PA seeks to undo the result of Balfour Declaration and have Israel “disappear”
PA school kids taught that the Balfour Declaration is:
“The filthiest colonialist promise in human history”
“the ugliest historical injustice”
“Palestine is ours and will not be a homeland of the Jews”
“We will give our children’s blood” to undo Balfour Declaration, says Fatah official in Gaza
Girl from Fatah calls Balfour “a traitor of humanity,” vows to “fight… with the blood of Martyrs” to erase Israel
The Balfour Declaration was “a declaration of war against Palestine” – editorial in official PA daily
The Balfour Declaration helped Europeans realize two goals: “Get rid of the Jewish problem in Europe” and “ensure their colonialist interests in the Near East and Far East” – columnist in official PA daily
Fatah: “The Balfour Promise was and will remain the most shocking crime in modern human history” whose goal was “to empty the land of Palestine of its people” and “build a military apparatus” so that the Jews “would fulfill a role for the global colonialist system”
Question: What was “a crime against humanity,” “the filthiest colonialist promise in human history,” and “the ugliest historical injustice”?
Answer: The Balfour Declaration
The question and answer above might have been taken out of a quiz in the PA. The terms are just a few of the many curses and insults Palestinians use to describe the Balfour Declaration. – the letter of Nov. 2, 1917 in which then British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote to Baron Rothschild that “His Majesty's government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” In 1920, the San Remo conference passed a Resolution creating Mandates for certain Ottoman territories including "Palestine," and Britain was made “responsible for putting into effect the [Balfour] declaration...” In 1922, the League of Nations also adopted this and reconfirmed the British Mandate “responsible for putting into effect the declaration.” In 1947, the UN voted in favor of partitioning Mandatory Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. Britain ended its mandate on May 15, 1948, and the Palestinian Jews declared the independent State of Israel, while 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.
The Palestinian Authority sees the Balfour Declaration as the spark leading to the creation of Israel, and stress that a fundamental PA goal is to undo it, destroy Israel, and establish “Palestine.” Palestinian Media Watch reported on the anniversary of the Declaration this year that the PA’s message to Palestinians is that there will be no peace until the Balfour Declaration undone and Israel is destroyed.
Fatah’s children’s movement, the Lion Cubs and Flowers, published a short essay by a young girl reiterating this ideology that Palestinians – adults as well as children – will fight and die to free “Palestine” from the results of the Balfour declaration – “until achieving its Palestinian state on all the soil of holy Palestine”:
Mayar Melhem: “[I am] the young poet Mayar Ahmed Ezzat Melhem, 5th grade. I will tell you the story of the Balfour Promise. Balfour, Zionist in thought and British in citizenship, gave Palestine to Zionism. He did not possess it, and thus the Jews also do not possess it. By what legitimate, human, or legal right did he give this wretched promise? He did an injustice to the Palestinian people, to the Arab and Islamic world with this wretched promise. He is a traitor of humanity. But the true Palestinian people fought this promise with all means and is still resisting and rejecting [it] with the blood of its Martyrs and its resolve until achieving its Palestinian state on all the soil of holy Palestine.”
[Facebook, Fatah's Lion Cubs and Flowers children’s movement, Nov. 3, 2021]
PA Chairman Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash vowed that Balfour will be erased and Israel will “disappear”:
“The Balfour Declaration,’ which inflicted on us a great injustice, is not just a word or a declaration, but rather a legitimization of all the injustice that was inflicted following it until this very day, for more than 104 years… Palestine remains, while the end of the occupation, those who created it, and those who stand behind it, is to disappear.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 3, 2021]
PA and Fatah leaders are so adamant about this that they advocate dying as “Martyrs” for “Palestine” if necessary, as expressed here by Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, who posted a copy of the declaration and his pledge to fight it:
The image shows former British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour and his original letter to Rothschild.
Posted text: “On the anniversary of the Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration), our people adheres to the Martyrs’ promise on the necessity of victory and freedom. In our dictionary we have no promise other than the promise of Heaven, the promise of the Martyrs’ blood – and there will be victory.”
