Mahmoud Abbas: Israel's right to exist is a "lie"
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "Ninety-nine years have passed since the ominous Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration). The unfair [promise]. However, we will not turn the lie (i.e., Israel being the ancient Jewish homeland) into an accepted truth. Our people’s right to its homeland is permanent and authentic. It does not expire, not even if historical facts are falsified. Palestine will remain despite the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” establishment of the State of Israel in 1948), the Naksa (i.e., "the setback," Israel's victory in the Six Day War in 1967), and the suffering which has continued for decades. We will never raise the white flag. [Our flag] will continue to be composed of the four colors."
[Official PA radio The Voice of Palestine, May 15, 2017, rebroadcast from 12th anniversary of Yasser Arafat’s death, PA TV, Nov. 10, 2016]
The rest of Abbas' speech (not broadcast on PA radio) criticizing Britain for issuing the Balfour Declaration: “You gave what is not yours to one who has no right”
Abbas: "There are those who say that the Balfour Promise passed 100 years ago, and why are you talking about this promise now? Why are you marking its anniversary in international circles? Precisely, we want to dig and burrow into graves and we say to those who gave this promise: ‘‘You [Britain] gave what is not yours to one [the Jewish people] who has no right to it.’’ Many have wondered: Why are we talking about it now? We said that the right does not expire, that the right does not age. Even after 100, 200, 1,000 [years], the right will remain alive. It will remain our obligation to defend our right. Balfour, who gave you the right to sell our land? And to tell people [the Jews]: ‘‘This is a homeland for you [the Jews].’’? While those who live in it, who are not mentioned, have civil and religious rights. How do you do that? What does it take? Now we are discussing this with the concerned parties, to be honest, with Britain, [asking:] ‘Why did you act in this way? You imposed [this] on us even though you had no connection to Palestine at all, because a few people had delusions that Palestine was under a mandate?’ No. There was no British Mandate here and there was no British presence in this region, not at all. And yet from the fruit of his imagination, Mr. Balfour did not give a promise, but rather a deal, that His Majesty’s government grants this to them. All right. Give them [a state] in Britain, man, in Scotland, or at least in Ireland. Why in Palestine? He gave [Jews land] in Palestine and that became their right. No! Britain must first acknowledge that it made a mistake regarding our right. Afterwards, when we reach the bridge, we will cross it, but we will hold them accountable. In other words, we have begun to speak, and we have begun conversations and discussions, and there might be those who will say: After 100 years? Yes, [even] after 200 years, we want our right and we want to prove that Britain had no right to do this as it is our land, and Britain must first recognize [this] and then we will talk.”
[Official PA TV, Abbas’ speech at rally marking the 12th anniversary of Yasser Arafat’s death, Nov. 10, 2016]
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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.
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