Balfour Declaration Pledges Jewish National Home in Palestine

On November 2, 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote to Lord Walter Rothschild declaring British support for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" while stating nothing should "prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities." Arabs constituted approximately 90% of Palestine's population but received no political or national rights in the declaration. Britain issued this alongside conflicting wartime promises to Arabs and France regarding the same territory. The declaration was incorporated into the British Mandate for Palestine in 1922, providing international legal status for Zionist aspirations in the region.