PA, PLO, Fatah on Balfour Declaration: Britain must apologize for “historic” mistake
Headline: “On the 102nd anniversary of the Balfour Promise: Demands that Britain apologize and recognize the State of Palestine”
“On the 102nd anniversary of the ominous Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration), the leadership, forces, and factions again demand that Britain apologize to our people and correct its historic mistake by immediately recognizing the State of Palestine…
PLO Executive Committee Secretary Saeb Erekat demanded that Britain take advantage of the political opportunity to fulfill an active and fundamental role in resolving the Palestinian people’s political problem – for which it is responsible [and which has continued] for a century – by apologizing to our people and recognizing its legal and political responsibility for the injustice that it has caused [our people]. Erekat called [on Britain] to recognize the State of Palestine and advance practical initiatives that will translate its desire to deter the occupation into action…
PLO Executive Committee member and head of the [PLO] Department of Refugee Affairs Ahmad Abu Houli emphasized that the Palestinian people will continue to be the spearhead in the struggle against all of the projects and plots to eliminate [the Palestinian cause], foremost among them the American deal of the century (i.e., refers to US President Donald Trump’s as yet unpublished Middle East peace plan), which targets the [Palestinian] rights and principles…
Abu Houli demanded that Britain correct its policy regarding the Palestinian cause and apologize to the Palestinian people for the historic injustice that it has been suffering from for 10 decades as a result of the Balfour Promise, in whose framework Britain gave the Jews a right to establish a national home on the land of Palestine at the Palestinian people’s expense. He added that as a result of this promise, ethnic cleansings and expulsions from its lands to the diaspora were committed against the Palestinian people, and the State of Israel – which is the last settling and occupying military colonialism in the world – was established on the ruins of its cities and villages…
The [PA] government demanded that Britain hurry to cancel the results of the ominous Balfour Promise’s historic injustice by correcting its historic mistake by recognizing the independent Palestinian state in the June 4, 1967 borders, whose capital is Jerusalem…
The Fatah Movement emphasized that it is continuing the national struggle in order to come out against all of the colonialist projects that are targeting the existence of the Palestinian people and its cause, beginning with the Balfour Promise and up to the Trump Promise…
Fatah emphasized that it is continuing in the paths of national struggle and peaceful popular resistance in the international forums.”
Saeb Erekat also serves as Fatah Central Committee member and PLO Chief Negotiator.
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.