Balfour Declaration

British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour wrote to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, expressing the government's support for 'the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,' while stating 'nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.' The declaration contradicted earlier promises to Sharif Hussein and shaped the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the next century.