How influential was the Balfour Declaration in forming Israel?
Based on an answer by Yair Davidiy to a Quora Query:
Contents:
(1) Not Only the Jews but also the British were Zionists!
(2) The Balfour Declaration of November 1917.
(3) The San Rimo Conference (1920). The Balfour Declaration was legal and applied to All the Holy Land apart from Transjordan.
(4) The Three Oaths. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish reactions to the Balfour decree and the San Rimo Conference.
(5) The Great Palestinian Revolt.
(6) The Looming Approach of WW2.
(7) The British White Paper of March 1939. Appeasing the Arabs and increased anti-Jewish agitation not only among the Arabs but all over the world.
(8) What about the Arabs? Were the rights of Arab minorities not to be protected under the Balfour Declaration?
(9) Was the Balfour Declaration Binding on all Sides?
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(1) Not Only the Jews but also the British were Zionists!
Since the time of Oliver Cromwell (d. 1658) and possibly long before then the British had considered establishing a Jewish Kingdom in the Holy Land. Over the years interest in this matter had grown. A movement developed known as "Restorationism." This was parallel to Zionism and eventually merged with it. Interest in this matter had been reflected in the popularity of Benjamin Disraeli. Benjamin Disraeli (d. 1881) was born Jewish but as a child his parents converted to Christianity and took him with them. He was active in politics, and became a popular Prime Minister. Due to Disraeli Britain acquired Cyprus and control of the Suez Canal. Disraeli is considered a figure in the early history of Zionism due to his writings that promoted the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
This resonated with the British Public.
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(2) The Balfour Declaration of November 1917.
During World War-1, the Balfour Declaration of 1917 announced the intention of Britain supporting the re-establishment of the Holy Land as a National Home for the Jewish People. It was followed by British and allied forces (Australia, New Zealand, etc.) defeating the Turks and themselves occupying the Land. A military and civilian framework was set up to govern it. This was followed by increased Jewish immigration and development. Jewish settlement under the Turks in 1918 had numbered ca. 15,000 in the Land with other Jewish refugees from Palestine in Egypt etc. waiting to return. The total was probably less than ca. 40,000. Under the British the number of Jews had increased to 450,000 by 1939.
There had been fiction with the Arabs with the British trying to keep the peace. In some instances, the British administrators had been anti-Jewish but on the whole Jewish settlement had been enabled and enhanced by British Policy. The Arabs had also prospered and greatly increased in numbers. Nevertheless, they resented the Jews though materially benefiting from them.
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(3) The San Rimo Conference (1920). The Balfour Declaration was legal and applied to All the Holy Land apart from Transjordan.
The Balfour Declaration acquired legal status. It was referred to as authoritative by the British powers in Palestine. It was also incorporated into a summation of Principles issued by the participating parties at the San Rimo Conference of 1920.
San Rimo is in northwest Italy near the border with France.
The Conference hosted Representatives of Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, i.e. the Victors of WW1. A representative of the USA joined later. They confirmed the British Mandate over Palestine to fulfill the Balfour Declaration (1917).
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Wikipedia tells us:
The San Remo Resolution adopted on 25 April 1920 incorporated the Balfour Declaration of 1917. It and Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations were the basic documents upon which the British Mandate for Palestine was constructed. Under the Balfour Declaration, the British government had undertaken to favour the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine without prejudice to 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.
The High Contracting Parties agree to entrust, by application of the provisions of Article 22, the administration of Palestine, within such boundaries as may be determined by the Principal Allied Powers, to a Mandatory, to be selected by the said Powers. The Mandatory will be
responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on the 8th [2nd] November, 1917, by the British Government, and adopted by the other Allied Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, 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.
While Transjordan was not mentioned during the discussions, three months later, in July 1920, the French defeat of the Arab Kingdom of Syria state precipitated the British need to know 'what is the "Syria" for which the French received a mandate at San Remo?' and "does it include Transjordania?" it subsequently decided to pursue a policy of associating Transjordan with the mandated area of Palestine but not to apply the special provisions which were intended to provide a national home for the Jewish people West of the Jordan.
The San Rimo Conference was followed by the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine in 1922 which in effect incorporated the Balfour Declaration.
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In Summation:
The Balfour Declaration was recognized as legally binding. Transjordan was to be administrated by the same British authorities responsible for the Mandate but not be a part of it.
The British went out of their way to stress that Transjordan (later in 1949 to be re-named "Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan”) was not included in the terms of the Mandate concerning a Jewish National Home.
Everywhere else however it was. Apart from Transjordan it all came under the terms of the Balfour Declaration.
The Balfour Declaration therefore foresaw a situation in which the Jews could legitimately lay claim to all the area apart from Transjordan!
The Mandate for Palestine of July 24, 1922, recognized and incorporated into international law the national and political rights of the Jewish people to Palestine. ALL THE LAND COULD (theoretically) BECAME JEWISH APART FROM TRANSJORDAN!
