Saturday, November 3, 2007

Palestine History Lesson

This blogger's post has a great summation of the early 20th-century and the root of the troubles there.

Balfour Declaration - Occupation Folklore

"The Balfour Declaration
Foreign Office

November 2nd, 1917

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.

Yours sincerely,

Arthur James Balfour

The Balfour Declaration would not have been possible without the Sykes-Picot agreement, which contemplated victorious booty from WWI. The secret accord between the French and the British planned to divide the Ottoman Empire - the legacy of which continues to haunt and mire the region in blood and death."

The rest gives you a fuller picture of the region's events of the time, and I suggest you click and read!