Signed on the 2nd November 1917, the Balfour Declaration was written by the Foreign Secretary James Balfour and it was addressed to Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild, a Jewish banker. The ultimate goal of the declaration was to provide support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The declaration proved to be controversial and the fact that it is still divisive in the 21st century shows the ever lasting impact of Britain’s involvement in this deep-rooted issue. The main reasons why Britain issued the Balfour Declaration was due to own self interest in protecting the Suez Canal and the oilfields in Iraq, to secure Britain’s alliances during the First World War, a response to widespread sympathy for the Jewish population in Britain and a way of keeping out the Jewish population from Britain.