This book offers a new interpretation of a critical chapter in the history of the Zionist-Palestine conflict and the British Empire in the Middle East. It contends that the Balfour Declaration was one of many British propaganda policies during the World War I that were underpinned by misconceived notions of ethnicity, ethnic power and nationalism.

Autorentext
JAMES RENTON is Senior Lecturer in History at Edge Hill University, and an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London.

Inhalt
Introduction Perceptions of Jewry and Ethnicity in the Official Mind Jews, Ethnicity and the Propaganda War in the USA Turning Perceptions into Policy: The Role of Jewish Activists, 1914-1917 The Making of the Balfour Declaration The Anglo-Zionist Propaganda Machine National Space and the Narrative of a New Epoch in Palestine Performing the Myth of Jewish National Rebirth Perception vs. Reality: American Jewish Identities and the Impact of the Balfour Declaration Conclusion: The Consequences for Palestine