The Balfour Declaration
and the Right to a Jewish National
Homeland
The Balfour
Declaration
1. The Jewish
people are indigenous to the land of Israel and have had a continual presence there
for millennia. Jews have been striving to reconstitute their national homeland
since the destruction of the Judean Kingdom in 70 CE. The successful
fulfillment of this goal began in the 19th century. As conceptualized
by Theodor Herzl in his book “The Jewish State” in 1896, the political movement
to return to the Jewish homeland began to establish national institutions at
the Zionist Congress in 1897.
2. The Balfour
Declaration was one of the earliest measures taken by a major international
actor to recognize the right of the Jewish people to reestablish sovereignty
over their national homeland.
Issued on 2
November 1917 by the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Arthur James Balfour, the
declaration states:
“His
Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine* of a
national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors 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.”
[*It is
important to note that “Palestine” referred at the time to the geographic area,
not to any political entity as no such independent or sovereign entity
existed.]
Recognition by
the International Community
3.
International recognition of the Jewish people’s inalienable right to
reestablish sovereignty in its ancestral homeland quickly followed the Balfour
Declaration.
Most significantly,
the League of Nations [the precursor to the United Nations] recognized this
right in its 24 May 1922 decision to establish the Palestine/Land of Israel
Mandate. In that international legislative act, the League appointed Great
Britain to be responsible for putting the Balfour Declaration into effect, with
the goal of “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish
people.” The legally-binding League of Nations Mandate acknowledged the
“historic connection of the Jewish people” to the area rightly known as the
Land of Israel/Judea/the Holy Land.
The League of
Nations mandate of 1922 transformed the Balfour Declaration and its call for
the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people from a policy
position into an international legal obligation accepted by the international
community as a whole.
Recognition in
the Mandatory Document:
4. This recognition
is clearly stated in the Mandatory document:
“Whereas recognition
has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with
Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that
country.” [Preamble]
“The Mandatory shall be responsible for
placing the country under such political, administrative and economic
conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home, as
laid down in the preamble, and the development of self-governing institutions,
and also for safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all the inhabitants
of Palestine, irrespective of race and religion.” [Article 2]
Legitimate
Jewish Rights
5. The
importance of both the Balfour Declaration and the League of Nations decision
lays in the international recognition of preexisting
natural, historical, and legal rights of the Jewish people to their homeland,
in which there had been a continuous Jewish presence throughout the centuries. The
official acknowledgment by the international community of the Jewish people’s
historic ties to the land is further emphasized by the language used in the
League’s Mandate decision. The Palestine/Land of Israel Mandate specifically
calls to “reconstitute” the national
home of the Jewish people, not to constitute anything new.
The
International Community and the Establishment of the State of Israel
6. The Balfour
Declaration, the League of Nations decision and the subsequent United Nations
Partition Plan of 1947 all recognized the Jewish people’s right to a sovereign
state in its historic homeland. These international decisions played an
important role in galvanizing support for the establishment of the future State
of Israel.
Balfour Declaration: http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/the%20balfour%20declaration.aspx