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The Hidden History of the Balfour Declaration
Contained on a single page, the Balfour Declaration was sent by Arthur Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, in November 1917. It read, in part, “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
This brief missive was to be critical in determining the history of the Middle East, from the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 to the present day. And yet, despite its importance, the true origins of the Declaration remain obscure.
The Declaration, Sahar Huneidi observes, was a work of carefully crafted ambiguity. It was this deliberate openness that allowed the British government, years later, to reshape its meaning, and even the history of its drafting, to support specific foreign policy ends. This process, Huneidi argues, was facilitated by a subsequent document: a little-known, handwritten memo by the Under-Secretary of the Colonial Office, William Ormsby-Gore, recounting from memory discussions surrounding the Declaration’s drafting.
Employing careful detective work and a rich knowledge of the subject matter, Huneidi reveals how, faced with a paucity of official records, Ormsby-Gore’s account became the basis for a decision on Palestine that had devastating consequences for the stability of the region. This concise, eloquent book provides a vivid case study of the rewriting and repurposing of history, and compellingly recontextualizes the ongoing struggles of Israel–Palestine.
This brief missive was to be critical in determining the history of the Middle East, from the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 to the present day. And yet, despite its importance, the true origins of the Declaration remain obscure.
The Declaration, Sahar Huneidi observes, was a work of carefully crafted ambiguity. It was this deliberate openness that allowed the British government, years later, to reshape its meaning, and even the history of its drafting, to support specific foreign policy ends. This process, Huneidi argues, was facilitated by a subsequent document: a little-known, handwritten memo by the Under-Secretary of the Colonial Office, William Ormsby-Gore, recounting from memory discussions surrounding the Declaration’s drafting.
Employing careful detective work and a rich knowledge of the subject matter, Huneidi reveals how, faced with a paucity of official records, Ormsby-Gore’s account became the basis for a decision on Palestine that had devastating consequences for the stability of the region. This concise, eloquent book provides a vivid case study of the rewriting and repurposing of history, and compellingly recontextualizes the ongoing struggles of Israel–Palestine.
- GenresHistory
246 pages, Paperback
Published June 27, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 3, 2021
One might yawn at the mention of Balfour Declaration! However, I am enjoying reading this book by historian Sahar Huneidi! A fascinating account of the background It answers the huge over 100 year old “why?” behind the issuing of it. A new study focusing on what she called “carefully crafted ambiguity of Balfour Declaration, specifically the early origins and negotiations leading up to it- An unknown aspect , namely the scarcity of official british records regarding the declaration- a shocking and highly surprising near-total lack of documentary evidence on its early history … this allowed the british government years later to reshape its meaning to support specific foreign policy ends.” Huneidi says it is divided into two chapters: a general history background for those who are not familiar with the region’s history you might like to skip and go directly to the second chapter which is the heart of the work as she put it
July 24, 2026
A very detailed and interesting account of the origins and meaning of the Balfour Declaration. Huneidi helpfully divides her work into two sections, the first of which is a general background on the region as of 1917, and the second an analysis of the only remaining official (somewhat) contemporary record of the declaration’s origins, a minute prepared in 1922 by British official and fanatical Zionist William Ormsby-Gore. For some bizarre reason, all official documentation that would have been generated during the drafting of the declaration has been lost. Ormsby-Gore’s minute was prepared in an attempt by the new Conservative government to formulate an official position on what, exactly, the declaration meant.
The most interesting argument in this book, to my mind, is that the declaration itself was a little consequence. As the author puts it, “the Balfour Declaration was carefully and ambiguously worded to mean anything, from a Jewish cultural centre in Palestine - such as a Hebrew University - to a fully-fledged state; it was left for time to tell what the final outcome would be.” Huneidi argues that it was only with the Churchill white paper of 1922 that the British formally and fully committed to creating what would ultimately become a Jewish state. Had the decision gone in another way at that juncture, the declaration could well have been interpreted into meaninglessness.
The book takes the position that the declaration was “one of the most unwise policies the British empire has undertaken.” Of course, it was: for their trouble, the British got chased out of Palestine by Zionist terrorism and ended up with little to show for it. More importantly, of course, the declaration ultimately sounded the death knell for the society that was indigenous to Palestine, i.e. the Palestinian Arabs. More than a century later, it still boils the blood and shocks the conscience that anyone could have thought that they had the right to play god in such a way, with land that was not theirs, and with the lives of people over whom they had no legitimate authority.
One minor but irritating detail: Huneidi repeatedly refers to the French diplomat who negotiated the Sykes-Picot agreement as “Georges Picot.” His name was in fact François Georges-Picot (Georges Picot was his father, a historian). For whatever reason, this is a common mistake. Finally, the appendix includes various drafts of the declaration, which I’m sure would make for fascinating reading but for some bizarre reason they are illegible because they are much too small and printed in very poor quality. I have no idea what the publisher was thinking, and it’s a shame.
The most interesting argument in this book, to my mind, is that the declaration itself was a little consequence. As the author puts it, “the Balfour Declaration was carefully and ambiguously worded to mean anything, from a Jewish cultural centre in Palestine - such as a Hebrew University - to a fully-fledged state; it was left for time to tell what the final outcome would be.” Huneidi argues that it was only with the Churchill white paper of 1922 that the British formally and fully committed to creating what would ultimately become a Jewish state. Had the decision gone in another way at that juncture, the declaration could well have been interpreted into meaninglessness.
The book takes the position that the declaration was “one of the most unwise policies the British empire has undertaken.” Of course, it was: for their trouble, the British got chased out of Palestine by Zionist terrorism and ended up with little to show for it. More importantly, of course, the declaration ultimately sounded the death knell for the society that was indigenous to Palestine, i.e. the Palestinian Arabs. More than a century later, it still boils the blood and shocks the conscience that anyone could have thought that they had the right to play god in such a way, with land that was not theirs, and with the lives of people over whom they had no legitimate authority.
One minor but irritating detail: Huneidi repeatedly refers to the French diplomat who negotiated the Sykes-Picot agreement as “Georges Picot.” His name was in fact François Georges-Picot (Georges Picot was his father, a historian). For whatever reason, this is a common mistake. Finally, the appendix includes various drafts of the declaration, which I’m sure would make for fascinating reading but for some bizarre reason they are illegible because they are much too small and printed in very poor quality. I have no idea what the publisher was thinking, and it’s a shame.
August 25, 2019
Fascinating account of the background to one the most perfidious documents ever crafted by the hand of man; responsible for so much tragedy and bloodshed over the past century.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews