Abbas demands apology from Britain for the “ominous Balfour Promise” which facilitated “most terrible crime”
Official PA TV broadcast of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ speech to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 22, 2016
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “One hundred years have passed since the ominous Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration), according to which the British, Great Britain, unjustly gave the land of Palestine to another people. Thus they laid the foundation for the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) of the Palestinian people and the loss of its land and its expulsion from it. They were not satisfied with this, but rather the British Mandate translated the promise into actions and policy that helped carry out the most terrible crime against a people that lived in security on its land, did not attack anyone, and did not participate in any war against anyone. Therefore we call upon Britain, on the 100th anniversary of this ominous promise and ominous deal, to draw the conclusions and learn a lesson, and accept on itself the historic, legal, political, material, and ideological responsibility for the consequences of this promise, including an apology to the Palestinian people for the Nakba, the tragedies, and the oppression that have afflicted it, and the correction of this historical tragedy and dealing with its consequences, at the very least by recognition of the Palestinian state. This is what is required of Britain after what it did to the Palestinian people.”
The Balfour Declaration of Nov. 2, 1917 was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Baron Rothschild stating that “His Majesty's government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” and is seen as the basis for later international commitments to establish the State of Israel.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “One hundred years have passed since the ominous Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration), according to which the British, Great Britain, unjustly gave the land of Palestine to another people. Thus they laid the foundation for the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) of the Palestinian people and the loss of its land and its expulsion from it. They were not satisfied with this, but rather the British Mandate translated the promise into actions and policy that helped carry out the most terrible crime against a people that lived in security on its land, did not attack anyone, and did not participate in any war against anyone. Therefore we call upon Britain, on the 100th anniversary of this ominous promise and ominous deal, to draw the conclusions and learn a lesson, and accept on itself the historic, legal, political, material, and ideological responsibility for the consequences of this promise, including an apology to the Palestinian people for the Nakba, the tragedies, and the oppression that have afflicted it, and the correction of this historical tragedy and dealing with its consequences, at the very least by recognition of the Palestinian state. This is what is required of Britain after what it did to the Palestinian people.”
The Balfour Declaration of Nov. 2, 1917 was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Baron Rothschild stating that “His Majesty's government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” and is seen as the basis for later international commitments to establish the State of Israel.