"Transjordan" was later given over to the Arab family of Hussein. It was renamed the “Emirate of Transjordan,” and later in 1949 "The Hussein Kingdom of Jordan."
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(4) The Three Oaths. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish reactions to the Balfour Decree and the San Rimo Conference.
Rabbi Meir Simcha HaKohen (1843-1926, author of "Ohr Samaeach," of Dvinsk in Eastern Europe) was a leading Ultra-Orthodox Rabbinical Legal and Exegetical authority. He saw the Balfour Declaration and the subsequent San Rimo Conference as the equivalent of the Cyrus Decree.
After the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple the Jews had been exiled to Babylon. Cyrus king of Persian later conquered Babylonia and allowed the Jews to return to Judaea and rebuild the Temple.
2-Chronicles (TCT) 36:
22 AND IN THE FIRST YEAR OF CYRUS, KING OF PERSIA, AT THE COMPLETION OF THE WORD OF THE LORD IN THE MOUTH OF JEREMIAH, THE LORD AROUSED THE SPIRIT OF CYRUS THE KING OF PERSIA, AND HE ISSUED A PROCLAMATION THROUGHOUT ALL HIS KINGDOM, AND PUT IT ALSO IN WRITING, SAYING:
23 "SO SAID CYRUS THE KING OF PERSIA: ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE EARTH HAS THE LORD GOD OF THE HEAVENS DELIVERED TO ME, AND HE COMMANDED ME TO BUILD HIM A HOUSE IN JERUSALEM, WHICH IS IN JUDEA. WHO AMONG YOU IS OF ALL HIS PEOPLE, MAY THE LORD HIS GOD BE WITH HIM, AND HE MAY ASCEND."
The Talmud (“Ketubot” 111a in a section not necessarily considered binding or obligatory but perhaps merely making a philosophical point) contains a passage saying that the Almighty imposed three oaths upon the world:
Two of these oaths pertain to the Jews who were sworn (1) not to "ascend as a wall," i.e. not to return to the Holy Land in one body but rather (it is implied), in stages. (2) Not to rebel against the Peoples of the World.
The third oath (3) concerns the Gentiles who were sworn not to "subjugate the Jews excessively."
There is much debate as to what this all means. The oaths are considered to be intertwined with each other i.e.
If the Gentiles oppress the Jews too much the Jews will no longer be restricted as to how they reclaim the Holy Land.
So too, not to "ascend as a wall," has been understood to mean that the Jews were not to reclaim the Land without
permission of the Gentiles. This is similar to the permission given by Cyrus to the Jews to return from Babylon.
Rabbi Meir Simcha HaKohen saw the Balfour Declaration and the San Rimo Conference as representing the Ruling Powers among the Gentiles giving the required permission. (This was pointed out to us by Rabbi David Feldman of Beitar Ilit, Israel). Henceforth the Jews were under no restriction concerning their return to the land either as individuals or as a group.
After the Balfour Declaration and the San Rimo Conference, Rabbi Meir was of the opinion that the Three Oaths were no longer in effect.
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(5) The Great Palestinian Revolt.
The Balfour Declaration was followed by rule by British Mandate authorities, increased Jewish and Arab immigrations, overseas investment, government assistance, Jewish Philanthropy, numerous reforms etc. , and the whole country progressed. Nevertheless, Arab Muslim intransigence, resentment against Jews and Britishers, along with Arab criminal activity, and possible the interference of pro-German agents, etc., the Arabs rebelled.
In 1936-1939 the Great Palestinian Revolt resulted in a defeat for the Arabs.
Wikipedia tells us:
Walid Khalidi estimates 19,792 casualties for the Arabs, with 5,032 dead: 3,832 killed by the British and 1,200 dead due to intra-communal terrorism, and 14,760 wounded. By one estimate, ten percent of the adult male Palestinian Arab population between 20 and 60 was killed, wounded, imprisoned or exiled.
The British figures are less high by almost 50% but still quite large.
Estimates of the number of Palestinian Jews killed were several hundred. At the end of the Revolt Britain was facing war with Germany.
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(6) The Looming Approach of WW2.
In September 1938 in the Munich Agreement British PM Neville Chamberlain had offered Czechoslovakia up to the Nazis as a sacrifice for world peace. First Britain and France on 20 September 1938 had formally requested Czechoslovakia cede the Sudetenland territory to Germany. In November 1938 Hungary and Poland received areas of Czechoslovakia populated by their own peoples. In March 1939, the First Slovak Republic, broke away from Czechoslovakia becoming a German puppet state, Shortly afterwards, the Germans occupied the remainder of the country and created the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The conquered military arsenal of what had been Czechoslovakia played an important role in Germany's invasions of Poland and France in 1939 and 1940.