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, Nov. 2, 2021]
The willingness to sacrifice life – even the life of children – to undo “the cursed Balfour promise” was expressed by a Fatah official in Gaza:
Senior Fatah official in Khan Yunis Faisal Fayyad: “We demand that the international community and the free people of the world stand with us to restore our rights in this usurped land. It was stolen in 1917 in the cursed Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration), and also in the May 15, 1948 Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the establishment of Israel). We all emphasize that we are still defending this stolen land, and that we will give our blood and the blood of our children and our families for the sake of Allah and the homeland.”
[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, Nov. 3, 2021]
It is clear that the PA focuses intensively on teaching children that Israel has no right to exist and that Balfour, Britain, and the West bear the blame for Israel's “unlawful, unjustified, and illegitimate” creation and thereby for the Palestinian suffering.
At one school, kids were taught that the Balfour Declaration brought about the theft of “Palestine”:
“The goal of these activities is to increase the memory regarding the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights and to remind the students of the wretched Balfour Promise, by force of which the J…ews were given a state on the land of Palestine, and its lands were stolen from its original residents…”
[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Nov. 2, 2021]
The PA called the Balfour Declaration “a declaration of war against Palestine,” in an editorial in its official daily, denying all historic connections of the Jews to the land:
“[The Balfour Declaration] was not a promise, but rather a declaration of war against Palestine for the benefit of the Zionist movement, so that it would control [Palestine], expel its people, and establish a national home for a religion, which is the religion of members of different nations from all corners of the earth (sic., genetic research has proven Jews share a common origin in Israel). This is based on a narrative packed with falsifications, empty claims, and racist descriptions!”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 2, 2021]
Regular columnist for the daily, Fathi Al-Bis, repeated a well-known antisemitic statement that “the Europeans wanted to get rid of the Jews” and via the Balfour Declaration and the establishment of “a Jewish national home” reached that goal while simultaneously achieving its second objective: Control of the Middle East:
“The Europeans wanted to get rid of the Jews and were convinced that the Zionist movement would serve them [the Europeans] and protect their interests. Thus they would kill two birds with one stone: They would get rid of the Jewish problem in Europe, and would ensure their colonialist interests in the Near East and Far East.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 1, 2021]
Abbas’ Fatah Movement echoed this, stating that “the Balfour Promise was and will remain the most shocking crime in modern human history” whose aim was “to build a military apparatus” to serve “the global colonialist system”:
“Fatah said that its leadership and its fighters… know for certain that the Balfour Promise was and will remain the most shocking crime in modern human history, as this British promise paved the way for bloody periods and a series of massacres against innocent Palestinian civilians. [These massacres] were committed by the Jewish Zionist terror organizations… in order to empty the land of Palestine of its people who have cultural roots, and to replace them with Jews who were uprooted from their original societies worldwide and brought to our homeland of Palestine. This was in order to build a military apparatus under the title ‘a national home’ and ‘a state for the Jews,’ so that they would fulfill a role for the global colonialist system.”
[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Nov. 1, 2021]
The claim that the Balfour Declaration is proof that Western powers sought to take control of the Arab region, steal its resources and use “the Zionist project” to do so was also voiced by Chairman of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel and former Israeli Arab MP Muhammad Barakeh:
“This [Balfour] Promise (i.e., Declaration) constitutes the colonialist foundation of the Zionist movement, of the Zionist project, not only as a settler project but also as an economic and military spearhead in the Arab region in general…
This Zionist project’s goal was to clear the Palestinians from their land, to establish a colonialist entity on the Palestinian land, and to remain like a spearhead controlling the throats of the Arab peoples. This was by creating forces cooperating with the West or weaving plots with the West, and by creating a threat to the [Arab] governments that were liable to threaten this project.”
