During world war I, the British promised the Arab countries in the middle east independence if they revolted against the Ottoman Empire (the last of the Islamic Empires). Behind the scenes, they also promised wealthy Jewish contributors (the Rothschilds) a Jewish state in Palestine. 
The pivotal moment came with the issuance of the Balfour Declaration in 1917.

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The Balfour Declaration was a statement issued by the British government expressing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. The declaration was conveyed in a letter from Arthur Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, to Lord Walter Rothschild, a prominent British Zionist leader, on November 2, 1917.

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The key part of the declaration reads:

"His Majesty's Government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

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The Balfour Declaration had significant implications for the future of Palestine and the Zionist movement. It marked a formal endorsement by a major world power, the British Empire, of the Zionist goal of establishing a Jewish homeland. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, Britain obtained the mandate for Palestine, and the groundwork for the establishment of the State of Israel was set in motion.

 

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