DOCSLIB.ORG

The Balfour Declaration: Activity Historical Context

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Balfour Declaration: Activity Historical Context The Balfour Declaration: Activity Historical Context The Balfour Declaration, issued on November 2, 1917 by Lord Arthur Balfour was a historic statement that recognized the right of the Jews to a homeland in the Land of Israel. This activity focuses on the historical events that led up to the Balfour Declaration, touching also on the personality of Balfour himself. We learn about the Declaration, the ensuing expectations and disappointments, and the grief over Balfour’s death. We go on to explore reactions to the Balfour Declaration in Israeli society over the years and the place of Balfour today through the various places named after him. The activity is suitable for high school students. History teachers could use this activity when discussing the background to the establishment of the state of Israel, the Zionist movement, the Yishuv, and relations between Israel and the world. It could also be used in the context of World War I and the British Mandate. Background Materials for Teachers 99+ Years of the Balfour Declaration, Stand With Us YouTube Video Exclusive interview with Lord Rothschild, Balfour 100 Video Zionism and the Balfour Declaration, PBS Learning Media Resource Israeli Declaration of Independence (translated), Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Background Information about the Balfour Declaration, The Knesset The Secret Drafts of the Balfour Declaration, National Library of Israel Website with resources, Balfour 100 The National Library of Israel, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, [email protected] POB 39105 Jerusalem, Israel http://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLIS/en/Education/Pages/default.aspx Pre-Class Preparation Email the students the attached worksheet. (Email is preferable as the worksheet contains a number of links.) Ensure all students have a Google account. Using Google My Maps, teachers will create a map with the title “Balfour Declaration". (Watch this tutorial.) Warm-up Activity At the beginning of the twentieth century, many of the structural organisations connected to the Zionist movement had already been established: the World Zionist Organisation, the Jewish National Fund, etc. Although the number of Jews who had moved to Israel was small, it was steadily growing. The Zionist movement had not yet been recognized by any of the world's superpowers; a recognition which would turn the Zionist dream into a political reality. World War I, in which Ottoman Turkey stood by Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Bulgaria in their war against Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and eventually the United States, provided the opportunity to receive the sought-after recognition. On November 2, 1917, the British government published a statement recognizing the right of the Jewish people to a national home in its historical homeland. This statement later became known as the Balfour Declaration. As background, show segments from these two videos and explain the context of the Balfour Declaration: Exclusive interview with Lord Rothschild, Balfour 100 Video Zionism and the Balfour Declaration, PBS Learning Media Resource The National Library of Israel, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, [email protected] POB 39105 Jerusalem, Israel http://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLIS/en/Education/Pages/default.aspx Stage 1: Analysing Primary Sources Divide the class into small groups. Using either the worksheet or this link, students analyse three of the following primary sources from the NLI as well as the Israeli Declaration of Independence: Balfour's Letters HaChoma: Security and Defence Issues – The Balfour Declaration Balfour Reception in Gymnasium Yard Death Announcement of Lord Balfour Serviette from Balfour's Cellar Portrait of Chaim Weizmann Stage 2: Presentation and Class Discussion Each group presents its findings to the class. Together discuss the answers to the questions posed. The National Library of Israel, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, [email protected] POB 39105 Jerusalem, Israel http://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLIS/en/Education/Pages/default.aspx Stage 3: Summary – Creating a Geographic Timeline Students work in their groups to summarise the Balfour Declaration using Google My Maps. Each group is assigned one event from the timeline. The group must: place the event on the map, add a date, find a photograph, and provide additional information according to their assigned "topic for further research"(see below). Their research should be based on material learned in the lesson with additional information from the internet. Number on Event Topic for further research Timeline 1 Balfour's birth Balfour's biography and official positions 2 The first Zionist Political Zionism and Chaim Weizmann's Congress attempts to procure the Balfour Declaration 3 Sykes-Picot Sykes, Picot, McMahon and the international Agreement diplomatic background to the Balfour Declaration 4 Balfour Declaration Content of the Declaration and the reasons for its publication 5 World War I Results of the war and its influence on the Zionist movement 6 Balfour's visit to Obstacles to the implementation of the Israel Declaration 7 Establishment of the Significance of the Declaration for the Zionist State of Israel movement The National Library of Israel, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, [email protected] POB 39105 Jerusalem, Israel http://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLIS/en/Education/Pages/default.aspx .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Forming a Nucleus for the Jewish State
    Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................... 3 Jewish Settlements 70 CE - 1882 ......................................................... 4 Forming a Nucleus for First Aliyah (1882-1903) ...................................................................... 5 Second Aliyah (1904-1914) .................................................................. 7 the Jewish State: Third Aliyah (1919-1923) ..................................................................... 9 First and Second Aliyot (1882-1914) ................................................ 11 First, Second, and Third Aliyot (1882-1923) ................................... 12 1882-1947 Fourth Aliyah (1924-1929) ................................................................ 13 Fifth Aliyah Phase I (1929-1936) ...................................................... 15 First to Fourth Aliyot (1882-1929) .................................................... 17 Dr. Kenneth W. Stein First to Fifth Aliyot Phase I (1882-1936) .......................................... 18 The Peel Partition Plan (1937) ........................................................... 19 Tower and Stockade Settlements (1936-1939) ................................. 21 The Second World War (1940-1945) ................................................ 23 Postwar (1946-1947) ........................................................................... 25 11 Settlements of October 5-6 (1947) ............................................... 27 First
    [Show full text]
  • The Arab-Israeli Conflict from the Perspective of International Law
    THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW Yoram Dinstein* The Washington agreement of September 1993 between Israel and the Palestinians,1 has raised hopes worldwide that the Arab-Israeli conflict which has been raging for many decades (and in fact precedes the birth of the State of Israel) is drawing to a dose. In reality, while the Washington agreement undoubtedly represents a major breakthrough, it is premature to regard the conflict as settled. Many more agreements, not only with the Palestinians, will be required in order to augur a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. In the meantime, numerous issues remain unresolved and there is still much opposition in many circles to the idea of Arab-Israeli reconciliation. The need to study the international legal aspects of the conflict is, therefore, as topical today as it was in earlier days. The following observations on the Arab-Israeli conflict will be based on international law. No attempt will be made to examine “historical rights”. Moreover, no reference will be made here to justice or morality. History, justice and morality are constantly invoked by both parties to every conflict and, as a rule, they are neither helpful nor unequivocal. Being subjective perspectives, they are more conducive to the definition of the problem than to its solution. Unfortunately, the arguments heard on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict are frequently grounded on a confusing (not to say confused) combination of law, justice, morality and history. If the conflict is to be probed in a rational and hopefully productive way, it is imperative to identify the level on which the analysis is to be conducted.
    [Show full text]
  • A Threshold Crossed Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution WATCH
    HUMAN RIGHTS A Threshold Crossed Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution WATCH A Threshold Crossed Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution Copyright © 2021 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-62313-900-1 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org APRIL 2021 ISBN: 978-1-62313-900-1 A Threshold Crossed Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution Map .................................................................................................................................. i Summary ......................................................................................................................... 2 Definitions of Apartheid and Persecution .................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Was the Balfour Declaration a Colonial Document? » Mosaic
    11/2/2020 Was the Balfour Declaration a Colonial Document? » Mosaic WAS THE BALFOUR DECLARATION A COLONIAL DOCUMENT? https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/israel-zionism/2020/10/was-the-balfour-declaration-a-colonial-document/ So goes the accusation. But the public commitment Britain made to the Jews in Palestine is very different from the Sykes- Picot accord and other secret “treaties” carving up native lands. October 28, 2020 | Martin Kramer About the author: Martin Kramer teaches Middle Eastern history and served as founding president at Shalem College in Jerusalem, and is the Koret distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “His Majesty’s Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” This is the operative sentence in the Balfour Declaration, issued 103 years ago on November 2 by British Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour on behalf of the British government, and transmitted by Balfour to Lord Walter Rothschild for passing along to the British Zionist Federation. In 2017, on the centenary of the declaration, the anti-Zionist Oxford historian Avi Shlaim described it, more than once, as “a classic colonial document.” No doubt many today are inclined to see it the same way. And indeed it does have some of the external trappings of a “classic colonial document,” addressed as it was by one lord (Balfour) to another (Rothschild) and delivered, one can easily imagine, by a white-gloved emissary from the Foreign Office to the Rothschild palace in an envelope to be presented to the recipient on Lord Allenby, Lord Balfour, and Sir Herbert a silver platter.
