What is the Balfour Declaration?

The letter that led to the founding of Israel

In November 1917, Britain’s Balfour Declaration opened the door to the founding of Israel 30 years later. And it has had a major impact on the Middle East.

The British government released a statement with a letter from Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild, a leader of the Jewish community in Britain. He forwarded it to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. It started with, “His Majesty’s Government supports the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.” This was the first major political endorsement of Zionism.