Lord Arthur James Balfour. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The historic Balfour Declaration will, for the first time, leave Britain and be presented to the Israeli public, Israel Hayom reported.

Lord Arthur James Balfour’s declaration, made in November 1917, was the Zionist movement’s watershed diplomatic achievement, marking the first time that the idea of the need for a national home for the Jewish people in Israel was recognized by an international power.

The document will be put on display at the reopening of Independence Hall in Tel Aviv, where David Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, in two year’s time following renovations to the building.

Israeli Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser announced Sunday that following lengthy negotiations he had received in recent days a principle agreement from the directors of the British National Library to loan the document to Israel on a limited basis, based on conditions to be determined by the library to ensure that the paper is preserved.