Balfour Declaration of 1917

The Balfour Declaration was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to banker and prominent Jewish leader (Zionist) Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, dated 2 November 1917.

The letter from Balfour to Rothschild

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 consisted of a public statement by the government of the United Kingdom during the First World War. In this letter, The declaration, Arthur Balfour declared on behalf of His Majesty's Government, that Britain supported plans for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

The issuance of the Declaration had many long lasting consequences, and was a key moment in the lead-up to the Arab–Israeli conflict, often referred to as the world's "most intractable conflict".