Balfore Declaration of 1917

Why in news?

Zionist movement under ‘Theodor Herzl’ was moulded into a demand for a Jewish homeland.
This demand took concrete shape under the leadership of ‘Chaim Weizmann’ and finally culminated in the creation of Israel.
It is now 100 years since the Balfour declaration of 1917, a milestone event in the Jewish movement for self-determination.

How was the movement steered?

The ruthless pogroms carried out by ‘Czarist Russia’ against the Jews caused a large exodus.
The Jewish refugees who had to be settled somewhere, sought to make a country for themselves.
Uganda Offer - Britain offered unrestricted immigration permits for Jewish people in Uganda (Which was under British rule).
While ‘Herzl’ endorsed the offer as an interim solution, it received a mixed response from the Jewish masses.
The opposition was because many Jews wanted to make Palestine home, due to their historic and religious connection with it.
Following Herzl’s death, Jewish polity was driven by a young professor named ‘Chaim Weizmann’ who was a Russian Jew.
Palestine Demand - He single-mindedly steered the movement towards making Palestine a home for Jews.
The eventual creation of a Jewish Palestine (Israel) saw Weizmann becoming its first president in the late 1940s.

How did the Jewish lobby during WW-1?

Weizmann saw the peace conference that would follow the Great War (1^st World War) as best opportunity to push forth his agenda.
A memo of demands was to be drafted and Weizmann lobbied hard to mobilise the support of powerful Jewish men worldwide.
The most significant of them was Lord Rothschild who wielded enormous influence in the British government.
Subsequently, the Zionist leaders drafted a ‘declaration a demands‘ in mid-1917, after fierce negotiations between extreme views.
British Foreign Secretary ‘Arthur Balfour’ was courted to move a Zionist statement in the cabinet.
The statement sought political support for Weizmann’s initiative.

What were the dissents?

Edwin Montagu, a Jewish member of the cabinet, opposed the whole concept (Also, famous for the Monetgu-Chelmsfort reforms).
He called for the complete rejection of the Zionist statement, arguing that it would promote anti-semetism worldover.
He felt that, declaring Palestine a Jewish homeland would morally deprive people like him of citizenship elsewhere.
While Weizmann galvanised Jews across Britain and US, Montagu started an anti-Zionist propaganda but was largly isolated.

What was the contents of the Balfore Declaration?

In late 1917, the Britain cabinet finally declared complete support for the Zionist demands and promised help for the same.
It added that the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine shall be protected.
It also vouched for protecting the rights of the Jewish people and the political status enjoyed by them in any other country.
This came to be known as Balfore Declaration.

Source: The Hindu