105th Anniversary of Balfour Declaration

105 years have passed since the ill-famed Balfour Declaration was issued by Britain to plant the Zionist entity in Palestine, thereby, giving what it doesn’t own to who doesn’t deserve in a crime that led to the displacement of the Palestinian people.

In 1917, the then British Foreign Minister Arthur James Balfour, at the order of the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, sent a letter to the Jewish Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild, one of the leaders of Zionism, in which he stressed that Britain will spare no effort to establish “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine in one of the most heinous conspiracies hatched against the Arab region. This declaration got the approval of the colonialist countries in a clear collusion on the Palestinian people’s rights in their land.

The consequences of this conspiracy continue now to be demonstrated in the fragmentation of the region and the looting of its wealth.

105 years after this declaration the Palestinian people continue to suffer from crimes, blockade, detention, displacement, land confiscation and settlement expansion by the Israeli occupation. However, despite the brutality of the occupation crimes, the Palestinians continue with their steadfastness and adherence to their homeland. They also continue with their commitment to resistance as the only option to restore their legitimate rights, including the right to establish the independent Palestinian state with the Al-Quds as its capital and the right of the refugees to return to their homeland from which they were displaced during the Nakba in 1948 which was the result of the Balfour Declaration.

Wasel Abu Yousef, Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) told the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) that Britain and its allies were the parties behind the tragedies that resulted from the ill-famed declaration, including the displacement of the Palestinians and the Diaspora they are experiencing. He called on Britain to apologize and compensate the Palestinian people for the losses resulted from this crime that led to the Isareli occupation of Palestine, which is the longest occupation in modern history.

The Balfour Declaration anniversary is an important occasion to remind the world of the Palestinians’ just cause and their internationally recognized legitimate rights, Abu Yousef added, urging all freedom loving people of the world to participate in the Palestinian activities held in front of embassies and international institutions with the aim of reaffirming commitment to the Palestinian people’s right in self determination and in restoring all their rights, including the right of repatriation in accordance with UN Resolution No. 194.

On her part, Iktimal Hamad, Member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, stressed that the Palestinian people continue with their resistance to prove to the entire world that rights are not given up with the passage of time, despite the occupation’s attempt to undermine the Palestinian cause. She reiterated that Palestine will continue to be alive in the hearts of all freedom-loving people of the world and the Palestinian people will keep struggling in defense of their land and their national project to establish their independent state.

Many other Palestinian politicians asserted that Britain and other colonialist countries have perpetuated Balfour Declaration whose anniversary comes as the occupation forces continue to kill Palestinians, demolish their houses, steal their lands, displace the Palestinian families and judaize many areas in the West Bank, not to mention the unfair siege which has been imposed on Gaza Strip for 16 years.

Hamda Mustafa