How 67 words changed the course of Palestinian history

Palestinians around the world are marking 100 years since the Balfour Declaration was issued on November 2, 1917. It was contained in a letter written by the then British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Walter Rothschild, who was a leader of Britain’s Jewish community.

In the letter, Balfour expressed his support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”.

The declaration, which is only 67 words long, is widely celebrated by Israelis. But Palestinians regard it as a betrayal which triggered the colonisation of their land.

Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Phillips explains.