Balfour Declaration Quotes
He also expressed his pleasure with the British Balfour Declaration granting the Jews their own country in part of Palestine ({594001}). Wilson had earlier committed himself to support the Zionist claim for Palestine. See {585124}.
At the time, Palestine was technically Turkish territory. Turkey was one of the defeated axis powers in World War I. England, as part of the World War I peace treaties, had control over Palestine as well as most of the rest of the Middle East.
The British were trying to enlist the aid of the Arabs in fighting against the Ottoman Turks who had controlled all of the Middle East in the name of Islam. There was another clause in the letter excepting the areas that Britain had agreements with France and Russia. However, unknown to the Sherif there was the Sykes-Picot treaty which had secret clauses giving Syria, Damascus and other prime areas to the French. The English could not guarantee independence to much of the Arab Mideast.
Often referred to as the "Balfour Declaration." 1st Earl of Balfour
Wilson did so later: {585123}. Wilson was not the only early American President who had “Zionist” aspirations for Palestine. See John Adams quotation: {585141}.
The mandatory power was Great Britain which had been “mandated” to maintain order in Palestine. The British were leaving Palestine and under the Balfour Declaration—See {594001} –they were to provide a homeland for the Jewish people. The General Assembly then voted overwhelmingly by this declaration that Palestine should be partitioned into an Arab State and a Jewish State--Israel. When the British left, however, some of the Palestinian Arabs together with the combined armies of the neighboring Arab states attacked the fledgling Jewish state, and to their surprise were beaten by the Israelis. This was the first of the Arab-Israeli wars as some Arabs have never accepted this UN Resolution and have continued to destroy the state of Israel.
The British Empire Controlled Most of the Middle East in the 1920s, and they presided over most of the creations of states in the region. Churchill was a major figure in British Colonial policy. The natural borders tended to follow rivers, mountain ranges, lakes other irregular geographical elements. Borders of straight lines were almost always artificial in that men (and a few women) decided upon them as a convenience. Churchill was personally involved in much of the line drawing for borders.
