On 2 November 1917 the Balfour Declaration was issued by Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild conveying a promise to the Zionist Federation of a national headquarters in Palestine. This appeared to be a step towards the material realization of early Zionist aspirations previously articulated by Theodor Herzl in August 1897 when he envisioned “the creation of a home for the Jewish people in Palestine which would be guaranteed by public law.” Although it professed a “declaration of sympathy for Jewish Zionist aspirations,” in reality the reasons behind the Balfour Declaration outweighed Zionist efforts in British politics or genuine pro-Zionist sympathies. Although many Zionists became increasingly active in British politics, the formation of a Jewish state was not the intended consequence of the declaration; rather it was primarily about catering to British interests in Palestinian territory. This land, to which the Balfour Declaration referred, had been part of the Ottoman Empire since the 16th century and included contemporary Israel and a small part of present-day Jordan. It occupied a privileged strategic position dividing two French colonies, Syria and Lebanon, and the British colony in Egypt, despite having jurisdiction over the prized Suez Canal. At the same time the British had imperialistic motivations to take advantage of the power vacuum left vacant by the slow death of the sick man of Europe, the Ottoman Empire. The Balfour Declaration also temporarily allowed Britain to maintain the balance of power between the two opposing nationalist movements in Palestine, but forced both sides to prove a future problem. It was also hoped that the promotion of a future national homeland for Zionists in general would secure the center of the charter for the revolt against British authority and Jewish immigrants. The subsequent White Papers of 1937 and 1939 published by the British were supposed to pacify both sides, but they sufficiently demonstrated to both the Arabs and the Zionists that the British were not willing to support just one side and their policies, including the Balfour Declaration, proved contrasting. ideas. Furthermore, the English failed to forever balance the two opposing national movements as both grew with increased Jewish immigration and land sales. Eventually the Arabs and Zionists rebelled against the British who, never supporting one side, completely lost their control over the whole of Palestine. In the years to come many British leaders “soon came to the conclusion that the Balfour Declaration had been a colossal mistake, unfair to the Arabs and harmful to the interests of the empire”.”