Despite this the possibility of eventual war was also being coped with.
This is the background to the White Paper of March 1939.
The Palestinian cause had many supporters among Muslim subjects of the British Empire. The British wished to appease the Arabs. So too, due to Nazi agitation and related factors, anti-Jewish sentiment was growing and intensifying everywhere. Chamberlain opined that if had to chose between the Arabs and the Jews he would prefer the Arabs. The Arabs had sought independence from British colonial rule and the end of British support for Zionism, including Jewish immigration and land sales to Jews.
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(7) The British White Paper of March 1939. Appeasing the Arabs and increased anti-Jewish agitation not only among the Arabs but all over the world.
The British White Paper of March 1939 spoke of the possible end of Zionism, and the curtailing of Jewish immigration.
It said that with the then-present population of ca. 450,000 Jews in Palestine the Balfour Declaration aim of creating a National Home for the Jews had been fulfilled.
The Paper called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within 10 years. It rejected the previous 1937 Peel Commission's recommendation of partitioning Palestine. It also limited Jewish immigration to 75,000 for five years IF the economic capacity of the Land would allow it. It also ruled that further immigration of Jews after 10 years would be determined by the Arab majority. Jews were restricted from buying Arab land in all but 5% of the Mandate. Jews apparently were expected to make their peace with the Arabs and submit to their dominance. [This is the real meaning of creating a "Palestinian State" today, 2025.]
The White Paper was issued just when the Nazis were intensifying their persecution of Jews.
The White Paper also attempted a re-interpretation of the Balfour Declaration.
The paper said:
‘His Majesty's Government believe that the framers of the Mandate in which the Balfour Declaration was embodied could not have intended that Palestine should be converted into a Jewish State against the will of the Arab population of the country. [ ... ] His Majesty's Government therefore now declare unequivocally that it is not part of their policy that Palestine should become a Jewish State. They would indeed regard it as contrary to their obligations to the Arabs under the Mandate, as well as to the assurances which have been given to the Arab people in the past, that the Arab population of Palestine should be made the subjects of a Jewish State against their will.’
Decrees of the White Paper decrees more or less remained in effect throughout World War-2. In 1945 in Britain the Labor Party pf Clement Atlee in Britain came to power. PM Atlee and his Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin were staunchly anti-Zionist. This resulted in a conflict between the Government and the Jews with some British taking the Jewish side and vice-versa. The Arabs were also involved and committed atrocities against the Jewish population. The British on the whole endeavored to protect the Jews right up to the end but there were exceptions. Eventually the British left and the Jews declared the establishment of the State of Israel in May 14, 1948.
The Jews then went on to defeat local Arab Armies, Arab "volunteer" armies from outside, and the armies of Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Iraq. Egypt occupied Gaza. Transjordan conquered the West Bank and the Old City of Jerusalem. In 1967 Israel liberated these areas.
.Over 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled according to the generally accepted probably grossly exaggerated figures. Many went to the West Bank or to Jordan and Lebanon. Whatever was done to the Arabs would have been done to the Jews by them if the power had have been in their hands. And they would have done it with greater glee and with much more malicious cruelty.
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(8) What about the Arabs? Were the rights of Arab minorities not to be protected under the Balfour Declaration?
The Balfour declaration included the statement that:
"...nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine."
The Balfour Declaration was intended (1) to give the Jews a National Home in Palestine.
it also spoke of (2) protecting the rights of non-Jewish communities in Palestine.
If however an unreconcilable conflict between (1) and (2) arose then (2) could be reinterpreted to mean that the non-Jewish communities in Palestine
should have their rights protected outside of Palestine. They should be moved out.
An exchange of populations did in fact take place.
After the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948 more Jews entered the State of Israel from Arab Lands (Iraq, Yemen, etc.,) than Arabs who left it willingly or due to encouragement.
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(9) Was the Balfour Declaration Binding on all Sides?
The Arabs never recognized the Balfour Declaration.
The British White Paper of 1939 had the legal status as a government edict.
In comparison the Balfour Declaration of 1917 has been described as no more than a private letter to a non-Government individual.
On the International scene however the Balfour Declaration had received international recognition. The San Rimo Conferences declaration of 1920, and the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine in 1922 all incorporate the wording of the Balfour Declaration.
On the British side the Balfour the Balfour Declaration was accepted and recognized as something that had to be enforced. There were however exceptions. Some of the British Administrators, bureaucrats, and military personnel disagree with it. They hoped it would be abrogated.
So too, anti-Zionist propaganda often criticizes it.
They say the British had not right to adjudicate on the matter especially concerning a land not their own.
Maybe so.
"What's good for the goose is good for the gander."
Since the validity of the Balfour Declaration is now being challenged maybe the clause regarding Arab Rights should be interpreted as we have done above.
Whatever the special rights the Arabs may, or may not, have are only applicable outside of the area of Israel.