Abstract: There are very few documents that have had the enormous amount of significance and impact as the Balfour Declaration. The document contained just sixty-seven words and changed history for decades to come and even still influences the peace and conflict between the Arabs and Israelis to this day. However, the validity of this document comes into question. Was this statement a binding international contract intended to uphold a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine? Or was the declaration merely one of opinion and not supported by international law? This essay attempts to address that as well as provide a brief history of the document itself. The Balfour Declaration was sent as part of a letter to Lionel Walter Rothschild, …show more content…
Edward Said argued in his book, The Question of Palestine, that the declaration was made by a European power about a non-European territory and that it was in “flat disregard of both the presence and wishes of the native majority reside in that territory.” Furthermore, Said expressed that the Balfour Declaration is essentially taking away the homeland of the Palestinians and giving it to the Jews, who (he believes) have no right to the land. Said is not the only person to have spoken out about this unlawfulness of the Balfour Declaration. Faisal Bodi, a British journalist, stated “[i]n 1917, the Balfour Declaration promised a national home for the Jewish people. Under international law the declaration was null and void since Palestine did not belong to Britain – under the pact of the League of Nations it belonged to Turkey.” Both Said and Bodi hold firm convictions that the Balfour Declaration is not a valid document and therefore should not be recognized as such under the international law. However, the reality of the situation is not as Said or Bodi would like it to …show more content…
Many other countries either issued similar statements to the Balfour Declaration or had already agreed on it beforehand. The French foreign minister stated that an injustice was done to the Jewish nationality when the people of Israel were expelled previous centuries in a statement several months before the Balfour Declaration was issued. Similarly, United States President Woodrow Wilson had approved the declaration when it was sent to him in advance. Winston Churchill made references to the fact that the ideas of the Balfour Declaration had been “reaffirmed in several binding multinational treaties as well as the League of Nations mandate itself [and] it is not susceptible to change.” That is when the Balfour Declaration officially became a valid document under the international law and international law recognized that the Jewish community was in Palestine by right and that facilitating and increasing Jewish immigration was a “binding international obligation on the
Kennedy points out that “according to the census of 1910, one of every three Americans in that year had either been born abroad or had at least one parent born abroad. Of those 32 million persons from families with close foreign ties, more than ten million derived from the Central Powers.” Many immigrants still supported their Old Country; German agents had committed acts of sabotage to prevent the delivery of war materials to the Allies during the American neutrality period, 1914-1917, causing Wilson to expel German representatives from the country. Wilson (and others) believed American disloyalty was prevalent within the immigrant population, and in 1915 and 1916 launched attacks “against so-called hyphenated Americans. “There are citizens of the United States, I blush to admit,” Wilson told the Congress in his third annual message, “born under other flags but welcomed under our generous naturalization laws to the full freedom and opportunity of America,
Imperialism, Colonialism, and war had a huge impact on the Middle East, and it can also be thought of as the source of conflict. According to the map in Document A, it shows that the size of the Ottoman Empire grew smaller after the first world war, along with this change came new boundaries. These borders were created by the victorious European countries that won World War I, and made different ethnic and religious groups separated and grouped together with others. Great Britain's took over Palestine mandate and developed the Balfour Declaration that promised Jews support in making a home in Palestine. Most of the Palestine land was populated with Arabs.
"Anglo-Saxons as the 'true Israel,' America as a sacred land, and the Declaration of Independence
made law to help a jew in Nazi Germany. What King said in his letter has to
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted for a partition resolution that led to the establishment of the nation of Israel in May, 1948. This was great news for Jews in Palestine and the diaspora as it meant the fulfillment of the quest for the rebirth of their nation in their previous homeland after many years of wandering (Pappe, 2006, p. 12). However, their Palestinian Arab counterparts opposed to the establishment from the start felt cheated by the international community and remained categorical that the final answer to the Jewish problem would only be solved in blood and fire (Karsh, 2002, p. 8).
upon the United States is hereby formally declared” (Bailey 10). In conclusion, after a rhetorical analysis of Woodrow Wilson’s address. to the war congress on April 2, 1917 the reader is more aware of all of the
The Treaty of Versailles was a violation of Wilson’s ideals. The Treaty is one of the most important agreements (or disagreements) that shaped 20th century Europe socially and physically. Woodrow Wilson on January 22, 1917 in an address to the United States Senate called for a peace without victors, but the Treaty signed by the participating nations was everything but that. The blame for the war was placed on Germany and justified the reparations that were outlined by the treaty for the war. The terms of the treaty were very harsh to the Germans and they took on great resentment. It was a fragile peace agreement that would be used as fuel to keep hostilities going 20 years later.
