Balfour Declaration of 1917

The Balfour Declaration was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to the banker and prominent Zionist leader Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, dated 2 November 1917.

The Balfour Declaration consisted of a public statement by the government of the United Kingdom during the World War I. In this letter, Balfour declared on behalf of the British government its support for plans for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

The issuance of the declaration had many long-lasting consequences and was a key moment in the lead-up to the Arab–Israeli conflict, which is often referred to as the world's "most intractable conflict".