Quotation from Arthur Balfour “Palestine should be reconstituted as the national home of the Jewish people” — Jul. 18 1917

Two weeks before his famous declaration, Lord Balfour wrote this preliminary draft in which his only purpose is to entrust Great Britain with the common objective of Christian and Jewish Zionists throughout Palestine.

"

Dear Lord Rothchild,
In reply to your letter of July 18th, I am glad to be in a position to inform you that His Majesty's Government accept the principle that Palestine should be reconstituted as the national home of the Jewish people.      His Majesty's Government will use their best endeavors to secure the achievement of this object and will be ready to consider any suggestions on the subject which the Zionist Organization may desire to lay before them.

"

Quoted by Ronald Sanders, The High Walls of Jerusalem, Holt (1983), p. 561.

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