Read Palestine

Leonard Stein

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Summary

Historian of Zionism, described in the United Nations study as authoritative, quoted on Zionist tactics before the First World War, on the French objections to the Zionist programme, on the initiation of the consultations that produced the Balfour Declaration, and on the Declaration’s studied vagueness (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1947 (Part I), lines 199-289).

Details

  • On tactics while Palestine was Ottoman, as quoted in the study: the “political” Zionists were forced to recognize that, without abandoning the essence of their aspirations, the movement must change its tactics, with no more talk of a Charter or an international guarantee and no room for suspicion that the real purpose was to detach Palestine from Turkey and turn it into a Jewish State (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1947 (Part I), lines 199-207).
  • On France, as quoted: the plan of campaign had Chaim Weizmann join Mark Sykes in Egypt, Sokolow create a favourable atmosphere in Paris and Rome, and an organized effort secure American and Russian Zionist support for “the building up of a Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine under the aegis of Great Britain” (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1947 (Part I), lines 253-261).
  • On the consultations, as quoted: the 2 February 1917 London meeting attended by Sykes was “the starting point of a prolonged exchange of views between the Zionist Organization and the British Government”, and the July 1917 Zionist formula recognized Palestine as “the national home of the Jewish people” and proposed a “Jewish National Colonising Corporation” (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1947 (Part I), lines 267-273).
  • On the result, as quoted: “What were the Zionists being promised? The language of the Declaration was studiously vague, and neither on the British nor on the Zionist side was there any disposition, at that time, to probe deeply into its meaning – still less was there any agreed interpretation” (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1947 (Part I), lines 280-287).

Balfour Declaration, Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1947 (Part I)

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