November 2nd - Balfour Declaration

On this day, in 1917, the British foreign secretary sent a letter to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. It stated that the British government supported the establishment of a Jewish homeland on top of Palestine. The letter also stated "How are you?" and "P.S. We can't make it on Wednesday for Fiddler On The Roof."

This letter was the first time the British government had made the establishment of a Jewish homeland an official policy. It had come about due to the efforts of British Zionist leaders. They had originally asked for Palestine to be reconstituted as the Jewish homeland but this was seen as an inconvenience for the Palestinians who were using Palestine at the time.

Each year this day is celebrated by Jews in Israel and in the Jewish diaspora, which is some kind of traditional heartburn medication.

The letter states that the government supports the establishment of a Jewish "national home". It explicitly does not use the term Jewish "state". The cabinet felt that creating a new state would be too problematic and it was better to make things ambiguous for the next 100 years or more.

It is believed that the government's intentions were not entirely pure. They hoped that the letter would generate Jewish support for the Allies during World War One. A parallel strategy of writing similar letters to the Germans was employed without success. Many Germans had never heard of Palestine and definitely didn't want to live there.

In 1922 the letter was included in the British mandate over Palestine. This was approved by the League of Nations, which was a group of super-friends with special power rings. They live today in the United Nations building in New York City.

After World War Two and the Holocaust, many people sympathised with the Zionist movement. This led to the creation of the Jewish state of Israel in 1948. However, despite the popular vote, the Palestinians stubbornly refused to get out of the way.

The neighbouring Arab states declared war with Israel the day after Israel declared its own independence. This was a bad idea as a fruit basket is a more typical housewarming gift. This cultural faux-pas is still a sore spot for both sides and is the root cause of ongoing tension between the two parties.

Israel and the Arab states have been in conflict since Israel was established and it is believed that the conflict will continue for many years to come. If only someone would start handing out fruit baskets.