PA cartoon: Trump is Balfour the 2nd - "the one with no ownership" who gives Jerusalem to "the one with no right"
Commenting on US President Trump’s Middle East peace plan – “the deal of the century” – the PA has referred to Trump as “Balfour the Second.” They have expressed the view that Trump with his plan is unrightfully giving “Palestine” to the Jews, as Palestinians claim former British Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur Balfour did when he stated in 1917 that Britain was in favor of “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
The cartoon shows Trump on one knee as if he were proposing marriage, offering Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu a bouquet of flowers dripping blood and containing the Dome of the Rock and a church in a representation of Jerusalem. Netanyahu is holding his hands together in excitement with a heart next to his head indicating his emotions. Netanyahu and Trump are wearing blindfolds with eye cutouts and dressed in prison uniforms – apparently referring to them as being thieves who have stolen "Palestine," and also possibly to the fact that they are both facing legal proceedings.
Text on cartoon: "One who has no ownership to one who has no right"
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 30, 2020]
The text is a phrase used by the PA in reference to Lord Balfour and his declaration, and echoes the PA's equation of Trump as "Balfour the Second."
That Trump is “Balfour the Second” was similarly expressed by a columnist for the official PA daily, who titled his op-ed "Trump's plan – new colonialism and a war crime." Writer Muwaffaq Matar, who is also a member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council, stated that Trump and his administration’s behavior prior to the announcement of the plan is proof of “a new colonialist plan against the Arab homeland beginning with Jerusalem,” and that the deal is a blueprint for “war and aggression” in which the US “partners” with Israel against the Palestinians:
“Trump is aware of our determined rejection of his plan 'the deal of the century’, which was preceded by a declaration of moral and material terror campaigns, a political and financial siege, and decisions that are at the least a reflection of a new colonialist plan against the Arab homeland beginning with Jerusalem, the historical and natural capital of Palestine (refers to Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital; see note below –Ed.). It is also the second stage in the plan to establish the colonialist presence 100 years after the Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration), which gave the Jews of Europe a homeland in Arab Palestine so that there would be a forward base for Britain in a region rich in resources and natural treasures, and in order to guarantee control over the strategic passages… The deal of the century is the written plan of Balfour the Second, Donald Trump, according to whose clauses the Trump administration will implement a war and aggression as a partner with the senior officials of the Israeli occupation state.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 26, 2020]
Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA has incessantly stressed its rejection of the plan even before it was publicized, that the PLO called for terror in protest of “the deal of the century,” and that Fatah has threatened anyone who supports it.
The following is a longer excerpt of the op-ed cited above:
Excerpt of an op-ed by Muwaffaq Matar, Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: "Trump's plan – new colonialism and a war crime"
"American President Donald Trump is aware of our determined rejection of his plan 'the deal of the century’, which was preceded by a declaration of moral and material terror campaigns, a political and financial siege, and decisions that are at the least a reflection of a new colonialist plan against the Arab homeland beginning with Jerusalem, the historical and natural capital of Palestine (refers to Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital; see note below –Ed.). It is also the second stage in the plan to establish the colonialist presence 100 years after the Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration), which gave the Jews of Europe a homeland in Arab Palestine so that there would be a forward base for Britain in a region rich in resources and natural treasures, and in order to guarantee control over the strategic passages…
The deal of the century is the written plan of Balfour the Second, Donald Trump, according to whose clauses the Trump administration will implement a war and aggression as a partner with the senior officials of the Israeli occupation state, and this is a war crime in the full sense of the word according to international law, which gives the Palestinian people’s leadership the right to bring a legal suit against its owners and implementers in the Supreme Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court (ICC)…
Trump cannot understand the meaning of the homeland as it is understood by any Palestinian who still stands firm on the ground of his historical and natural homeland Palestine, and also the Palestinian refugee who is anywhere in the world. This is because Trump is the offspring of invaders who left their original land out of greed for the land and resources of the Indians’ land, and will continue to be motivated by aspirations of unlimited control as long as it is within his material ability…
Trump cannot end the refugees’ cause, even if he succeeds in uprooting every tree and plant from its roots in the depths of the ground and takes all of the water from the world's rivers and seas and pours it on Mars, as the stars move towards their permanent destination, and the Palestinian refugees have no permanent destination or homeland but Palestine, and they will return to it, even if after a long time.
The deal of the century is dead from the Palestinian people's knockout [punch], which was delivered with courage and pride by the president of this mighty people and the commander of its national liberation movement, [PA President] Mahmoud Abbas.
And anyone who wishes to confirm this can search for its crumbling bones in the drawers of the American workshop in Manama [Bahrain] (i.e., refers to US-led conference in June 2019 focusing on economic aspects of Trump's Middle East peace plan), and Donald Trump will not succeed in reviving his plans as he is not omnipotent, and we will not hand the oppressor our fate and right, regardless of the extent of his tyranny."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 26, 2020]
US recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel - On Dec. 6, 2017, US President Donald Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Trump added that the final borders of Jerusalem will be determined during negotiations. The US embassy was transferred from Tel Aviv and opened in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, the anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence in 1948 according to the Gregorian calendar.
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.