Just What Were The Jews Doing in Then-Palestine Before The Balfour Declaration?

Thursday is the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, yet after 100 years people still argue over it and Abbas is still asking Great Britain for an apology.

What did the Balfour Declaration actually do?
And what did the Balfour Declaration recognize?

The second question is no more settled than the first, but gives a surprising answer.

No One Would Call Anyone "Palestinian" Today Without Balfour

We know that historically, there has never been a sovereign, Palestinian state.

But if there has never been a state, a country, called Palestine -- then what did the Arabs call themselves when that territory was under Muslim rule?

In his book, From Babel to Dragomans, Bernard Lewis includes a talk he gave in 2001, under the title "The British Mandate for Palestine in Historical Perspective." In just a few understated paragraphs, Lewis hints at the importance of The British Mandate for the Palestinian Arabs:

Palestinians Still Fighting The Balfour Declaration

The following by Daniel Pipes is reposted here with permission:

Palestinians Seek Apology for Balfour Declaration

by Daniel Pipes
November 3, 2003
updated Mar 12, 2013

So reads a headline in today's Jerusalem Post, neatly summarizing a point I (among others) have been trying to make for years now (for example in the Los Angeles Times): the Palestinian problem with Israel is not over the size of the state, nor where its citizens live, nor over control of sanctities, nor over water resources, nor over armaments. It has to do, rather, with the very existence of the state. Here are choice excepts of this article by the talented Khaled Abu Toameh, covering the 86th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration – the British foreign secretary's 1917 announcement that "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."