Arthur Balfour wrote to Lord Curzon in 1919:
‘in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country….The Four Great Powers are committed to Zionism. And Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land………. In short, so far as Palestine is concerned, the Powers have made no statement of fact which is not admittedly wrong, and no declaration of policy which, at least in the letter, they have not always intended to violate. Ingram p73 See Nutting
Arthur Balfour to Brandeis 1919
‘Palestine presented a unique situation. We are dealing not with the wishes of an existing community but are consciously seeking to re-constitute a new community and definitely building for a numerical majority in the future’ See Interview between Balfour and Brandeis
Ernest Richmond 1920
‘They could not believe that the British Government which had claimed to be liberating the Arabs from ‘Turkish misrule’ really intended to give the Palestinians a smaller say in their own affairs than they had enjoyed under the Turks.’ See Prophet of Doom: ET Richmond Palestine 1920-24
Sir Martin Gilbert 2011
‘The centrepiece of British policy, that Britain would withhold representative institutions to Palestine as long as there was an Arab majority.’ Sir Martin Gilbert, . Irene and Hyman Kreitman Annual Lecture: ‘Sowing the Seeds of Jewish Statehood: Britain and Palestine, 1909-1922’, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 29-31 May 2011