Studies in the History of Zionism

The Balfour Declaration: A Watershed in the History of the Zionist Movement

- Background Text

by Nili Kadary

Educational Goals:

1. To explore and evaluate the background process to the Balfour Declaration.
2. To understand Chaim Weizmann's significance as a leader of the Zionist movement.
3. To assess the importance of the Balfour Declaration, especially its inclusion in the Mandate Document itself.

Introduction: Presentation of the Issue

At time of Herzl's death, the major instruments of the Zionist movement had already been set in motion:

• the Zionist Organization
• the Jewish Settlement Fund [the movement's financial arm since 1899]
• the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael [Jewish National Fund, est. 1901 to redeem land in Eretz Yisrael and prepare it for settlement].

Note to the Educator:

The English version of the document uses the term "Palestine" while the Hebrew documents and discussion use "Eretz Yisrael". In the context of the process towards and the establishment of a British Mandate, these terms are identical in meaning and refer to the area West and East of the Jordan River without any political overtones.

1. Diplomatic Background to the Balfour Declaration

A. British Foreign Policy in the Middle East in the Early 20th Century

The European Powers - Russia, France, Germany and Britain - followed the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire closely from the sidelines during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Each had its own well-defined interests in the Middle East, which formed part of this Empire; Britain's were the strongest, for the following reasons:

1. a. It wished to retain control of the passage to India.
2. b. It wished to defend the Egyptian hinterland, a country under British control since 1882. The Suez Canal was one of the most important transport routes - and British interest in the land of Israel was part and parcel of its protection.

B. The MacMahon-Hussein Correspondence

In 1915, the Turkish attack from the Sinai desert on the Suez Canal failed. Nevertheless, the British became concerned about the canal's security, and escalated their anti-Turkish activity. They tried to tempt Hussein, the leading figure on the Arabian peninsula, to join in the rebellion against the Turks, and the latter demanded something in return.

Sir Henry MacMahon, the former Military Governor of Egypt, now High Commissioner, sent Hussein a letter in October 1915 -- known as the MacMahon correspondence. This stated that Britain was prepared to recognize Arab independence in the territory betwen the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf, with the exception of the area North of Damascus and the Persian Gulf itself. There was no delineation of borders or states; it was more of a "general" guarantee.

The Arabs claimed that the MacMahon letter promised them the area of the land of Israel as part of an independent Arab state, while the British firmly denied this and maintained that this territory was not included in the area designated.

C. The Sykes-Picot Agreement 1916

At the height of World War I, before the fate of the Middle East became clear, an agreement was signed in May 1916 between France and Britain, known for its signatories as the "Sykes-Picot Agreement". Under the terms of the accord, the two powers agreed to a division of the Middle East into areas of influence.

The Arabian peninsula was designated as an independent state, with Iraq and Syria also being divided between the areas of influence. Part of Eretz Yisrael was to come under French control, part under British, and part under international control. The area between Gaza and Aqaba, including that of TransJordan up to the Persian Gulf, was to come under British rule. While Britain thus guaranteed its control from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, it was not satisfied with the Sykes-Picot agreement itself and sought an alternative arrangement.

2. The Zionist Movement Leadership and Dr. Chaim Weizmann

At the outset of the First World War, the Zionist Organization was in serious difficulties. The movement was based in Berlin, with the central European states on a confrontation basis with the Allies - Britain, France and Russia. The latter group of countries were all home to large concentrations of Jewish population, with tens of thousands of Jewish soldiers serving on both sides.

The leaders of the Zionist Organization therefore adopted a neutral position and refrained from expressing support for one party or another, in order not to prejudice the situation of Jews on the other side.

This being said, there was a body of opinion which believed that the Zionist cause had little to seek under Turkish rule and preferred the option of British control over Eretz Yisrael. This group was led by Nahum Sokolow and Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who labored for three years to obtain diplomatic recognition from the British government.

Chaim Weizmann [1874-1952] was born in the small town of Motol near Pinsk on the edge of the Jewish Pale of Settlement. His father, a prosperous wood merchant, sent him to study chemistry in Germany and Switzerland. At twenty-five, the young Weizmann was awarded a doctorate, and in 1904 he obtained a lectureship at the University of Manchester in Britain.

