in lord curzon a british cabinet member as part of deliberations on what would be knows as balfour declaration wrote a memorandum expressing concern about what would become of the arab inhabitants of palestine who had occupied the country for the best part of years and would not be content either to be expropriated for jewish immigrants or to act merely as hewers of wood and drawers of water to the latter neutrality is disputed citation needed british cabinet approved the balfour declaration which stated the government support for the establishment in palestine of a national home for the jewish people with the understanding that nothing shall be done to prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non jewish communities in palestine the league of nations reaffirmed this commitment in by establishing the mandate of palestine with the prerogative to carry out the balfour declaration neither partition nor statehood was mentioned as the means of accomplishing the national home