Centenary of the Balfour Declaration

Arthur James Balfour

The Knesset Committee for Aliyah, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs held a solemn meeting to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration.

Alexey Tsesarsky, Deputy Acting Director General of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, stated during the session: "Although the State of Israel currently lacks a clear and comprehensive policy regarding the Jewish Diaspora, Israel and Jewish communities worldwide are bound to support one another. Thriving communities are the cornerstone of a strong Israel."

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 was a letter dated November 2, 1917, from the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, to Lord Walter Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain. This declaration marked the first official statement of British support for the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. The full text of the Declaration is presented below:

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.