[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Nov. 2, 2021]
Another regular columnist at the official PA daily, Yahya Rabah, called the declaration “the filthiest colonialist promise in human history”:
“In 1917… the Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration) was issued, the filthiest colonialist promise in human history, because it gave a completely illegal promise in order to steal the Palestinian people’s homeland, Palestine. This was in order to establish a state on [Palestine’s land]… whose name is Israel… a state that was created from tales and fabrications, which is unworthy of living and which will necessarily die.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 22, 2021]
His colleague and fellow columnist, Muwaffaq Matar named the declaration “the historical and unprecedented crime against humanity,” accusing the “colonialist states” of continued “use of the Zionist system” while the Palestinian people was and still is harmed:
“One hundred and four years have passed since the historical and unprecedented crime against humanity, which was committed by the mandate and colonialism state (Great Britain) [parentheses in source], which is known in the court of history as ‘the Balfour Promise’ (i.e., Declaration) case. We can consider Nov. 2, 1917, as the date when the Palestinian people’s tragedy and Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) began…
The colonialist states are continuing to use the Zionist system to achieve their goals and protect their interests, while the victim is the Palestinian people…”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 2, 2021]
At PA schools children are taught that “the wretched Balfour Promise” was given by “one who has no ownership to one who has no right” and that it was “the cause for the loss of Palestine.” The PA Ministry of Education and the Fatah Movement posted numerous images from events at PA schools marking the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. The following are some of them:
The image shows students participating in activities against the Balfour Declaration on its 104th anniversary.
Posted text: “#The_wretched_Balfour_Promise”
Text on image: “The [PA] Ministry of Education
The schools in Palestine are marking the anniversary of the wretched Balfour Promise with directed activities while persisting in conscious adherence.
#The_wretched_promise
No to the Balfour Promise”
[Facebook page of the PA Ministry of Education, Nov. 2, 2021]
Posted text: “Today [Nov. 2, 2021], the [PA] Ministry [of Education] marked the anniversary of the wretched #Balfour_Promise (i.e., Declaration), after the 104 years have passed. The school students participated in the school recitation activities, carried signs condemning this sorrowful anniversary, and flew the flags at half-mast.”
The image shows three students holding the shape of a frame.
Text at top: “The wretched Balfour Promise – Nov. 2, 1917”
On the left is a drawing of a Palestinian with a key representing the “right of return” tearing the Balfour Declaration in half.
Text on right: “Martyr after Martyr”
Text inside frame: “The Balfour Promise – Nov. 2, 1917 – one who has no ownership gave to one who has no right”
At the bottom of the frame is a picture of five Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who were killed in September 2021 raids on a Hamas terror cell – see note below.
Text on picture: “Five heroic resistance members joined the procession of Martyrs”
Text on red cloud in bottom left: “The wretched Balfour Promise will fall”
The image shows a young student holding a poster featuring a key representing the “right of return” with a Palestinian flag tied to it shattering a sign with “The Balfour Promise” written on it. Text on poster: “Palestine does not accept partition into two”
Text on sign: “The Balfour Promise, a wretched promise”
Text on signs: “The Balfour Promise, a false promise. The right of return is the legitimate right”
“The Balfour Promise, 104 years since the wretched promise”
“The Balfour Promise – theft. No to the theft of the homeland”
Text on signs:
“The Balfour Promise will fall”
“The Balfour Promise – theft of a homeland”
“We will not forget the wretched promise”
“The false Balfour Promise”
“No to the wretched promise”
Text on signs: “Your promise will fall and our right will triumph”
“One who has no ownership [gave] to one who has no right”
“A false promise. The right of return is the one that is legitimate”
“No to the Balfour Promise, Nov. 2, 1917”
“Palestine is ours and will not belong to the Jews”
Text on signs: “A national home for the Jews on the land of Palestine”
“The right is ours. The cursed Balfour Promise”
“Lest we forget. The Balfour Promise. Our roots are sturdy in their land”
“Britain’s crime of occupation…”
“103 (sic., 104) years since the wretched Balfour Promise – Nov. 2, 1917”
“Palestine is ours and will not be a homeland of the Jews”
“104 years have passed since the wretched promise”
“The Balfour Promise – one who has no ownership gave to one who has no right”
“The false Balfour Promise – time will make it fall”
“Returning”
“Years and decades – we will continue the path – in the end we will yet return”
“Nov. 2, 1917 – the Balfour Promise – theft of a homeland”
“The Balfour Promise – a promise of one who has no ownership to one who has no right”[Facebook page of the PA Ministry of Education, Nov. 2, 2021]
The children paraded with posters with text decrying the Balfour Declaration:
Text on poster: “We will not forget the wretched [Balfour] Promise
104 years since the Balfour Promise
One who has no ownership gave to one who has no right
Nov. 2, 1917
The Jenin District Popular Refugees’ Committee and the Muntaha Al-Hourani School for Girls – Jenin”
The images are from the marking of the 104th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration at Muntaha Al-Hourani School for Girls in Jenin.
