PA and Palestinian institutions reject US, Trump administration and Bahrain Conference, compare it to “ominous Balfour Promise,” orgs call for “Day of Rage”

Headline: "The Palestinian rejection of the Manama workshop is increasing – activists in the districts and [refugee] camp committees declare Tuesday a day of rage"

"The official and popular institutions have intensified their position against the Manama workshop (refers to US-led conference in Bahrain in June 2019 focusing on economic aspects of US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan –Ed.) through clear statements that emphasize their unification around the leadership's position.

The [PA] Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said that the American economic project called [Peace for] Prosperity constitutes a direct continuation of the [US] political position that is completely biased in favor of the occupation and its policy, with the recycling of the statements, concepts, and foundations of the ominous Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration).

[The Ministry of] Foreign Affairs said in a press statement yesterday [June 23, 2019] that this project does not talk about the economy of the Palestinian state and its elements, but rather attempts to 'whitewash' the occupation and settlement.

It added that [US President Donald] Trump's staff is attempting to bind the Palestinian economy in the occupation's chains, and denying it any opportunity for prosperity and development as the economy of an independent state. It cannot prosper in the shadow of the occupation and settlement, theft of the Palestinian land, and control of the Palestinian resources and natural treasures.

[The ministry] added: 'Day after day the truth is revealed about the American intentions and positions that oppose the Palestinian people and its rights in what can be called the Ominous Trump Promise or Balfour Promise 2, which denies the existence of the Palestinian people, the nation, and the state; erases the facts of the conflict, history, and geography; and relates to the Palestinian people as a 'population' that is by chance in this place that the Trump administration has granted solely to the Israelis, as it [the Trump Promise] adopts the entire Israeli-Talmudic (i.e., Jewish) narrative.'

[The ministry] added that President Trump's administration is recreating the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in new forms, and is not endeavoring to solve it in any way…

It emphasized that anyone who ignores… the Palestinian people that is known for its lofty nationalism, connection to its land, and historical and cultural depth is failing the test of politics, economy, and humanity, and failure is certainly the fate of the projects of the Trump administration that is eliminating the Palestinian cause.

The Popular Committees for Refugee Services in the West Bank [refugee] camps, and the Refugee Bureau (i.e., the executive bureau of the Popular Committees for Refugee Services that are located in each camp) declared Tuesday as a day of rage and mass agitation in rejection of the Bahrain workshop, and emphasized that 'anything that comes out of this traitorous workshop will end up on the garbage heaps of history.'

This was said through a statement that the committees and bureau issued at the end of an emergency meeting held in Jenin, during which they examined the latest developments related to the homeland and the attempt to eliminate the Palestinian cause…

They also emphasized that 'Anyone who participates in this workshop or adapts to it, whether by statement or hint, is a traitor.'

…

The Association of Professional Organizations in Palestine announced a plan of activities to reject the Bahrain conference and the deal of the century (i.e., Trump's as yet unpublished Middle East peace plan), with the gathering taking place at exactly 11:00 a.m. next to the grave of [former PLO Chairman and PA] President-Martyr Yasser Arafat to lay a wreath of flowers, and setting out at 11:30 a.m. in the direction of the Al-Manara Square in order to participate in the mass popular activity to which the National Forces and the factions have issued invitations.

The Association of [Professional] Organizations [in Palestine] called on all of its members to participate in the activities… as emphasis of our people’s right to self-determination, as rejection of the American dictates, and as support for the Palestinian leadership’s brave position in standing against the global forces of evil and tyranny.

The Qalqilya district administrative council called for widespread participation in the activities to reject the Bahrain workshop, in rejection of all of the attempts that are striving to eliminate the Palestinian cause, and primarily the deal of the century…

The council called for mobilization of all of the active forces so they will participate in the activities that will be held in the homeland, and primarily the Qalqilya district activities that will be on Monday [June 24, 2019] at 12:00 p.m. in Qalqilya.

[Qalqilya District] Governor [Rafe’ Rawajbeh] praised the resolve of the Palestinian leadership that is being manifested by [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, called on the civilians to participate in the activities that reject the dubious Bahrain workshop, and emphasized that the Palestinian people is united around the leadership of our people, led by President Mahmoud Abbas who is waging a fierce battle against the plots being woven against our national project under American guidance.

Fatah’s Qalqilya Branch Secretary [Mahmoud Walwil] called on the masses of the district for the widest participation in the activities to denounce the deal of the century and the Bahrain conference, in order to send a message to all of the conspirators that such conferences will not pass, and that by the resolve of our leadership and the will of the masses it will be thwarted. He called for an escalation of the popular resistance at the points of friction…

The Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate condemned the Israeli media's call to participate in the Manama [Bahrain] workshop, to which the American administration has invited [everyone], as part of the projects that are eliminating the rights of our Palestinian people… in the framework of the so-called deal of the century that is unacceptable on the official level and by our people, our Arab nation, and all free people of the world."

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." In 1922, the League of Nations adopted this and made the British Mandate "responsible for putting into effect the declaration," which led to the UN vote in favor of partitioning Mandatory Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state in 1947. In response, Britain ended its mandate on May 15, 1948, and the Palestinian Jews, who accepted the Partition Plan, declared the independent State of Israel. The Palestinian Arabs rejected the plan and together with 7 Arab states attacked Israel, in what is now known as Israel's War of Independence.

Yasser Arafat – Founder of Fatah and former chairman of the PLO and PA. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s Arafat was behind numerous terror attacks against Israelis. Although he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 together with then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and then Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East" after signing the Oslo Accords peace agreement, Arafat launched a 5-year terror campaign - the second Intifada (2000-2005) – in which more than 1,000 Israelis were murdered. Arafat died of an illness in 2004.