The Library of Congress has recently digitalized a collection of over 10,000
photographs, taken by the "American Colony" in Jerusalem, a group of Christian
utopians who lived in Jerusalem between 1881 and the 1940s. The photographers
returned to the US, and bequeathed their massive collection to the Library of
Congress in 1978. The collection includes Winston Churchill's visit to
Jerusalem, Jewish expulsions from the Old City during Arab riots, and the
building of Tel Aviv.
The government of Great Britain issued the Balfour Declaration 95 years ago this
week, on November 2, 1917. The document in effect served as the birth
certificate for a Jewish national home.
The British Army had just captured Be’er Sheva (October 31) after months of
trying to break through the Ottoman army’s Gaza-Be’er Sheva defense line. The
British goal was to push north and capture Jerusalem by Christmas.
In April
1925, Lord Balfour arrived in Palestine to lay the cornerstone for Hebrew
University on Mt. Scopus. He was received as a hero in Tel Aviv and Rishon
LeZion. In the Arab community his visit was marked with black flags and a commercial
strike.
Would the State of Israel have come into being without the Balfour Declaration
in 1917? Perhaps. The Jews' return to Zion was well under way -- well before the
Holocaust. The building of an infrastructure for a state had begun. The Balfour Declaration laid the legal and political foundation for the state's
acceptance by the world community,
More photos can be viewed at www.israeldailypicture.com