compass on the abc re israel, page-13

Winston Churchill said in 1921 when Colonial Secretary:

"The Balfour Declaration must, therefore, not be regarded as a promise given from sentimental motives; it was a practical measure taken in the interests of a common cause at a moment when that cause could afford to neglect no factor of moral or material assistance." Speaking in the House of Commons on 4 July 1922, Winston Churchill asked rhetorically, "Are we to keep our pledge to the Zionists made in 1917? Pledges and promises were made during the war, and they were made, not only on the merits, though I think the merits are considerable. They were made because it was considered they would be of value to us in our struggle to win the war. It was considered that the support which the Jews could give us all over the world, and particularly in the United States, and also in Russia, would be a definite palpable advantage.

I was not responsible at that time for the giving of those pledges, nor for the conduct of the war of which they were, when given, an integral part. But like other members I supported the policy of the War Cabinet. Like other members, I accepted and was proud to accept a share in those great transactions, which left us with terrible losses, with formidable obligations, but nevertheless with unchallengeable victory."

As for Britain, Oxford historian Elizabeth Monroe's study, Britain's Moment in the Middle East (Chatto & Windus, 1963, p. 43) concludes, "Measured by British interests alone, the Balfour Declaration was one of the greatest mistakes in our imperial history."

Sir Arnold Toynbee, historian and a delegate to the (1919) Paris Peace Conference, wrote in his foreword to The Palestine Diary (New World Press) that there are Palestinian refugees because "Jewish immigration was imposed on the Palestinian Arabs by British military power…The tragedy in Palestine is not just a local one; it is a tragedy for the World, because it is an injustice that is a menace to the World's peace. Britain's guilt is not diminished by the humiliating fact that she is now impotent to redress the wrong that has been done."