Have been in London. 100 years since the Balfour declaration and I, for one, am not wanting to celebrate. The most moving sight of the day was the row of orthodox jews silently protesting as they stood bravely along Oxford Street. All generations, all walks of life, all religions, all peaceful.
On November 2 1917, Balfour sent a letter to Lord Rothschild, stating that: “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
@flowerfairyann Thank you for looking this up. Of course, it is the second part of the declaration which was not fulfilled which means that trouble continues to this day. I've posted the words above.
@helenhall I didn't realize this was your husband. Well done him to stand up and be counted. Is he Jewish or Palestinian? I know you went out to the West Bank to help Palestinians build houses. You must both be so proud of your achievements.
@onewing He is neither Jewish nor Palestinian. We are not proud - but having visited and seen for ourselves what is happening, we feel duty bound not to ignore it. A group from Bedford went to the march, and we joined them.
Nicely shown and explained. I'm halfway through the programme on this on TV recording. Always found this an interesting subject, so difficult to reconcile everyone in that region.
@ivan if you are watching the programme about the Balfour Declaration - I found it interesting but felt that a lot of facts were excluded making things look like six of one and half a dozen of the other. Which it isn't.
