balfour declaration

noun

1. a statement, issued by the British government on November 2, 1917, favoring the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jews but without prejudice to the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.

noun

1. the statement made by Arthur Balfour in 1917 of British support for the setting up of a national home for the Jews in Palestine, provided that the rights of “existing non-Jewish communities” in Palestine could be safeguarded