From the Second Zionist Congress onwards, Weizmann begins to come to the fore of Zionist movement. He was, for example, one of the opponents to the Uganda proposal. By the Eighth Zionist Congress in 1907, Weizmann was one of the major figures, and his position on "synthetic Zionism" was adopted, i.e. the combination of practical work in Eretz Yisrael with continued diplomatic activity in Herzl's style. The Eleventh Congress in 1913 -- the last before the war -- adopted Weizmann and Ussishkin's proposal to establish a Hebrew University in Jerusalem as the pinnacle of Zionist cultural activity.

Some of Weizmann's greatest moments were during the First World War. As a chemist, he helped the British war effort, while, as a fervent Zionist, believing since the outbreak of the war in a British victory, he was extremely busy on the diplomatic front, trying to bring the cause of a Jewish state closer to British hearts. He succeeded in winning to his side Charles Scott, the influential editor of the Manchester Guardian newspaper. Scott introduced him to Sir Herbert Samuel -- the first Jew to hold a British ministerial portfolio and later the first High Commissioner for Palestine. He also introduced Weizmann to David Lloyd George, who became Minister of Munitions in 1915 and subsequently Prime Minister.

Weizmann's closeness to the British government elite intensified when he developed a new method for manufacture of acetone, an important chemical component in explosives production. When Lord Balfour was named Foreign Office Secretary in Lloyd George's coalition government, the set-up was in place for the Zionist movement's desperately needed diplomatic recognition.

Notes:

Weizmann had first met Lord Arthur James Balfour in 1905, when the latter lost his position as Prime Minister. In his autobiography, Weizmann brings a vivid picture of this meeting, where he, as a Zionist, explained to the British statesman why it had been impossible to accept the Uganda proposal, put forward in the period when Balfour had been in power:

Then suddenly, I said, "Mr. Balfour, supposing I were to offer you Paris instead of London, would you take it?" He sat up, looked at me, and answered, "But, Dr. Weizmann, we have London." "That is true," I said. "But we had Jerusalem when London was a marsh."

3. "The Balfour Declaration" - Contents, Factors influencing its Publication

There were several factors weighing heavily against its publication:

1. a. Many British politicians saw the idea of a Jewish state as absolutely absurd, the product of a far-flung eastern fantasy, totally without value for Britain.
2. b. The British Foreign Office felt that "courting" the Jews would disrupt Britain's relations with the Arabs.
3. c. The growth of the Arab national movement in the Middle East.
4. d. There were Jewish anti-Zionist groups in Britain who opposed the publication of the Balfour Declaration for fear that this would prejudice the status of Jews who were British citizens.
5. e. For many Britons, the issue of Eretz Yisrael was marginal, in the range of problems raised by the First World War.

In spite of the difficulties above, on the 2nd November 1917, after exhausting and exhaustive debate -- with several draft versions passing back and forth between the sides -- the Declaration was issued in the form of a letter signed by Lord Balfour and addressed to Lord Rothschild, the Vice-President of the English Zionist Federation.

The text reads as follows:

	The Foreign Office
	November 2nd, 1917

	Dear Lord Rothschild,

	I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His 
        Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy 
        with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, 
        and approved by, the Cabinet.

        "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment 
        in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and 
        will use their best endeavours 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."

        I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to 
        the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

                Yours sincerely,

                                Arthur James Balfour

The factors which brought about its ultimate publication were as follows:

• a. The concerted efforts of Chaim Weizmann, born in the Jewish Pale of Settlement, a person who ascended to the top echelons of international diplomacy and brought the Jews a victory they had never imagined possible. Weizmann knew how to reach those in highest position using his connections, his own impressive presence, his reputation as a scientist, logical argument -- and his gift of persistence.
• b. At a critical point in the First World War, Britain had asked for support from world Jewry.
• c. British forces were about to take Eretz Yisrael and Britain was interested in a friendly Jewish population inhabiting this strategic zone so close to the Suez Canal.
• d. Lloyd George had become Prime Minister in 1916. As a Protestant, steeped in the biblical sources, he was openly sympathetic to Zionism, considering it a national vision and challenge of the first order.

