From Balfour to Suez: Britain's Zionist Misadventure: Robert Carr Traces Developments in British Policy between 1917 and 1956

Beginning of article

Despite coordinated Arab-British strategy and the heroics of T.E. Lawrence's Arab Revolt, 1918's defeat of the Ottomans did not bring political reward to the communities of the Middle East. Instead Britain and France had struck a secret deal in 1916 to carve up the region between them; and a year later Lloyd George's government had made further plans for a postwar Palestine. The Foreign Secretary of the day, Lord Balfour, conveyed these plans in a letter of 2nd November 1917 to Lord Rothschild:

   His Majesty's Government view
   with favour the establishment in
   Palestine of a national home for
   the Jewish people, and will use
   their best endeavours to
   facilitate the achievement of this
   object ...

What lay behind this 'Balfour Declaration' and the government's push for a Jewish home in Palestine? Part of the answer lies in Anglicanism and its literal and sentimental approach to the Old Testament. Religious convictions lent sympathy to the 'chosen' Jewish nation. Another factor is the advent of Political Zionism (i.e. the hope to establish a Jewish homeland in Ancient Israel) which gained momentum largely as a result of the horrendous pogroms of 1881 and Tsar Alexander's endorsement of anti-Semitism. The active Zionism of high society figures such as Lord Rothschild and Chaim Weizmann further encouraged the British government.

The Interwar years

The League of Nations awarded Britain the Palestine Mandate in 1922; the mandate stipulated that Britain was 'responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic …