‘1917 Balfour Declaration’ seed of Palestinian-Israeli conflict

CAIRO – 3 November 2023: The 2nd of November marked the 106th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which supported the establishment of a state for Jewish people in Palestine in 1917, and considered the seed of the ongoing and prolonged Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and the suppression of the West Bank and Jerusalem are the latest series of Israeli aggressions on the Palestinian people since the Balfour Declaration.

The Balfour Declaration is a letter sent on November 2, 1917, by Arthur Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary at the time, to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild, a prominent British Zionist, expressing Britain's support for the establishment of a "Jewish national homeland" in Palestine.

The notion of kicking the Jews out of Europe and giving them a homeland dates back to 1902, when the British government thought to push them into East Africa or to the Egyptian city of Arish in Sinai. However, these attempts at Jewish deportation to the Sinai or East of Africa failed.

During World War I, the Zionist movement became active and communicated with Germany and Britain to convince them that the idea of a national home for the Jews would be in their interest, bedsides assuring them that their so-called state would be an incentive for the Jews in the United States of America to put pressure on the government there.

In June 1917, the leader of the international Zionist movement at that time Chaim Weizmann, who became the first President of Israel in 1948, and the Zionist leader Walter Rothschild met with the British Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener (1st Earl Kitchener), who asked them to draft a statement that reflects the vision of the Zionist movement regarding Palestine, to be submitted to the British government for consideration.

As a result, the British promise was given to establish a national homeland for the Jews in Palestine. In accordance with this promise, David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization announced the establishment of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948, the same day that Britain announced the end of its mandate over Palestine.

On the 106th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, the UK Foreign Office in London was sprayed with slogans like “Britain is guilty.”

BREAKING: Actionists spray the Foreign Office in London, 106 years after Britain signed away the land of Palestine to the zionist colonial project.

Since then, Britain continues to arm apartheid Israel's ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. BRITAIN IS GUILTY! #Balfour106 pic.twitter.com/UTN3Q9epFS

— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) November 2, 2023

Gaza has been under continued Israeli strikes since October 7 despite global calls for a ceasefire, which Israel has denied.

Continuing for nearly a month, the Israeli war in Gaza has killed more than 9,000 Palestinians and injured over 23,500 more people.

Also, around 1.4 million people have been displaced due to the Israeli air strikes, with Israel ordering residents to head to southern Gaza, which shares a border with Egypt.