  Major historians of the era contend that the entire process was actually initiated and engineered by the British to further their political interests in the Near East -- including reneging on the Sykes-Picot agreement -- and simultaneously appear benevolent to the Zionist cause.

• e. After the Russian Revolution of February 1917, it was unclear how the new Russian government would relate to the ongoing war. Britain was interested in winning Russian Jewry's support for the Allies.
• f. Britain's image would not be that of a conquering imperialist power, intent on repressing people, but of one considerate of local nationalist movements, which would also appeal to US President Woodrow Wilson.
• g. It was of particular significance in view of rumors that the Germans were on the verge of issuing a similar declaration of support to the Zionists, which Britain wished to forestall.

4. The Significance of the Balfour Declaration

The initial reactions forthcoming from the Jewish world and the Zionist organization were of admiration for Britain. Many were to compare the "Balfour Declaration" with the "Coresh Declaration" [issued by the Persian monarch Coresh in the sixth century B.C.E., allowing the Babylonian exiles to return to Eretz Yisrael, renew settlement there and build the Second Temple.]

Indeed, in spite of the fact that a reading of the Balfour Declaration raises a number of questions on the lack of clarity as to its intentions, it is nevertheless a cornerstone in Zionist history.

• a. The Declaration was a political and moral victory for Zionism, because it demonstrated Great Power recognition of Zionist aims and the Jewish people's right to return to their land, an advance towards the much dreamed of "charter" status.
• b. The Declaration strengthened Dr. Chaim Weizmann's position in the Zionist movement and transformed him into the popular leader of the Zionist organization.
• c. The Declaration united the ranks of the Zionist-Jewish world by setting a common challenge to all Jews worldwide to implement the dream of a Jewish national home.
• d. The Declaration supplied incendiary material to the Arab national movement, which launched an open struggle against the Zionist movement, which had emerged as a factor in international policy-making.

The essence of its importance was that the Jewish and non-Jewish world alike interpreted its content as a promise to establish a "Jewish state". This was rendered internationally significant essentially by the subsequent inclusion of the text in the Mandate Document.

The borders of the "national home" or "Jewish state" were not specified, and these continued to remain in dispute. Balfour himself determined, only two weeks after the Declaration was issued, that Eretz Yisrael should be a "Jewish homeland". One of his famous pronouncements on this was,

And Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land. In my opinion, that is right. What I have never understood is how it can be harmonised ...

5. Liberation from Turkish Rule - Conquest of Eretz Yisrael by Britain

At the outbreak of World War One, the Jewish population of the yishuv numbered over 85,000; by its conclusion, there were only 56,000 left. The war had isolated the Jewish community in Eretz Yisrael from the major countries from which olim had arrived and those which provided financial support. The yishuv was no longer protected by European law and became subject to the vicarious whims of the Turks. Yishuv residents were compelled to accept Ottoman decrees or leave the country -- which also included conscription to the Turkish army.

The entire war period was marked for the yishuv by cruel decrees and persecution.

• The yishuv leadership was expelled;
• Sale of land to Jews was forbidden;
• The HaShomer* guardsman organization, formed during the Second Aliyah*, was banned;
• Jewish villages [moshavot] had to surrender their weapons;
• It was forbidden to fly the Zionist flag;
• Signposts and road names in Hebrew were forbidden.

In October 1917, the British army began the process of conquering Eretz Yisrael. By the end of September 1918, they had liberated the entire country from the Turks and had brought to an end over 400 years of Turkish rule in the land -- a regime marked by neglect, poverty and persecution.

Eretz Yisrael came under British Military Administration and 1920 saw the beginning of civilian Mandatory rule with the arrival of the first British High Commissioner. A new era had dawned in the History of Zionism.

6. Conclusion

• The First Zionist Congress of 1897 had adopted the "Basel program":

  "Zionism aspires to establish a homeland for the Jewish people, guaranteed by international law, [ed: i.e by the powers] in the land of Israel."

• The Balfour Declaration, 20 years later, was a significant stride towards its achievement.

We can further examine how the Jewish people worldwide responded to the challenges presented by this second important document.

Editor: Yossi Pnini; Gila Ansell Brauner (Internet version)
Internet Version: The Pedagogic Center

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