The Balfour Declaration
Monday, March 20, 2017
THE BALFOUR DECLARATION
2017 is the 100th anniversary of The Balfour Declaration, which recognized the land of Palestine as a homeland for the Jewish people.
The Balfour Declaration
After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1917, the conquering allied forces placed the southern part of the old empire under British Administration and the northern part under French Administration. From the French Mandate the nations of Syria and Lebanon emerged.
In the Balfour Declaration (a formal letter from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland) the British promised that part of the land under their administration be designated as a Jewish Homeland. Through Col. T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), the British had promised to establish a united Arab state covering a large area of the Arab Middle East in exchange for Arab support during the war. Simultaneously they had promised through The Balfour Declaration of 1917 a national homeland for the Jewish people in the region, partly as a reward for their support in the war against the Ottoman Empire under Col. John Patterson.
The Balfour declaration of 1917 declared that a Jewish Homeland be created in the lands on both sides of the Jordan River. However, following the Winston Churchill Whitepaper of 1922 the British passed a memorandum in the League Of Nations diminishing the Balfour Declaration and restricting
Jewish immigration to the West Side of the Jordan River. This effectively reduced the proposed area of the Jewish homeland in half. Thus the area East of the Jordan River was administered separately from the area on the west side of the Jordan River, which quickly evolved into the Kingdom of Jordan - a homeland for the Arab population. This in effect was the original two state solution!
The U.N. Resolution of November 1947
In 1947 the UN voted approval of the creation of the State of Israel on the western part of the area between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean. This division was not recognized by the Arab league which immediately engaged the infant State of Israel in a war to destroy it.
To this day, Israel continually exhibits and professes a willingness for a two state solution - a democratic Arab and Jewish state side by side. However they have never been able to get the Arab leaders to agree to recognize the Jewish state.
The Palestinian Arabs and the International Community are in effect looking for a three state solution in the area originally assigned as Jewish Homeland.
Paul O'Higgins, is the director of Reconciliation Outreach a ministry which, among other things, teaches Christians of their connection with Israel and their responsibility to the Jewish people. - Published by Reconciliation OUtreach - Teaching Ministry of Paul and Nuala O'Higgins
Read "The Four Great Covenants" by Paul & Nuala O'Higgins & "The Blessed Hope" by Paul & Nuala O'Higgins
