Why Palestinian activist destroyed his picture: Who is Arthur Balfour?

A group called Palestine Action cut and spray-painted the portrait of Lord Arthur Jamer Balfour at Trinity College, University of Cambridge.

The group said the image was attacked because of the 1917 Balfour declaration and that the action was taken to highlight Britain's historic role in depriving Palestinians of their homeland.

Balfour, who was the British Foreign Secretary at the time, issued a declaration promising to build "a national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine.

Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (25 July 1848 – 19 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the Lloyd George ministry, he issued the Balfour Declaration of 1917 on behalf of the cabinet, which supported a "home for the Jewish people" in Palestine.

Cambridgeshire Police said officers were investigating but no arrests had been made.

A Trinity College spokesperson said: "Trinity College regrets the damage caused to a portrait of Arthur James Balfour during its public hours. The police have been informed."

Who is Arthur Balfour?

Arthur Balfour was born in Scotland on 25 June 1848.

He started his political career in the Conservative Party. He entered the parliament for the first time in 1874.

He became the secretary responsible for Ireland during the reign of Lord Salisbury and was called Bloody Balfour by the Irish Nationalists because of the harsh methods he implemented against the Irish.

He became the minister responsible for the treasury in 1891 and 1895 consecutively. In 1902, he was elected prime minister.

He had to hold an election in 1905 after his cabinet disagreed with Joseph Chamberlain's customs duty proposal, and he was defeated as a result of this election.

He left the party leadership in 1911 and joined the coalition government formed in 1915.

He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1916-19. He caused great controversy with a declaration he published in 1917 during his term of office (the famous Balfour Declaration, known by his surname). It is accepted by many historians that this declaration laid the foundations of Israel, which would be established in 1948.

He was Speaker of the House of Lords in 1919-22 and 1925-29. He received the title of Lord in 1922.

He died on March 19, 1930.

The name of Arthur Balfour, one of Britain's former foreign ministers, is not often mentioned in high school history books in the country, but Israeli and Palestinian students of the same age can still tell you in full detail who he is and what he did, 104 years later.

The statement made by Arthur Balfour, then British Foreign Secretary, on November 2, 1917, while the First World War was ongoing, has an important but very different place in the national history teaching of both peoples.

In 67 words in the Balfour Declaration, Britain stated that it would support the establishment of a "Jewish national homeland" in the lands of Palestine, which were then part of the Ottoman Empire.

The declaration therefore constitutes, for many, the starting point of the Israel-Palestine Conflict.

What was the statement in the declaration?

With the Balfour Declaration, which was signed by Arthur Balfour and went down in history with his name, the British government stated that it would support "the establishment of a national homeland for the Jewish people" in Palestine, which was Ottoman territory at the time - and where the Jewish population was a small minority.

Balfour's declaration was sent as an attachment to a letter sent to Lord Walter Rothschild, one of the leaders of UK Jews at the time.

Lord Rothschild was the leading advocate of Zionism, the idea of establishing an independent state in the lands called Palestine at the time, extending from the east bank of the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, which the Jews considered their "historical homeland", and was the president of the British Zionist Federation.

The text of the declaration was published in newspapers on November 9, 1917, a week after it was sent to Lord Rothschild by letter, thus making the public aware of the issue.

This was also the first open support for Zionism by a powerful and influential country in the world.

On the other hand, instead of "state" in the text, the more vague concept of "national homeland" was deliberately used, and it was not specified exactly which borders were meant when Palestine was mentioned.

The British government later stated that when it said "a Jewish homeland in Palestine" it did not mean all of Palestine.

Behind the scenes of the Balfour Declaration

The War Cabinet, which convened in England immediately after the war against the Ottoman Empire was declared in 1914, started to discuss the future of Palestine.

One of the cabinet members, the Zionist Herbert Samuel, distributed to his colleagues a memorandum containing the idea of a national homeland for Jews.

In 1915, a commission was established to determine what kind of policy would be followed in the regions belonging to the Ottoman Empire, including Palestine.

In 1916, David Lloyd George became Prime Minister of England. Lloyd George thought differently from his predecessor, Herbert Henry Asquith, who was in favor of preserving the Ottoman Empire as it was and undergoing controlled reform.

The influence of Zionist ideas in British politics was gradually increasing. At a conference held in 1917, Britain entered into negotiations with the Zionists for the first time.

Again in 1917, at the request of Foreign Minister Balfour, Zionist Federation President Lord Rothschild and Chaim Weizmann prepared a draft statement.

New drafts were prepared and discussed with the UK government in September and October. In these drafts, the views of Zionist and anti-Zionist Jews were consulted, but Palestinian Arabs, who constitute the overwhelming majority of the indigenous population of Palestine, were not represented.

On 31 October 1917, the final text of the Balfour Declaration was approved by the cabinet.

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Lord Balfour: Pro-Palestinian protesters damage University of Cambridge painting

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-68515368