    [Show full text]
  • The Balfour Declaration Pdf
    The Balfour Declaration Pdf natheless.Unplumb and Ulysses sideways caliper Sawyere awkwardly? still overdid his dubbin blackly. Prolific and bung Barde plasticises northerly and decree his dauphines fanwise and The Balfour Declaration The Origins of the ArabIsraeli. For an expert impact on extremely biased about its seat too. The Balfour Declaration as partition became same was by letter end on 2 November 1917 by making then Foreign. Are Lone Wolves Really Acting Alone? It is intimately and america, such a fascinating story doubtless improved with their ultimate goal was sent a major streets in english hebrew arabic. Bernard Regan iThe Balfour Declaration Empire the. Word Pro The Balfour Declaration Steinlwp. The passage that Britain wronged the Palestinians with the Balfour Declaration is premised on two beliefs The ridge is that Britain acted unilaterally in. President Sadat of Egypt became habitat first Arab leader or visit the Jewish state sitting in what sign of iron new relations between doing two countries, he addressed the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. If you have access beneath a journal via a taunt or association membership, please browse to train society journal, select an ancestor to directory, and sip the instructions in value box. Feisal Agreement having regard is both Jewish immigration and drink purchase. Two weeks of talks failed to come intern with acceptable solutions to the status of Jerusalemand the right of crest of Palestinian refugees. Jews civil lord james balfour declaration, but gentiles if only those british empire, roosevelt came in fact that? Easy unsubscribe links are hence in every email. A Short History writing the Balfour Declaration book Read reviews from world's largest community for readers.
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish National Fund Sponsorship Proposal for Jnf’S Law and Justice Mission November 15-19, 2015 What Is Jnf?
    JEWISH NATIONAL FUND SPONSORSHIP PROPOSAL FOR JNF’S LAW AND JUSTICE MISSION NOVEMBER 15-19, 2015 WHAT IS JNF? JEWISH NATIONAL FUND gives all generations of Jews a unique voice in building a prosperous future for the land of Israel and its people. JEWISH NATIONAL FUND (JNF) began in 1901 as a dream and vision to reestablish a homeland in Israel for Jewish people everywhere. Jews the world over collected coins in iconic JNF Blue Boxes, purchasing land and planting trees until ultimately, their dream of a Jewish homeland was a reality. Today, JNF continues to give all generations a unique voice in building and ensuring the prosperity of the land of Israel through their generosity and partnership with the people of Israel. JNF embodies both heart and action; our work is varied in scope but singular in benefit. We strive to bring an enhanced quality of life to all of Israel’s residents, and translate these advancements to the world beyond. JNF is greening the desert with millions of trees, building thousands of parks, creating new communities and cities for generations of Israelis to call home, bolstering Israel’s water supply, helping develop innovative arid-agriculture techniques, and educating both young and old about the founding and importance of Israel and Zionism. JNF is a registered 501(c)(3) organization and United Nations NGO, which continuously earns top ratings from charity overseers. 2 JEWISH NATIONAL FUND | Sponsorship proposal for JNF’s Law and Justice Mission About JNF Lawyers for Israel Society LFI event in New York City LFI breakfast in Boston The Lawyers for Israel (LFI) Society is one of JNF’s cornerstone affinity groups.
