The Balfour Declaration

The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Jonathan Schneer author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:1st Aug '11

Should be back in stock very soon

The Balfour Declaration cover

Drawing on new research, The Balfour Declaration gets to the heart of the present crisis in the Middle East by going back to the roots of the conflict in a British government communication of autumn of 1917.

In the middle of the First World War, the British War Cabinet approved and issued a statement in the form of a letter that encouraged the settlement of the Jewish people in Palestine. Signed by the Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, the Balfour Declaration remains one of the most important documents of the last hundred years.

Jonathan Schneer explores the story behind the declaration and its unforeseen consequences that have shaped the modern world, placing it in context paying attention to the fascinating characters who conceived, opposed and plotted around it - among them Lloyd George, Lord Rothschild, T.E. Lawrence, Prince Faisal and Aubrey Herbert (the man who was ‘Greenmantle'). The Balfour Declaration brings vividly to life the origins of one of the world's longest lasting and most damaging conflicts.

'Splendid ... A marvellously well-researched, balanced, and clear-sighted guide to this hideously controversial territory' * Dominic Sandbrook, Evening Standard *
'Jonathan Schneer's lively new account is very much a tale for our times ... his book is interspersed with delightful vignettes' * David Cesarini, Literary Review *
‘Why did Britain offer the Jews a home in Palestine? Had they not already offered Palestine to the Arabs, two years earlier? This extraordinarily well-documented and revealing book gives the answers' * Martin Gilbert, Mail on Sunday *
‘An excellent and compelling portrait of the intrigues, characters and diplomacy that created the modern Middle East' * Simon Sebag Montefiore *

ISBN: 9781408809709

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 29mm

Weight: 387g

472 pages