Public Lecture on The Balfour Declaration and its Effects on International Relations

On Wednesday 30/10/2013, The Forced Migration and Refugee Unit at the Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Institute of International Studies in cooperation with Tawasol Forum Society in Nusseirat, conducted a lecture on 'The Balfour Declaration and its Effects on International Relations.” Dr. Raed Bader, Professor of International History at the Ibrahim Abu Lughod Institute of International Studies, discussed the historical context of the Balfour Declaration pointing out that the Declaration was part of a series of attempts aiming at the export of the ongoing conflict between the large European countries (Germany and France in particular) to the Ottoman Empire, the 'sick man’ at the time. He also talked about a number of treaties and conferences that preceded and followed the Balfour Declaration, which aimed at the division of the Ottoman Empire into regions with Western influence. Thus the world witnessed at that time the emergence of a number of settlements inside the Ottoman Empire and Palestine was one of those settlements.

The above was followed by a shift in the power centers from Europe to the United States which had a prominent importance in supporting the Zionist project in establishing a national homeland for the Jews in Palestine. The attraction of the Jews by the international powers at that time also played a role in the acceleration of that process; Jews had an influential role in the European economy, in spite of the aggression against them in some European regions.

Dr. Bader indicated that the time period between 1919 and 1929 was a quiet time on the international arena. Thus, this gave leaders of the Zionist movement the chance to move on the international scale, based on the Balfour Declaration and Sykes-Picot Agreement to gain support and legalize the establishment of a Jewish state on the land of Palestine, utilizing their economic and political influence in the realization of this interest. The year 1922 had a huge significance for the Zionist project as the League of the United Nations permitted the document-book of the British mandate on the land of Palestine which included the Balfour Declaration and made it an international commitment, hence becoming a legal commitment towards the Jews in the world.