt they were lovers of Zion, but the declaration was about geopolitical considerations.” MacMillan, a leading expert on World War I, shared with the Magazine her insight on war dynamics. “Both sides in the war were using every weapon they could find, such as appealing to populations in enemy countries. The Balfour Declaration was driven by British interests, not by altruism.” Jehuda Reinharz, who has written more than 30 books on Jewish history and served as president of Brandies University, claims that the Balfour Declaration was not unique. “It was one of many declarations and promises the British made during World War I. What is important is what was done with the Declaration.” Issuing the declaration was not only consistent with wartime promises given to various groups, it was also in line with previous attempts of world powers to facilitate the return of the Jews. Over a century prior to the Balfour Declaration, back in 1799, a similar declaration was reportedly issued by the French. This happened as Napoleon was conquering Palestine; he referred to the Jews as the “rightful heirs of Palestine.” Two decades prior to the declaration, in 1898, the German Kaiser became an advocate of the same idea. After meeting Zionist leader Theodor Herzl, he agreed to ask the Turkish Sultan to grant the Jews a chartered company in Palestine under German protection. The Sultan declined and Herzl had to resort to other avenues. He discussed with the British government the possibility of giving Jews territory right outside of Palestine, in the Sinai desert. When that was deemed unfeasible, the British offered territory in East Africa. Herzl then hired a local British lawyer in 1903 to draft a proposal that became known as the Uganda Scheme. That lawyer was a rising politician named David Lloyd George. MacMillan believes that her great-grandfather’s awareness of other nations’ efforts played a role in issuing the Declaration. “The British were worried that if they did not support a Jewish homeland, the Germans would.” Reinharz takes it a step further: “There were a number of declarations in support of Zionism at the time, amongst them from Japan. But all those declarations were meaningless.” He explains that unlike previous and contemporary declarations of support, this time there was both a feasible path to its fulfillment, and motivated Jewish activists who knew how to leverage it. “[Zionist leader] Chaim Weizmann took the Balfour letter and made it into the Balfour Declaration,” Reinharz says. “Messianic times have really come,” Weizmann wrote to his wife as events were unfolding. Four and half years after the Declaration was issued, in 1922, the League of Nations gave a mandate to Great Britain to put the Balfour Declaration into effect. In building support for the implementation of the declaration, Weizmann partnered with the Arab emir Faisal, who proclaimed in an agreement that “all necessary measures shall be taken to encourage and stimulate immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale.” Arab support was corroborated by T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), who upon meeting with the Hashemite emir, wrote to the British Army’s director of intelligence that “the Arab attitude should be sympathetic.” MacMillan elaborates: “There was no such thing as Arab public opinion. There were some middle class movements in Baghdad, but for the most part, this area was viewed as a small, backward part of the Ottoman Empire. The Hashemites claimed to represent the Arabs, but in my view, that claim was grossly inflated.” In fact, the Arabs on the ground in Palestine were not represented, or taken into account. |
