Summary
Professor of international law quoted in the United Nations study on the Balfour Declaration’s juridical interpretation and on the negotiating objectives of the British Government and the Zionist Organization (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1947 (Part I), lines 317-331).
Details
- As quoted in the study: “There is no doubt concerning the centrality of the Balfour Declaration in the Zionist-Israel juridical claims”, and accurate interpretation requires “the most reliable evidence, the primary public law source materials”, including the Declaration’s negotiating history and final official text (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1947 (Part I), lines 317-323).
- His summary of objectives, as quoted: the British Government’s two principal political objectives were to win the war and to maximize the British power position through the ensuing peace settlement; the consistent Zionist objectives were “to obtain public law authority for their territorial ambitions”, limited by Jews in Palestine being only a small fraction of the country’s population and by what accorded with Britain’s actual or supposed imperial interests (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1947 (Part I), lines 323-331).
Related pages
Balfour Declaration, Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1947 (Part I)