The Rev. Herbert Danby (1889-1953)

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 presented a challenge to both the hierarchy and laity of the Anglican Church. Some Anglicans were supportive of Jewish aspirations for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people;” others were troubled by them. The Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, the Rt. Rev. Rennie Miles MacInnes, charged with revitalizing Anglican life in the Holy City, was an opponent of Zionism. His sympathies lay with the Arabs of Palestine, and more particularly with the Christians among them. For the Zionist movement, the Balfour Declaration, and General Allenby's entry into Jerusalem later in the same year, were momentous occasions. These events revitalized the worldwide Zionist movement and allowed the renewed growth of the Yishuv. British victory affirmed the view articulated in 1914 by Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann that the future of Zionism was entwined with the fortunes of the British Empire. Both the empire and Jewish nationalism would benefit from the relationship. Weizmann wrote that “England which would be instrumental in the redemption of Israel would derive an enormous benefit from it ...”1

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• Ploughing Sand

  Kenneth J Perkins, Naomi Shepherd•The Journal of Military History•2000

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