Editing Balfour Declaration (section)

=== Opposition in Palestine ===

[[File:Filastin (La Palestine) March 25th 1925 editorial addressed to Lord Balfour.pdf|thumb|right|The most popular Palestinian Arab newspaper, ''[[Filastin (newspaper)|Filastin]]'', published a four-page editorial addressed to Lord Balfour in March 1925. The editorial begins with [[J'Accuse…!|"J'Accuse!", in a reference to the outrage at French anti-semitism 27 years previously]].]]
The local Christian and Muslim community of Palestine, who constituted [[Demographic history of Palestine (region)|almost 90% of the population]], strongly opposed the declaration.{{sfn|Palin Commission|1920|p=11}} As described by the Palestinian-American philosopher [[Edward Said]] in 1979, it was perceived as being made: "(a){{nbsp}}by a European power, (b){{nbsp}}about a non-European territory, (c){{nbsp}}in a flat disregard of both the presence and the wishes of the native majority resident in that territory, and (d){{nbsp}}it took the form of a promise about this same territory to another foreign group."{{efn|group=lower-roman|name=Said|[[Edward Said]] wrote in his 1979 ''The Question of Palestine'': "What is important about the declaration is, first, that it has long formed the juridical basis of Zionist claims to Palestine and, second, and more crucial for our purposes here, that it was a statement whose positional force can only be appreciated when the demographic or human realities of Palestine are kept clearly in mind. That is, the declaration was made (a)&nbsp;by a European power, (b)&nbsp;about a non-European territory, (c)&nbsp;in a flat disregard of both the presence and the wishes of the native majority resident in that territory, and (d)&nbsp;it took the form of a promise about this same territory to another foreign group, so that this foreign group might, quite literally, ''make'' this territory a national home for the Jewish people. There is not much use today in lamenting such a statement as the Balfour Declaration. It seems more valuable to see it as part of a history, of a style and set of characteristics centrally constituting the question of Palestine as it can be discussed even today."{{sfn|Said|1979|pp=15–16}}}}

According to the 1919 King–Crane Commission, "No British officer, consulted by the Commissioners, believed that the Zionist programme could be carried out except by force of arms."{{sfn|Friedman|2000|p=273}} A delegation of the [[Muslim-Christian Associations|Muslim-Christian Association]], headed by [[Musa al-Husayni]], expressed public disapproval on 3{{nbsp}}November 1918, one day after the Zionist Commission parade marking the first anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.{{sfn|Wasserstein|1991|p=31}} They handed a petition signed by more than 100 notables to Ronald Storrs, the British military governor:
{{Blockquote|We have noticed yesterday a large crowd of Jews carrying banners and over-running the streets shouting words which hurt the feeling and wound the soul. They pretend with open voice that Palestine, which is the Holy Land of our fathers and the graveyard of our ancestors, which has been inhabited by the Arabs for long ages, who loved it and died in defending it, is now a national home for them&nbsp;... We Arabs, Muslim and Christian, have always sympathized profoundly with the persecuted Jews and their misfortunes in other countries&nbsp;... but there is wide difference between such sympathy and the acceptance of such a nation&nbsp;... ruling over us and disposing of our affairs.{{sfn|Wasserstein|1991|p=32|ps=; Wasserstein quotes Storrs to OETA headquarters, 4 Nov. 1918 (ISA 2/140/4A)}}}}

The group also protested the carrying of new "white and blue banners with two inverted triangles in the middle",<ref name="Hun32" /> drawing the attention of the British authorities to the serious consequences of any political implications in raising the banners.<ref name="Hun32">{{harvnb|Huneidi|2001|p=32|ps=, Huneidi cites: Zu'aytir, Akram, Watha'iq al-haraka a-wataniyya al-filastiniyya (1918–1939), ed. Bayan Nuwayhid al-Hut. Beirut 1948. Papers, p.&nbsp;5.}}</ref> Later that month, on the first anniversary of the occupation of [[Jaffa]] by the British, the Muslim-Christian Association sent a lengthy memorandum and petition to the military governor protesting once more any formation of a Jewish state.{{sfn|Huneidi|2001|p=32a|ps=, Huneidi cites: 'Petition from the Moslem-Christian Association in Jaffa, to the Military Governor, on the occasion of the First Anniversary of British Entry into Jaffa', 16&nbsp;November 1918. Zu'aytir papers, pp.&nbsp;7–8.}} The majority of Britain's military leaders considered Balfour's declaration either a mistake, or one that presented grave risks.{{sfn|McTague|1978|p=76}}