At another school, students held signs denying Jews any rights in Israel/the PA:
Text on signs: “Your [Balfour] Promise will fall and our right will triumph"
“[The promise of] one who has no ownership to one who has no right”
“An invalid promise, the right of return is what is legal”
“No to the Balfour Promise, Nov. 2, 1917”
“Palestine is ours and will never be a national home for the Jews”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 3, 2021]
PA and Fatah leaders spoke at various events and posted their condemnations of Balfour on social media. PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh referred to the Balfour Declaration as “the cruel promise” and called to right the “historical injustice”:
Posted text: “On the 104th anniversary of the cruel Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration), which was given by one who has no ownership to one who has no right to Palestine, we remind the world that this promise – and as a result of it, the historical injustice that was inflicted on our people that included expulsion, theft of resources, and the negation of its legitimate rights – necessitates taking responsibility to allow our people to realize its rights that are represented by independence, freedom, and return.”
[Facebook page of PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, Nov. 2, 2021]
Governor of Ramallah, Laila Ghannam, incited “rage” and condemned the “ominous declaration”:
“Ramallah and El-Bireh District Governor Laila Ghannam said: ‘We came today… to express the popular rage on the 104th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.’ … She added: ‘We say to those who gave what was not theirs to those who have no right that we are the owners of the right and the land, that this ominous declaration will not be forgotten under any circumstances, and that it will pass as long as our right to this land exists.’”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 3, 2021]
Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary Sabri Saidam posted an image of the front page of the paper La Palestine dated Nov. 2, 1929:
Text: “November 2
The anniversary of the Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration)The Balfour Promise
A shocking injustice and exaggerated oppression
A stain of shame on the history of the 20th centuryGreat Britain must erase this shame that harms its interests and stains its honor
And the residents of Palestine must work to cancel it”
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary Sabri Saidam, Nov. 2, 2021]
Not only top PA leaders voiced their opinion of the Balfour Declaration, senior citizens also took to the streets:
Posted text: “The Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration) was and will remain the worst crime against our people and humanity in modern history.”
The image shows two elderly women holding posters with a picture on the right of foreign British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour with the text of the Balfour Declaration in front of him, both of which are crossed out by a large red “X.”
Text on posters: “Balfour – your promise unjustly killed my son due to his resistance to the occupation whose basis is you.
Balfour – your promise took my son away from the homeland and determined the borders of oppression, negation, and dissection [of the homeland]”
[Facebook page of the Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Nov. 1, 2021]
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.
The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above and additional Palestinian reports on the Balfour Declaration:
Headline: “104 years since the ominous ‘Balfour Declaration’”
“Yesterday, Nov. 2, [2021,] was the 104th anniversary of the issuing of the ominous ‘Balfour Declaration,’ by force of which Britain gave the Jews the right to establish a national home in Palestine…
The Jews succeeded in exploiting this piece of paper that was published by [former British Foreign Secretary] Arthur Balfour, who was known for his closeness to the Zionist movement, and afterwards the Mandate for Palestine and [UN] General Assembly Resolution [181] of 1947 on partitioning Palestine. Thus, on May 15 (sic., 14), 1948, they realized their dream of establishing Israel, and this entity gained membership in the UN under the pressure of the large states. Israel became the first state in the history of the global political system established on the land of others…
Supreme Shari’ah Judge of Palestine and [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas’] Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash said that ‘the Balfour Declaration,’ which inflicted on us a great injustice, is not just a word or a declaration, but rather a legitimization of all the injustice that was inflicted following it until this very day, for more than 104 years.