    [Show full text]
  • The-Balfour-Declaration-Lookstein-Center.Pdf
    The Balfour Declaration - November 2, 1917 Celebrating 100 Years There are those who believe that the Balfour Declaration was the most magnanimous (generous) gesture by an imperial nation. Others believe it was the biggest error of judgment that a world power could make. In this unit, we will discover: What was the Balfour Declaration Why the Balfour Declaration was so important How the Balfour Declaration is relevant today 1. Which of the following Declarations have you heard of? a) The United States Declaration of Independence, 1776 b) The Irish Declaration of Independence, 1917 c) The Balfour Declaration, 1917 d) The Israeli Declaration of Independence, 1948 e) The Austrian Declaration of Neutrality, 1955 What was the Balfour Declaration? The Balfour Declaration was a letter written in the name of the British government, by Lord Arthur James Balfour, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, to the leaders of the Zionist Federation. 2. Read the letter: Dear Lord Rothschild, I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet. “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.” I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Promise and Failure of the Zionist-Maronite Relationship, 1920-1948
    The Promise and Failure of the Zionist-Maronite Relationship, 1920-1948 Master’s Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Ilan Troen, Graduate Advisor In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Master’s Degree by Scott Abramson February 2012 Acknowledgements I cannot omit the expression of my deepest gratitude to my defense committee, the formidable triumvirate of Professors Troen, Makiya, and Salameh. To register my admiration for these scholars would be to court extravagance (and deplete a printer cartridge), so I shall have to limit myself to this brief tribute of heartfelt thanks. ii ABSTRACT The Promise and Failure of the Zionist-Maronite Relationship, 1920-1948 A thesis presented to the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Waltham, Massachusetts By Scott Abramson Much of the historiography on the intercourse between Palestinian Jews and Lebanese Maronites concerns only the two peoples’ relations in the seventies and eighties. This thesis, in contrast, attempts a departure from this scholarship, joining the handful of other works that chart the history of the Zionist-Maronite relationship in its earliest incarnation. From its inception to its abeyance beginning in 1948, this almost thirty-year relationship was marked by a search of a formal alliance. This thesis, by presenting a panoptical survey of early Zionist-Maronite relations, explores the many dimensions of this pursuit. It details the Zionists and Maronites’ numerous commonalities that made an alliance desirable and apparently possible; it profiles the specific elements among the Zionists and Maronites who sought an entente; it examines each of the measures the two peoples took to this end; and it analyzes why this protracted pursuit ultimately failed.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction Since the Jewish National Fund (JNF)
    Introduction Since the Jewish National Fund (JNF)’s inception, the nongovernmental organization with close ties to the State of Israel has planted over 200 million trees on over 900,000 dunams or 225,000 acres of land in Israel/Palestine (Braverman 2009, 48). The forests are afforestation projects initiated as greening and good environmental stewardship of the land. The afforestation projects created a “natural” means to possess and control land in Israel/Palestine for the Jewish state. The Jewish National Fund planted forests over approximately eighty-six Palestinian villages that were demolished and depopulated during the 1948 Nakba/Arab-Israeli war. The pine forests create both a physical barrier against Palestinians returning to their land, and also the forests hide evidence of Palestinians’ history on the land. Through JNF pine forests, one can see the struggle between both the State of Israel and Palestinians to maintain, or in the case of the State of Israel to establish, a history and thus legitimacy upon the land of Israel/Palestine. Both the State of Israel and Palestinians are struggling to legitimate their right to the land through established histories on the land in Israel/Palestine. Thus the acts of resistance legitimate and aid in Palestinians’ right to return to the land by preventing their past history from being covered by forests and forgotten. Palestinians’ acts of resistance, like continuing to plant olive trees and deliberately setting fires to the JNF pine forests are a struggle to preserve their history and memory on the land against Zionist efforts to eradicate it. Social and Material Ecologies The JNF receives donations for tree planting from all over the world.
