Palestine - Balfour Declaration raises Arab hackles

Palestine is the homeland of the Arab Palestinian people; it is an indivisible part of the Arab homeland, and the Palestinian people are an integral part of the Arab nation.

"Arab " is clearly the key word that identifies those claiming to be "Palestinians" or claiming to be part of the "Palestinian People" in 2013.

Yet at the time of the Balfour Declaration in 1917 - there were very few Arabs living in Palestine - as the Interim Report on the civil administration of Palestine between 1st July 1920 and 30th June 1921 makes very clear:

There are now in the whole of Palestine hardly 700,000 people, a population much less than that of the province of Gallilee alone in the time of Christ.* (*See Sir George Adam Smith "Historical Geography of the Holy Land", Chap. 20.) Of these 235,000 live in the larger towns, 465,000 in the smaller towns and villages. Four-fifths of the whole population are Moslems. A small proportion of these are Bedouin Arabs; the remainder, although they speak Arabic and are termed Arabs, are largely of mixed race. Some 77,000 of the population are Christians, in large majority belonging to the Orthodox Church, and speaking Arabic. The minority are members of the Latin or of the Uniate Greek Catholic Church, or--a small number--are Protestants.

The Jewish element of the population numbers 76,000. Almost all have entered Palestine during the last 40 years.

The myth that there was an overwhelming majority of Arabs living in Palestine in 1917 is clearly exposed as false in this Interim Report.

This conclusion is supported by the following further facts:

• Censuses conducted in Palestine at the time divided the residents into "Moslems", Jews", "Christians" and "Others". The term "Arabs" never rated a mention.
• The Balfour Declaration itself only spoke of "the existing non- Jewish communities in Palestine".
• Circassian immigration into Palestine in the 1870's after their expulsion from their homeland in the northern Caucasus.

Arabs certainly lived in Palestine in 1917 - but they comprised no more than 10% of the population according to the Interim Report.

Lynfeld further reports that the Arab League, in a statement condemning the British library's decision, said Palestinians were in control of 98 per cent of the territory at the time of the Balfour Declaration.

Again such a claim is unsustainable.

Who controlled the remaining 2% of Palestine is not stated by the Arab League.