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What did the Balfour Declaration promise for the Jewish people in Palestine?

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Panoramic view of a small valley with a stream, olive trees, and terraced hillsides in the countryside near Ramallah, Palestine, under a sky with scattered clouds. — Palestine View from a small valley with a stream between large hills of olive groves.

In a letter dated November 2, 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour expressed the British government's support for the establishment in Palestine of a "national home for the Jewish people."12

The Balfour Declaration stated that the British government would use its "best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object." However, the document included two critical caveats:1
* Nothing should be done that might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.12
* Nothing should prejudice the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.1

While the declaration provided a significant boost to Zionist aspirations, it notably omitted any mention of the political or national rights of the existing non-Jewish population, referring to them only as "existing non-Jewish communities." The declaration was later incorporated into the British mandate over Palestine in 1922.21