    [Show full text]
  • The Balfour Declaration from the Perspective of the Palestinian People Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University It Is a Great Honor T
    United Nations, November 2, 2017 The Balfour Declaration from the Perspective of the Palestinian People Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University It is a great honor to be asked to speak here on the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. I am grateful to HE Ambassador Fodé Seck of Senegal, Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, to the Committee, to the chair today, HE Ambassador Jerry Matjila of South Africa, and to the dedicated staff of the UN Secretariat for making this event possible. It is particularly fitting to be speaking today at the United Nations, which has played such a large role in the Palestine tragedy. Today I will be addressing the impact on the Palestinian people of the Balfour Declaration, and of the League of Nations mandate based upon it. I can only hope that if we can all become more aware of this historical background, the United Nations may be able to address the harm caused by this Declaration, and all that followed, more fairly and effectively than it has done over the past 70 years. The momentous statement made on behalf of the British cabinet on November 2, 1917 by Arthur James Balfour, His Majesty’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, is usually regarded in light of British imperial interests, or in terms of its ostensible subject, a “national home for the Jewish people.” We know a great deal about Britain’s commitment to Zionism. We know less about what the support of the British Empire via this declaration meant for the aims of the Zionist movement – which for nearly half a century proudly described itself as a colonial endeavor, and which at the same time was a national movement in the making.
    [Show full text]
  • The Legal Effects of the Israeli-PLO Declaration of Principles: Steps Toward Statehood for Palestine
    The Legal Effects of the Israeli-PLO Declaration of Principles: Steps Toward Statehood for Palestine Kathryn M. McKinney* I. INTRODUCTION After decades of bitter conflict in the Middle East,1 Israel and Palestine have embarked on a historic quest for peace. On Monday, 0 Lead Article Editor, Seattle University Law Review. B.A. 1991, Austin College; J.D. Candidate 1995, Seattle University School of Law. 1. For a discussion of the history of the conflict in the Middle East, see generally PETER MANSFIELD, A HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST (1991). For an analysis of the modem conflicts in the Middle East, see generally DAVID KIMICHE, THE LAST OPTION (1991). For an historical perspective of the history of Israel drawn from the Hebrew Bible, see MICHAEL GRANT, THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL (1984). Although the history of the conflict in the Middle East is long and complicated, the following is a brief summary of highlights from the last century: *1882 - Jewish immigrants in "Lovers of Zion" movement begin to arrive in Palestine from Eastern Europe. 01896 - Theodor Herzl publishes Zionist treatise outlining the establishment of a state of the Jews. *1917 - British Balfour Declaration declares that it "views with favor" the establishment of a "Jewish National Home" in Palestine. 01937 - Spurred by heightened Arab-Jewish tension, British Peel Commission recommends partitioning Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. *1939 - British government issues White Paper backing away from partition idea. *1945 - World War II ends with attention focused on survivors of Nazi holocaust. *1947 - UN votes to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.
    [Show full text]
  • Palestine – Britain's Legacy
    JANUARY 2013 Palestine – Britain’s legacy For centuries Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire, which comprised most of the Middle The European powers and the East and North Africa. Its rural population lived in Balfour Declaration hundreds of small towns and villages, producing olive oil, fruit, cereals, cotton, wool, leather and s the Ottoman Empire weakened, Britain and France soap, while cities like Jerusalem, Nablus, Hebron discussed how its lands might be divided: the and Haifa were hubs of trade and the centres of Asecret Sykes-Picot Agreement, signed in 1916, the social and intellectual fabric of Palestinian life. determined Britain should take most of Palestine, Jordan, Palestinians were guardians of many of the holy Iraq and the Gulf, to safeguard sea routes to its colonial places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. possessions and the overland route of a planned oil pipeline from Iraq to the port of Haifa. Britain was especially concerned to control the Suez Canal, the vital link to its colonies in India and East Africa. At the same time Britain was promising Arab leaders complete autonomy after the war if they rebelled against the Turks, who were supporting Germany. Britain guaranteed: “the complete and final liberation of the peoples who have for so long been oppressed by the Turks, and the setting up of national governments and administrations deriving their authority from the free exercise of the initiative and choice of the indigenous populations.”2 The Arabs agreed, and helped to effect an allied victory. However, when the war was going badly in 1917, the British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote to leading British Zionists in the hopes of securing Jewish support for the allies, especially in the US.
    [Show full text]