The Balfour Declaration was in a letter sent by Arthur Balfour, then British Foreign Secretary, to Lord Rothschild, on November 2, 1917.

Zionist leaders, including Chaim Weizmann, the president of the World Zionist Organisation, and Herbert Samuel, the British Jewish Liberal politician, had lobbied the UK government to show its support for the creation of a Jewish state.

There were at least four drafts of the letter prior to the one actually sent.

The final copy declared: “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.”

Lord Balfour requested that Lord Rothschild should “bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation” of Great Britain.