#Palestine / Unpacking the Balfour Declaration

Many Israelis are mistaken in believing that the Balfour Declaration promised them either all of Palestine or all of Transjordan. As Edward Said noted, the Balfour Declaration created "the legal basis for Zionism's claim over Palestine," ans so marked the begining of the Zionist-Palestinian "conflict".

Any analysis of the Balfour Declaration must be situated within its problematic colonial context: a European power (#Britain) making unilateral decisions about territories and peoples under Ottoman rule, without consulting the local Palestinian population who constituted the majority of inhabitants.

Nevertheless, Shaul Arieli attempts to reexamine the precise contents of the Declaration, which remains historically relevant, particularly because it continues to influence contemporary political discourse.

The key facts show that:

The Declaration was itself a product of European colonial power dynamics, with Britain making promises about land it did not yet control.

The text carefully used the phrase "in Palestine" rather than promising all of Palestine, though this legal precision hardly mitigates the fundamental colonial presumption.

Even within its colonial framework, the Declaration did not promise:

All of Palestine to the Jewish national home

Exclusive political rights over the territory

Any specific boundaries

The entirety of Transjordan

The local Palestinian Arab majority, who would be directly affected by this policy, were not consulted about this fundamental decision affecting their homeland and future, reflecting the era's colonial disregard for indigenous populations' right to self-determination

Hebrew https://www.haaretz.co.il/opinions/2024-10-31/ty-article-opinion/.premium/00000192-e247-dd31-a9be-fb4f69990000 or https://archive.ph/rcpLa

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