Text of the Balfour "declaration" of 1917

The oft misquoted “Balfour declaration” (1917) should not be confused with the Balfour Declaration (1926) which referred to administration of the Dominions.  For former is in fact one single sentence, approved by the UK cabinet, in which a favourable view is expressed upon the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine, with detailed conditions.  [It contains at least one grammatical error.]

Wiki states: The Balfour Declaration (dated 2 November 1917) was a letter from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Baron Rothschild (Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland.

Text: “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.”

 

For a facsimile of the actual letter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Balfour_portrait_and_declaration.JPG