America during the years of war had many ideas float around of what to do and how to fix the issue present. But, not much action was effectively taken. The American Jewish Leaders Meeting with President Roosevelt on December 8, 1942 discussed political ideas given to President Roosevelt and his hesitation on taking action. During this meeting, several American Jewish representatives met with Roosevelt and told him the idea of the War Refugee Board. The War Refugee Board’s goal was to aid civilian victims of the Nazis and restrict the Nazi’s actions. Yes this board did save thousands of Jews ,but, it took President Roosevelt almost three years to establish this board even though he knew about the killings occurring. If Roosevelt took action just a little bit early, thousands of more lives could have been spared. This fact truly represents America’s hesitation as a whole by showing that even the President, an extremely powerful person, was uncertain on taking action. Continuing with this point, there were many bills that were presented during the time of war but congress rejected them which ended up hurting many Jews. For example, the Wagner-Rogers bill was created to take in 20,000 endangered Jewish children. The senate did not support this bill which could have saved thousands of Jewish children. Overall, both Roosevelt and America in general were very hesitant in doing anything
A possible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the two-state solution. The two-state solution would become a peace agreement in which establishes a Palestinian state alongside the current state of Israel (Bourke). In the opinion of the Maghar Druze’s community, peace is the main objective in which the two-state solution could provide. As follows, most Israeli Druze’s would encourage the current peace talks in aim of a two-state agreement. Despite the fact that the two-state solution requires compromise in which it is believed the Palestinian are not able to accommodate. In particular, the Maghar Druze’s do not believe the Palestinians will ever be satisfied with a two-state agreement because of the need for retaliation fo...
The Berlin Wall, built in August of 1961, was s physical symbol of the political and emotional divisions of Germany. The Wall was built because of a long lasting suspicion between the Soviet Union on one side and Western Europe and the United States on the other. For 28 years the Berlin Wall separated friends, families, and a nation. After WWII was over Germany was divided into four parts. The United States, Great Britain, and France controlled the three divisions that were formed in the Western half and the Eastern half was controlled by the Soviet Republic. The Western sections eventually united to make a federal republic, while the Eastern half became communist.
“Many Jews were fleeing Europe from Hitler so that they can reclaim the land they believed was their Biblical birthright, (Document 4 Excepts from the Israeli Declaration of Independence). Leaders were petitioning Great Britain to allow Jewish people to begin migrating into Palestine, then in 194 8the formal state of Israel was formed. “The Balfour Declaration Britain promised a national home for the Jewish people as seen in” (document 2). However, people were already living there so the natives felt like they were getting there home taken away from
On April 2nd 1917, President Woodrow Wilson of the United States of America, ??went before Congress and called for a declaration of war. Both the House and the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of going to war with Germany.?# This was an act that led to much resistance among the American people. Not four months earlier the American people re-elected President Wilson, partly because of his success in keeping the United States out of this European war. However, a series of events, such as the Germans continuing submarine warfare and the attacks on five American ships, led President Wilson to sever diplomatic relations with Germany and send the United States into what would be labeled as World War I. As a result of the war the
The issue of Palestine and Israel is one that has been hotly contested for over a thousand years. The last fifty years have been especially important in the history of the Jewish people and Palestinians. Since the death of Yasser Arafat on the 11th of November 2004 , and the election of Mahmoud Abbas as his successor as leader of the Palestinian Authority, significant steps have been taken towards a lasting peace. This will hopefully lead to a conclusion of the second Palestinian intifada, which began in late September 2000, and to an end of the oppression of the Palestinian people by the Israeli Defense Forces. Both Jews and Arabs have suffered heavily from the conflict, thousands of innocent civilians have died on both sides, and peace is in the interests of all.
Edward Said “States” refutes the view Western journalists, writers, and scholars have created in order to represent Eastern cultures as mysterious, dangerous, unchanging, and inferior. According to Said, who was born in Jerusalem at that time Palestine, the way westerners represent eastern people impacts the way they interact with the global community. All of this adds to, Palestinians having to endure unfair challenges such as eviction, misrepresentation, and marginalization that have forced them to spread allover the world. By narrating the story of his country Palestine, and his fellow countrymen from their own perspective Said is able to humanize Palestinians to the reader. “States” makes the reader feel the importance of having a homeland, and how detrimental having a place to call home is when trying to maintain one’s culture. Which highlights the major trait of the Palestinian culture: survival. Throughout “States”, Said presents the self-preservation struggles Palestinians are doomed to face due to eviction, and marginalization. “Just as we once were taken from one habitat to a new one we can be moved again” (Said 543).
When Yasser Arafat addressed the United Nations General Assembly, he tried to articulate the actions the Palestinian Liberation Organization had taken and to justify those actions. Arafat points out that the struggles with Imperialism and Zionism began in 1881 when the first large wave of immigrants began arriving in Palestine. Prior to this date, the Muslims, Jews (20,000) and Christians all cohabitated peacefully (pop. 1/2 million). In 1917, the Belfour Declaration authorized increased immigration of European Jews to Palestine. 1 From 1917 to 1947, the Jewish population in Palestine increased to 600,000 and they rightfully owned only 6% of the Palestinian arable land. Palestine population at this time was now up to 1,250,000. 1