ABSTRACT
As an ally of Britain during the First World War, America played a major role, at a crucial moment, in the formulation of the Balfour Declaration, which was the end result of the convergence of Britain’s imperial aims with Zionist aspirations. The Turkish offensive against the Allies across the Sinai peninsula, from Palestine, made the British government aware of the importance of Palestine to the defence of the strategic Suez Canal. It therefore resolved to secure exclusive rights over Palestine, after the Ottoman Turks had been defeated. One way to ensure this was to gain the active cooperation of world Jewry.
