Balfour Declaration 1917

Guide Note

The Balfour Declaration was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour, addressed November 2, 1917, that outlined the British policy for partitioning the Ottoman Empire. The letter summarized a decision reached by the British cabinet that the government would support a plan to establish a national home for displaced Jewish people, located somewhere within Palestine. The position had been influenced by Zionist campaigning but took a more restrained position than influential Zionists had suggested. The Balfour Declaration is an important document, the first to recognize the formation of a Jewish homeland, that went on to influence the Treaty of Sèvres and policy in the British Mandate of Palestine.

Fast Facts

1. Dated November 2, 1917
2. A statement of British foreign policy
3. Called for the creation of a Jewish homeland
4. Identified Palestine as the location of this new territory
5. Carefully worded to avoid suggesting the whole of Palestine would become the new Jewish territory
6. Included in the Treaty of Serves
7. Influenced policy in the British Mandate of Palestine