The Balfour Declaration was a document full of contradictions. On one hand, it seemed to promise the Jews a national homeland, but stipulated that the Arabs must approve. Meanwhile, the League of Nations enforced the document so that Britain would always retain control. Reading from letters and court documents of the time, Rabbi Wein represents British sympathy to the Arabs and their maneuverings to undo their own promise. And through it all, pictures of two Jewish leaders emerge: Sir Herbert Samuel, Lord High Commissioner of Palestine, and the controversial Chief Rabbi, Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook.

• Norman Bentwich, attorney general over British Palestine
• Conor Cruise O'Brien, a neutral Irishman's assessment
• the fiery words of Menachem Ussishkin
• British sympathy for the Arabs - what are the reasons?
• Rav Kook's last two years in London