lords, ladies and gentlemen, i am so pleased. to be here with you tonight and to be with you, lord balfer, on this special evening, as we mark the centenary of the letter written by your great uncle, which i believe to be one of the most significant. and the leadership to make this profound statement about restoring a persecuted people to a safe and secure homeland. to better understand what is happening in palestine today , we must go back to a time more than two centuries ago. a large statue of napoleon bonaparte stands here above the city of akka in northern palestine, which is a sign of france's attempt to defeat the ottoman empire. here is a strategic point to enter it was and is from the mediterranean sea to arab regions. napoleon's attempt to start an uprising by the jews in 1799 failed. but his project to create a jewish land 40 years later. it was revived by the british in 1840. at that time, it was estimated that only less than 3,000 jews lived in palestine under the control of the ottoman empire. during the first world war, england , which had egypt under its control, decided t