Preacher: Trump peace plan is second Balfour Declaration, denounces “plots” against Palestinians

Official PA TV, excerpt of Friday sermon by unknown preacher at the Surda Mosque in Ramallah

Unknown Palestinian preacher:"We are the decision makers… and we will not accept [an edict] from Britain… and will not accept an additional promise, such as that of [British Foreign Secretary at the time Arthur] Balfour, from anyone. And the so-called 'deal of the century’ (i.e., US President Donald Trump's as yet unpublished Middle East peace plan) – the deal of the century is the new Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration) and a crime that joins the world’s crimes against our Palestinian people. This promise will not pass, and this deal will not pass, this ‘slap’ that no reasonable person would accept and no Muslim would accept… We the owners of the right, and we the owners of this land, will not agree to a promise like the Balfour Promise while we are striving to smash the first Balfour Promise.

We will say to them: The time has already passed when our people agreed to the existence of such oppressive agreements.

And this motivates us to talk about the plots that are being woven against our people at this time. Large plots, from near and far, from axes and states in the region, and from America and Israel. They are trying to disband our people, to crush the unity of our land, to desecrate our holy sites, and to turn us into cantons – and we will not accept this. And hence the Palestinian Central Council’s decisions to emphasize the Palestinian people’s rights, about protecting the Palestinian right to the entire land, and to freedom, self-determination, and unity between the members of our 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." 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.