Who was behind the Balfour Declaration?



This week, Palestinians around the world are marking 100 years since the Balfour Declaration was issued on November 2, 1917.

The Balfour Declaration was a public pledge by Britain, declaring its aim to establish "a national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine.

The statement came in the form of a letter from Britain's then-foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, addressed to Lionel Walter Rothschild, a figurehead of the British Jewish community.

But the declaration was by no means formulated and decided upon overnight - rather, it had been in the works for years, involved many people and was drafted numerous times before being sent out.

The pledge is generally viewed as one of the main catalysts of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 and the creation of the Zionist state of Israel.

Al Jazeera examines the key players involved in realising the Balfour Declaration.