Editing Balfour Declaration (section)

=== June and July: Decision to prepare a declaration ===

[[File:Lord Rothschild initial Balfour Declaration draft and Balfour draft reply, July and August 1917.jpg|thumb|left|A copy of Lord Rothschild's initial draft declaration, together with its covering letter, 18 July 1917, from the British War Cabinet archives.]]
By 13 June 1917, it was acknowledged by [[Ronald William Graham|Ronald Graham]], head of the Foreign Office's Middle Eastern affairs department, that the three most relevant politicians{{snd}}the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary, and the [[Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]], [[Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood|Lord Robert Cecil]]{{snd}}were all in favour of Britain supporting the Zionist movement;{{efn|group=qt|Ronald Graham wrote to [[Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst|Lord Hardinge]], the [[Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]] (i.e. the most senior [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)|civil servant]], or non-[[Minister (government)|minister]], at the Foreign Office) on 13&nbsp;June 1917: "It would appear that in view of the sympathy towards the Zionist movement which has already been expressed by the Prime Minister, Mr.&nbsp;Balfour, Lord R. Cecil, and other statesmen, we are committed to support it, although until Zionist policy has been more clearly defined our support must be of a general character. We ought, therefore, to secure all the political advantage we can out of our connection with Zionism, and there is no doubt that this advantage will be considerable, especially in Russia, where the only means of reaching the Jewish proletariat is through Zionism, to which the vast majority of Jews in that country adhere."{{sfn|Friedman|1973|p=246}}}} on the same day Weizmann had written to Graham to advocate for a public declaration.{{efn|group=qt|Weizmann wrote that: "it appears desirable from every point of view that the British Government should give expression to its sympathy and support of the Zionist claims on Palestine. In fact, it need only confirm the view which eminent and representative members of the Government have many times expressed to us, and which have formed the basis of our negotiations throughout the long period of almost three years"{{sfn|Weizmann|1949|p=203}}}}<ref>[[:File:Palestine and the Balfour Declaration, Cabinet Paper, January 1923.jpg|Palestine and the Balfour Declaration, Cabinet Paper, January 1923]]</ref>{{sfn|Rhett|2015|p=16}}

Six days later, at a meeting on 19{{nbsp}}June, Balfour asked Lord Rothschild and Weizmann to submit a formula for a declaration.{{sfn|Friedman|1973|p=247}} Over the next few weeks, a 143-word draft was prepared by the Zionist negotiating committee, but it was considered too specific on sensitive areas by Sykes, Graham and Rothschild.{{sfn|Rhett|2015|p=27}} Separately, a very different draft had been prepared by the Foreign Office, described in 1961 by [[Harold Nicolson]] – who had been involved in preparing the draft – as proposing a "sanctuary for Jewish victims of persecution".{{sfn|Rhett|2015|p=26}}{{sfn|Stein|1961|p=466}} The Foreign Office draft was strongly opposed by the Zionists, and was discarded; no copy of the draft has been found in the Foreign Office archives.{{sfn|Rhett|2015|p=26}}{{sfn|Stein|1961|p=466}}

Following further discussion, a revised – and at just 46 words in length, much shorter – draft declaration was prepared and sent by Lord Rothschild to Balfour on 18 July.{{sfn|Rhett|2015|p=27}} It was received by the Foreign Office, and the matter was brought to the Cabinet for formal consideration.{{sfn|Hurewitz|1979|p=102}}
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