Even when it was still impracticable to obtain a charter for Jewish settlement in Palestine, the British Government made an offer of a tract of land in British East Africa for the up-building of an autonomous Jewish State; but this alternative was not accepted by the Zionist masses.
On the outbreak of war, however, what had hitherto been a vision of idealists became the practical policy of statesmen, and on the 2nd November, 1917, during the advance into Palestine of the Allied Forces under General Allenby, the Earl of (then Mr. Arthur) Balfour, at the time Foreign Secretary, made on behalf of His Majesty's Government the following historic Declaration:
'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 that object, it being 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 the Jews in any other country.'
The Declaration was endorsed by the principal Allied Powers and embodied in the Treaty of Sèvres, signed on the 10th August, 1920. In that Treaty, under which Turkey renounces her sovereignty over Palestine, it is provided that the country shall be entrusted to a Mandatory Power, which shall carry out the terms of the Declaration according to a Mandate to be approved by the League of Nations. At the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers held at San Remo in April, 1920, it was agreed that Great Britain should be entrusted with the Mandate.
After the Balfour Declaration a body, then known as the Zionist Commission, was constituted of representatives of the constituent federations of the World Zionist Organization to act in Palestine as a link between the British authorities and Zionist interests. This body, which is now known as the Palestine Zionist Executive, is financed by subscriptions from Jews throughout the world, and administers the greater part of Jewish education in
