Since the Declaration was a major element in the controversial developments that shaped the political map of the Middle East, interest in and debate about the document – its sources, its shaping, its meaning – continue today with almost as much intensity as was evident fifty years ago. Of the principal actors in the political drama which unfolded in Palestine, it was to be expected that the Zionists would be enthusiastic about the Declaration and the Arabs dismayed by it. What added a new dimension of historical interest was the fact that the third dramatic persona, Great-Britain, the sponsor of this policy, underwent over the years a change of heart and mind regarding the document. It was to explore reasons for issuing the Declaration that a substantial part of Leonard Stein’s story was written.
