In the elegant Balfour Declaration, Lord Balfour said:
"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."
But he later said in a memorandum to his cabinet colleagues dated 11 August 1919:
"In Palestine we do not even propose to take the wishes of the current inhabitants into consideration… The four great powers are obliged to Zionism. Right or wrong, good or bad, Zionism is rooted in a long tradition, in the present necessities, in future hopes, which are of greater importance than the wishes and the disadvantages of 700,000 Arabs, who currently live in this historic land."
passia.org
Of course it is no surprise that the British who wanted to carve up the Middle East were racists, but there it is in stark detail.
Tom |
