The Balfour Declaration's impact, 100 years on | The Economist

100 years ago this week arthur balfour the british foreign secretary penned a letter that would change the face of the Middle East the letter published on November 2nd 1917 led to the creation of the State of Israel and would spark almost a century of conflict the American colony hotel has hosted guests in Jerusalem for over a century [Music] welcome this place has a unique perspective on the region's history because it's played a part in it presidents and peacemakers spies and journalists use this space often in secret to hatch plans and discuss the future [Music] history was made in this room for 16th this room is very important because we have the peace process starting from here yeah and this is not a unique room Tony Blair used this room to advance the peace process and this is the patio where the talks took place the hotel sits close to the former border separating East from West Jerusalem today the whole city is under Israeli rule but Jews and Arabs are still divided this place is a haven from the troubles all around Jeremy and aphid have both worked here for more than 30 years one of the joys of working in the colonies meeting all the wonderful people I work with and the things we share one of the things that Matt and I share is a birthday Jeremy Berkovitz is the hotel's chief financial officer he is in Israeli it's different inside the american-canadian outside the hotel because here we are like we are working together Hamid Chicana is the head of housekeeping he is a Palestinian Balfour's letter has had a profound impact on both of these men they live on opposite sides of Israel's security barrier the letters crucial Klaus read His Majesty's Government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people as it also warned it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-jewish communities in Palestine here in the hotels archive Jeremy and Ahmed for the lettuce legacy very differently what's this cartoon this is built for ya when he came here to Jerusalem to meet the religious people Jesus and Muhammad and they told him you are not welcome here to this land so basically the point is the Arabs were saying Bofors no good for them yes but it was good for us as honest as he was opening the door you are right the future the letter was a declaration of support for Zionists who wanted to create a Jewish state in the calf up of the Ottoman Empire after the first world war the League of Nations gave Britain a mandate to rule Palestine but the Arabs who had been living in Palestine for centuries turned increasingly to resistance and violence culminating in a revolt in 1936 we were peaceful people till the bell for declaration came they give our lands to the Jewish and there is no justice for the Palestinian this is our land for thousands of years we've been waiting all the time for our rights to be respected as they crushed the uprising the British tried to win over the Arabs by restricting Jewish ambitions we're talking about getting angry I mean II in 1939 when the second world wars breaking out and the Jews have being killed in all of your own Britain at that point says no more immigration into mandatory Palestine which means that the Jews have got nowhere to go just when they thought they would have somewhere to go so the Jews got very angry with the British Jewish anger also turned violence the British gave up and handed the problem over to the United Nations in 1947 the UN voted to partition Palestine but the Arabs rejected this and fighting broke out every page we go to here's got more pictures of death and destruction and it was clearly untenable this is a burnt-out Jewish out of shelter offices right next to the American colony hotel as the last British soldiers left Palestine in May 1948 the moment had come for the Jews they declared the State of Israel neighbouring Arab countries invaded immediately in the armistice of 1949 Israel and Arab states divided up the land but there was no Palestinian state just two regions controlled by Egypt and Jordan now known as the West Bank and Gaza an estimated 700,000 Palestinians fled or were pushed out of their homes they called this the Nakba a catastrophe they took our land we loved this land this is our land for for our families the arts are very angry because they lost everything you can see since then there have been Wars uprisings terrorist attacks and diplomatic deals nothing has boat's lasting peace or a State for the Palestinians since the war of 1967 many Palestinians now live in the West Bank under permanent Israeli occupation cut off by the Israeli security barrier they have autonomy in big cities and towns but are surrounded by Jewish settlements others are locked away in the Gaza Strip the scene of repeated Wars [Music] a Centurion from Lord Balfour's letter his 67 words have left a profound but mixed legacy the Holocaust convinced the West and probably the whole world that the Jews did need somewhere they were safe my father lost most of his family my mother excuse me they get emotional and my mother lost not her family as well and well I mean my family probably I don't know if that exists without stated as well we have no freedom and no state and many of the Palestinian people are left this place so they go everywhere so it wasn't good for us unfortunately I don't think well for decoration kept it's promised for the Palestinian the conflict between Arab and Jew remains intractable the Balfour Declaration helped to create Israel but the state of Palestine is not yet born you

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Keywords: The Economist, Economist, Economist Films, Economist Videos, Politics, News, short-documentary, Balfour, Balfour Declaration, Israel, balfour declaration crash course, balfour documentary explained, balfour declaration documentary, balfour declaration debate, balfour declaration 1917, what is the balfour declaration, Palestine, israel palestine documentary, palestine israel conflict, Israeli, history of isreal, trump palestine, trump jerusalem, jerusalem, israel palestine conflict

Id: kbdvn8QHyX8

Length: 8min 3sec (483 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 03 2017