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
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. As soon as Jewish immigration increased, so did the tension between the two groups because each felt like they deserved the Palestine land. Zionism began early in the history of Judiasm and it was the movement for the Jews to establish a home in Palestine, and return to their holy land. During the Holocaust, six million Jews were killed and the deep-seeded hatre against them increased
...Palestine. The main points of the White Paper put the plans for partition as impractical and enforced restrictions on Jewish immigration and the transfer of land. The White Paper said that with the Jewish population at 450,000 having been settled in the mandate, the points in the Balfour Declaration have been met. “His Majesty’s Government therefore now declare unequivocally that it is not part of their policy that Palestine should become a Jewish State.” Even though much hope seemed to be lost at this point, faced with the impending Nazism in Europe, Zionist Jews and non-Zionist Jews had felt the pressure to unite and thus led to the Biltmore Conference.
Although the Status Quo Agreement intended on placating the religious demands of the Ultra-Orthodox leadership in the future Jewish state, it did not limit its guarantees of freedom to solely religious Jews. With the supposition that members of creeds other than Judaism would also inhabit the impending state of Israel, Ben-Gurion provided for the “full equal rights for all citizens and the absence of coercion or discrimination in religious affairs or other matters.” Since the establishment of Israel was also viewed as the creation of a Jewish national home, Ben-Gurion felt this clause was necessary in that it did not preclude any other religions from free practice thus welcoming settlers from all around the world. In addition, this furthered the notion of separate church and state institutions to prohibit the imposition of Jewish culture and identity on these variant settlers and served to l...
“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
...of the situation, "The position of the Jews in liberated countries is desperate. The political pressure in Palestine is becoming unbearable. And so is my personal position as President of the Jewish agency. This is the hour to eliminate the British White Paper, to open the doors of Palestine and to proclaim the Jewish state" (Ganin). The British negative attitude gave the militant Zionists who wanted a new policy towards England and for new activist leadership a reason to take action. They felt, "...it's astonishing how fast they forgot about that..." (Silverberg). The Zionist leaders saw that after World War Two, Britain was exhausted economically and psychologically. British power had weakened because of the war. The Jewish community realized that they would not be able to rely on Britain for help and so they turned all their attention to the United States (Ganin).
The influence of political Zionism has declined considerably since formation of Israel that has become stronger day after day; nonetheless, the faction continues to thrive and support the Israel policies, aiding the Jews who were persecuted while encouraging Jews to resettle in Israel. Although, most political parties continue to associate themselves with the political Zionism ideology, the present political environment does not seem to be founded on the principles of political Zionism. Irrespective of that observation, political Zionism has succeeded in increasing the population of Jews living in Israel year after year. Through the efforts of the political Zionism, Israel has remained the only state founded by a population existing in Diaspora. This research paper focuses on the history of political Zionism, the reason why Theodor Herzl played a key role in the political ideology, and an evaluation on whether its goals have been achieved.
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).
Subsequent to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I Palestine was under British control and during this time most people living in Palestine were Palestinians. In November 1917, the Balfour Declaration was issued by the British Government announcing that the establishment in Palestine was to be a national home for the Jewish people (“Creation of Israel”, n.d.) In 1922, the League of Nations granted Britain a mandate over Palestine which included, “provisions calling for the establishment of a Jewish homeland, facilitating Jewish immigration and encouraging Jewish settlement on the land” (“Creation of Israel”, n.d.)
First, a summary of the conflict history between Israel and Palestine since 1947 will be given. Second, the views regarding conflict/peace negotiations of several theorists will be discussed. This analysis also includes an inquiry of the position of the US regarding the conflict. Finally, the foregoing will be summarised in the conclusion.
He said that these laws would help the Jews by making “a level ground on which the German people may find a tolerable relation with the Jewish people”. These laws actually did help many Jews find out their Jewish heritage and how Jewish they really are, but did not help them in any other way. Peter Gaupp, a Mischlinge, said that in between 1933-1935, Jews did not really know whether they were German citizens or not, until these laws came out. He called these years the “lawless years” since nobody knew whether they were citizens of Germany or not. Lots of Jews did not take these laws seriously, although there were many that took these laws into consideration and abided by them. Following the Nuremberg Laws in Germany, many other countries made anti-semitic laws against the Jews.
...logy that changed over time, depending on the needs and interests of the powers involved. Like Zionism, the British interest in a Jewish homeland was contextual, depended on the audience and the actors, and consisted of a thread of beliefs that was never unified but rather dynamic and shifting. Although Britain’s initial involvement with Zionism may seem naïve retrospectively, it was a product of the empathy and nationalistic thinking of the time. The convoluted experience of putting theory into practice changed how the British viewed Zionism, and ultimately led to the withdrawal of Britain from Israel. Still it remains today that the political State of Israel is wrought with controversy, while the concept of Eretz Israel, the Jewish homeland, is for many Jews steeped in the nostalgic utopian imaginary, the return to which remains something to aspire to.
For many centuries, Judaic and Arabian societies have engaged in one of the most complicated and lengthy conflicts known to mankind, the makings of a highly difficult peace process. Unfortunately for all the world’s peacemakers the Arab-Israeli conflict, particularly the war between Israel and the Palestinian Territories, is rooted in far more then ethnic tensions. Instead of drawing attention towards high-ranking officials of the Israeli government and Hamas, focus needs to be diverted towards the more suspect and subtle international relations theory of realism which, has imposed more problems than solutions.
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).
On November 2 1917 the Balfour Declaration was issued from Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild conveying a promise to the Zionist Federation of a national home in Palestine. This appeared to be a step closer towards materially realising the early Zionist aspirations as previously articulated by Theodor Herzl in August 1897 when he envisioned “the creation of a home for the Jewish people in Palestine to be secured by public law.” Although professing to be a “declaration of sympathy with the Jewish Zionist aspirations” in reality the reasons behind the Balfour Declaration surpassed Zionist efforts in British politics or genuine pro-Zionist sympathies. Despite many Zionists becoming increasingly active in British politics, the formation of a Jewish state was not the intended consequence of the declaration; rather it was primarily in provision of British own interests in Palestinian territory. This land, to which the Balfour Declaration referred had been part of the Ottoman Empire since the 16th century and included contemporary Israel and a small section of present-day Jordan. It occupied a prime strategic position dividing two French colonies, Syria and Lebanon, and the British colony in Egypt whilst harbouring jurisdiction over the prized Suez Canal. Simultaneously British had imperialistic motives to take advantage of the power vacuum left vacant by the slow death of the Sick Man of Europe, the Ottoman Empire. The Balfour Declaration also temporarily allowed the Britain to hold the balance of power between the two opposing nationalist movements in Palestine however it did obligate them to both sides proving a future problem. It was also hoped that propagating a future national home to the Zionists at large would secure the ...
Edward Said was born in Jerusalem, Palestine in 1935 he lived in Egypt and Lebanon for the beginning of his life however, and he went to upper class prep schools in Cairo and New England. After we went on to university at Princeton were he got a degree and then finished with a doctorate at Harvard University as told by Krishna in his booked titled “Globalization & Postcolonialism.” With all the privileges that Said received throughout his life he still considers himself to be a “Palestinian and passionately identified with their sufferings” (Irwin 2006, 278). As one can see from his schooling career that Said was of an upper class citizen and had many opportunities that many people in his countries would not be granted. Edw...