Thursday marks 106 anniversary of the Balfour Declaration which led to Israel’s creation

The war on Gaza comes on the 106th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration - which changed the lives of Palestinians forever. For centuries, the Ottoman Empire controlled Palestine, until it was conquered in 1917 by advancing British troops during the first world war. The British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, wrote a letter to a prominent member of the British Jewish community saying his government was in favour of ’the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish People. At that time, only 8% of Palestine’s population was Jewish. The letter also said, “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine“. But after the war ended in 1918, the newly created League of Nations “mandated“ Palestine to British control, with the language of the Balfour declaration written in. And in 1948, after the second world war, British occupiers left Palestine, the newly-formed United Nations declared the creation of the state of Israel, and more than 700,000 Palestinians lost their land. To explain more about this, Vincent Fean is a former British Consul-General in Jerusalem. He’s also a trustee for the Balfour Project charity which says its mission is to address the UK’s responsility for peace and security in Israel and Palestine. He joins us live from London. Subscribe to our channel Follow us on Twitter Find us on Facebook Check our website: Check out our Instagram page: Download AJE Mobile App: #BalfourDeclaration #Balfour #1917BalfourDeclaration #ArthurBalfour #Britain #UK #Palestine #Gaza #GazaHumanitarianCrisis #Israel #IsraelHamasWar #GazaWar #IsraelWar #IsraelPalestineWar #IsraelHamasWar #IsraelGazaWar