Editing Balfour Declaration (section)

=== Allies and Associated Powers ===
The declaration was first endorsed by a foreign government on 27 December 1917, when [[Kingdom of Serbia|Serbian]] Zionist leader and diplomat [[David Albala]] announced the support of Serbia's [[government in exile]] during a [[Diplomatic mission|mission]] to the United States.{{sfn|Lebel|2007|pp=159, 212–213}}<ref>{{cite news|author=Michael Freund|newspaper=[[The Jerusalem Post]]|title=David Albala: Serbian Warrior, Zionist Hero|url=http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/David-Albala-Serbian-warrior-Zionist-hero-330619|date=4 November 2013|access-date=3 October 2017}}</ref>{{sfn|Mitrović|2016|p=71}}{{sfn|Rock|2019|p=112}} The French and Italian governments offered their endorsements, on 14 February and 9 May 1918, respectively.{{sfn|Palestine Royal Commission|1937|p=22}} At a [[1918 Clemenceau–Lloyd George Agreement (Middle East)|private meeting in London on 1 December 1918]], Lloyd George and French Prime Minister [[Georges Clemenceau]] agreed to certain modifications to the Sykes–Picot Agreement, including British control of Palestine.{{sfn|Rose|2010|p=17}}

On 25 April 1920, the [[San Remo conference]] – an outgrowth of the Paris Peace Conference attended by the prime ministers of Britain, France and Italy, the [[:Category:Ambassadors of Japan to France|Japanese Ambassador to France]], and the [[United States Ambassador to Italy]] – established the basic terms for three League of Nations mandates: a French mandate for Syria, and British mandates for Mesopotamia and Palestine.{{sfn|Quigley|2010|pp=27–29}} With respect to Palestine, the resolution stated that the British were responsible for putting into effect the terms of the Balfour Declaration.{{sfn|Quigley|2010|p=29}} The French and the Italians made clear their dislike of the "Zionist cast of the Palestinian mandate" and objected especially to language that did not safeguard the "political" rights of non-Jews, accepting Curzon's claim that "in the British language all ordinary rights were included in "civil rights"".{{sfn|Pedersen|2015|p=35}} At the request of France, it was agreed that an undertaking was to be inserted in the mandate's [[procès-verbal]] that this would not involve the surrender of the rights hitherto enjoyed by the non-Jewish communities in Palestine.{{sfn|Quigley|2010|p=29}} The Italian endorsement of the Declaration had included the condition "...&nbsp;on the understanding that there is no prejudice against the legal and political status of the already existing religious communities&nbsp;..."<!-- "... che non ne venga nessun pregiudizio allo stato giuridico e politico delle gia esistenti communita religiose ..." --><ref>{{cite journal|author= Frank E. Manuel|title=The Palestine Question in Italian Diplomacy, 1917–1920|journal=The Journal of Modern History|volume=27|issue=3|pages=263–280|date= September 1955|jstor=1874269|doi=10.1086/237809|s2cid=154362416}}</ref> The boundaries of Palestine were left unspecified, to "be determined by the Principal Allied Powers."{{sfn|Quigley|2010|p=29}} Three months later, in July 1920, the French defeat of Faisal's [[Arab Kingdom of Syria]] precipitated the British need to know "what is the 'Syria' for which the French received a mandate at San Remo?" and "does it include Transjordania?"{{sfn|Wilson|1990|p=44|ps=: Wilson cites Hubert Young to Ambassador Hardinge (Paris), 27 July 1920, FO 371/5254}} – it subsequently decided to pursue a policy of associating [[Emirate of Transjordan|Transjordan]] with the mandated area of Palestine without adding it to the area of the Jewish National Home.{{sfn|Wilson|1990|pp=44, 46–48}}{{sfn|Wasserstein|2008|pp=105–106|ps=: "...&nbsp;the myth of Palestine's 'first partition'..."}}

In 1922, Congress officially endorsed America's support for the Balfour Declaration through the passage of the [[Lodge–Fish Resolution]],{{sfn|Lebow|1968|p=501}}<ref>67th Congress, {{USBill|67|hjres|322}}; [https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/67th-congress/Session%202/c67s2ch372.pdf pdf]</ref>{{sfn|Brecher|1987}} notwithstanding opposition from the State Department.{{sfn|Davidson|2002|pp=27–30}} Professor [[Lawrence Davidson]], of [[West Chester University]], whose research focuses on American relations with the Middle East, argues that President Wilson and Congress ignored democratic values in favour of "biblical romanticism" when they endorsed the declaration.{{sfn|Davidson|2002|p=1}} He points to an organized pro-Zionist lobby in the United States, which was active at a time when the country's small [[Arab Americans|Arab American]] community had little political power.{{sfn|Davidson|2002|p=1}}