2 November 1917: Balfour declaration

On this day, 2 November 1917, the UK government issued the Balfour declaration, announcing its official policy to facilitate "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". The founder of political Zionism, Theodor Herzl, had approached Britain for support for of establishing a Jewish ethnostate in Uganda or Palestine because “the idea of Zionism, which is a colonial idea, should be easily and quickly understood in England.” The 1920s British governor of Jerusalem, Ronald Storrs, explained that the establishment of a colony would be “forming for England ‘a little loyal Jewish Ulster’ in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism”. It would also help protect access to the Suez Canal and Britain’s South Asian colonies. Many antisemites who believed that Jewish people did not belong in Europe also supported the move. Arthur Balfour himself had passed the Aliens Act of 1905 to stop Jewish people fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe seeking refuge in Britain. Zionists established groups such as the Jewish Colonial Trust and the Jewish Colonisation Association (JCA) to raise money for Jewish settlers to purchase land and establish colonies in Palestine and other places like Argentina. When much public opinion turned against colonialism, the JCA renamed itself the Jewish Charitable Association. Leading Zionists like Vladimir Jabotinsky were clear about what their project entailed: “Every native population in the world resists colonists as long as it has the slightest hope of being able to rid itself of the danger of being colonised. That is what the Arabs in Palestine are doing, and what they will persist in doing as long as there remains a solitary spark of hope that they will be able to prevent the transformation of ‘Palestine’ into the ‘Land of Israel.’ "Zionist colonisation… can proceed and develop only under the protection of a power that is independent of the native population – behind an iron wall, which the native population cannot breach." More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/11643/balfour-declaration Learn more about British colonialism and Palestinian resistance in episodes 86-87 of our podcast: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e86-87-class-struggle-in-palestine/ And learn more about Palestinian history in these books: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/books/palestine Our work is only possible because of support from you, our listeners on patreon. If you appreciate our work, please join us and access exclusive content and benefits at patreon.com/workingclasshistory. See all of our anniversaries each day, alongside sources and maps on the On This Day section of our Stories app: stories.workingclasshistory.com/date/today Browse all Stories by Date here on the Date index: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/date Check out our Map of historical Stories: https://map.workingclasshistory.com Check out books, posters, clothing and more in our online store, here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com If you enjoy this podcast, make sure to check out our flagship longform podcast, Working Class History