This week, Palestinians around the world are marking the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, a controversial letter issued by Britain’s former foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, on November 2, 1917.
“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,” the letter stated.
The declaration, which turned the Zionist aim of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine into a reality, is broadly viewed as one of the main catalysts behind the 1948 Nakba and decades of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Here, Al Jazeera explores some key images from the era of the Balfour Declaration.