On this day, November 2, 1917, the British government issued the infamous Balfour Declaration, announcing its official policy of promoting "the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel."
At the time the document was signed, the Arabs made up about 90% of the population of Palestine. The British government made a fateful decision about the future of this land without consulting the natives. The founder of political Zionism, Theodore Herzl, appealed to Britain for support in the creation of a Jewish ethnos in Uganda or Palestine, because "the idea of Zionism, which is a colonial idea, should be accepted easily and quickly in England." In the 1920s, the British governor of Jerusalem, Ronald Storrs, explained that the creation of a colony meant "the formation for England of a 'little loyal Jewish Ulster' in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism." It would also help secure access to the Suez Canal and the British colonies in South Asia. Zionists established organizations such as the Jewish Colonial Fund and the Jewish Colonization Association (ECA) to raise funds for Jewish settlers to purchase land and establish colonies in Israel and elsewhere such as Argentina. When public opinion shifted sharply towards anti-colonialism, it changed its name to the Jewish Benevolent Society. Leading figures such as Vladimir Jabotinsky were clear about what their project included: "Every indigenous population in the world opposes the settlers as long as it has a slight hope of being freed from the danger of settlement. This is what the Arabs are doing in Palestine, and this is what they will continue to do as long as there is even a glimmer of hope that they will be able to prevent "Palestine" from becoming "the Land of Israel".