Herbert Samuel, Britain’s first – and Zionist – High Commissioner in Palestine, was able to deploy the contradictions and vagaries of the Balfour Declaration to the eternal advantage of the Zionists, right from the start.
When Macron recognises Palestine, Starmer must follow suit Labour has consistently delayed recognising a Palestinian state, despite having been elected on a manifesto pledge to do so – it is now a question of international justice and historical accountability, says Sir Vincent Fean Saturday 12 April 2025 This summer, France is expected to align its foreign…
Palestine: The RealityThe inside story of the Balfour Declaration 1917–1938 by J.M.N. Jeffries Published: 1939, reissued 2017 Formats: Hardback, paperback ISBN: 9781911072126 £26.99 First published by Longman Green and Co. Reissued by Olive Branch Press and Skyscraper Publications. Paperback £26.99 By John McHugo Many people trying to get to grips with the Israel/Palestine conflict…
The Guardian’s Long Read of 17 October was headlined ‘Britain’s calamitous promise’. Author Ian Black writes ‘The brief document that bears Balfour’s name is seen as marking the beginning of what is today widely considered the world’s most intractable conflict.’ Its three-page article, by Ian Black, deals with the motives behind the British Government’s support…
In 2015, historian William Mathew published a book consisting of a series of articles from the Daily Mail of 1923. These presented a hitherto uninformed British readership with details of official promises made to the Arabs in 1915–16 of post-war independence for Palestine in exchange for their support in the struggle against the Ottoman Empire…
The seeds of 100 years of conflict Britain, the Arabs and the Jews, 1914 – 1918 2014 – 2018: Britain’s opportunity to acknowledge. In 2014, the centenary of the Great War will be marked in a variety of ways right across the globe. Every country involved will remember and honour those millions who made the…
Robert Fisk on the moment the Arabs, trusting in British good faith, turned on their Turkish rulers The Arab Revolt is all about the Arab Betrayal. The blowing up of Turkish trains, the capture of Aqaba, the camel charges and the slaughter on the Road to Damascus, and the mythistory of Lawrence of Arabia are…
Selfish imperial agreements between Britain and France, combined with the publication of the contradictory Balfour Declaration of 1917, fuelled hostilities in the Middle East This article appeared in The Sunday Telegraph on 2 February 2014 By Patrick Bishop The First World War was the most modern of conflicts. Yet the thinking of the men who…
This highly significant book does not fit easily into any one category, but for those with a special interest in the Balfour Declaration it is the implications and complexities of this that make it unique.
See also Contradictory Promises by Dr Peter Shambrook where these promises are explored in more detail. 1915 The McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, • In 1915 Britain promised the Arabs that after the war they would be granted independence in their lands, in exchange for joining a wartime alliance against the Turks. 1917 The Balfour Declaration, • This…
By William M. Mathew ABSTRACT The article sets the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the final confirmation of Britain’s Palestine Mandate in 1923 within the context of national imperial concerns: in particular, anxieties over the security of the Suez Canal and the country’s sea-route to its economic and military power-base in India. In 1917 strategic…
A one day conference exploring the different legacies of the Balfour Declaration and how a greater understanding of history can contribute to justice and peace in the Middle East today was held in Winchester University on May 18th 2013. Over 50 people gathered in the Stripe Theatre. They represented a wide range of opinions from…
From Brian Klug, Being Jewish and Doing Justice: Bringing Argument to Life London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2011, pp. 199-210 There appears to be a conundrum about Arthur Balfour.1 On the one hand, his name is inseparable from the Declaration he signed as Foreign Secretary on 2 November 1917, which read in part: ‘His Majesty’s Government view…
3 January, 1919 Introduction Following the First World War, Emir Feisal, son of Sherif Hussein (Husayn) of Mecca, and the leader of the Arab movement, met in Aqaba with Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the head of the Zionist Commission to Palestine. Later, at the Paris Peace Conference, the two negotiated and signed the following agreement,…
The Mandate, the full details of which are available in the Avalon Project, incorporated the provisions of the Balfour Declaration. Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted…
Below is the White Paper but also read: Rescuing Balfour: Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office 1921-22 Dr William Mathew shows in this essay how Winston Churchill,.. played a vital role in securing the British government`s long-term commitment to the terms of the Balfour Declaration of November 1917. Joseph Jeffries and the ‘Palestine Deception’, 1923…
With the Ottoman Empire drawn into the war the Entente powers assumed that its defeat and dismemberment were inevitable. They negotiated between themselves which portions of the Empire they would take. In 1915 Prime Minister Herbert Asquith appointed the de Bunsen Committee to identify the Ottoman territories that were of interest to Britain. They considered…
The War Cabinet (WW1) The creation of the War Cabinet undertook the supreme direction of the war effort. It was composed of David Lloyd George, the Prime Minister, Andrew Bonar Law, Lord Nathaniel Curzon, Alfred Milner, Arthur Henderson and Sir Maurice Hankey (its Secretary). Mark Sykes and Leopold Amery were also secretaries.
Occasionally there are topics that have been written about at such length that it helps to clear the air, or to establish the vantage point from which I intend to consider my subject. My aim therefore is to take a fresh look at the Balfour Declaration in the light of recent scholarship. What I propose…