An Unfulfilled Promise or a Calamitous Promise : The Centenary of the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the British Government’s Politics of Memory

The Israel–Palestine struggle is one of the most enduring and consequential in the modern world. Understanding this century-long conflict requires examining Britain’s historical role. During the First World War, Britain established the structural foundations of the present-day struggle by making mutually incompatible promises to Arabs under Ottoman rule and Jewish communities, pledging support for independent states in Palestine for each group. How the British government remembers the Balfour Declaration - one of the key documents shaping this struggle - offers a meaningful lens for analysis. On its centenary in 2017, the Conservative government celebrated the Declaration as a humanitarian initiative addressing Jewish persecution and as a stepping stone toward a democratic, prosperous Israel. However, such praise was closely tied to Britain’s self-image and largely ignored the historical contexts, including wartime exigencies, European antisemitism, and imperial strategy. By framing the contemporary situation as the result of the Declaration’s incomplete fulfillment, the government instrumentalized Palestinian suffering to reaffirm its envisioned role in the future international stage.