Al-Habbash emphasized in a statement for the anniversary: ‘Palestine remains, while the end of the occupation, those who created it, and those who stand behind it, is to disappear.’
He added that those who thought that ‘the adults will die and the young will forget’ are delusional, and that our Palestinian people rises anew from among the ruins in spite of Britain, Balfour, and Zionism, in order to tell the world: ‘I have not died, I am in the eyes of history and geography, I want my right, and I will never relinquish it.’
Al-Habbash noted: ‘The official and popular Palestinian demands that Britain apologize for this crime and atone for the sin… are our people’s authentic right…’
He explained that the first step in atoning for this crime must be recognition of the fully sovereign State of Palestine whose capital is Jerusalem, and an apology to Palestine, its Martyrs, and the owners of the homes that were destroyed on top of their inhabitants.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 3, 2021]
Mahmoud Al-Habbash also serves as Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'ah Justice. In August 2019 PA Chairman Abbas dismissed all his advisors by Presidential decree. It is unclear what their status is today.
Excerpt of a column by Yahya Rabah, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “Is there no avoiding the explosion?”
“At the end of World War I, and more precisely in 1917, it was clear that the Ottoman Empire would give up its place to others, new colonialists…
That same year the Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration) was issued, the filthiest colonialist promise in human history, because it gave a completely illegal promise in order to steal the Palestinian people’s homeland, Palestine. This was in order to establish a state on [Palestine’s land], which constitutes a model of foolishness, whose name is Israel…
Despite all the false external characteristics of strength, it is a state that was created from tales and fabrications, which is unworthy of living and which will necessarily die.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 22, 2021]
Posted text with the video of girl from Fatah calling Balfour “a traitor of humanity”: “The flower (i.e., girl) Mayar Melhem from the [Fatah Youth Institution for Young Boys and Girls] Qalqilya branch reads aloud for you the story of the Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration) on the anniversary of the wretched Balfour Promise.”
[Facebook page of the Fatah Youth Institution for Young Boys and Girls, Nov. 3, 2021]
Headline: “Flying the Palestinian flag at half-mast and national activities for the anniversary of the ominous Balfour Declaration”
“The State of Palestine flew the Palestinian flag at half-mast at the state’s institutions, embassies, and representations in all the states of the world. This was in accordance with [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision on Sunday [Oct. 31, 2021], according to which the flag will be flown at half-mast on November 2 of every year, the anniversary of the ominous Balfour Declaration…
A number of activities took place in the homeland’s districts to mark the 104th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration…
Participating in the activities were PLO Executive Committee members, Fatah Central Committee members, and national action faction members, as well as senior Fatah officials and activists, families of prisoners, and school students.
In Ramallah the [PA] Ministry of Education, the PLO Department of Refugee Affairs, and the Supreme Committee to Commemorate Nakba Day (see note below -Ed.) marked the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.
[PA] Minister of Education Marwan Awratani said during the event: ‘Our curriculum is a clearly sovereign and national matter, and it is connected to the Palestinian narrative, identity, and experience. Our position is fixed and must not be compromised on.’ He noted that the occupation has been inciting against our curriculum for years, in order to turn our narrative into a crime and consider establishing each of our rights as incitement against the occupation entity.
Head of the [PLO] Department of Refugee Affairs and PLO Executive Committee member Ahmad Abu Houli said that this [Balfour] Declaration established the law of injustice, force, and negating rights for the first time in history. He added that this was the beginning of the ugliest historical injustice that was inflicted on our people of expropriating its land and right to its homeland, and of planting a foreign body that represents the last military colonialism in the world.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 3, 2021]
Nakba Day - Palestinians commemorate Nakba Day on May 15, the day after the establishment of Israel. On May 15, 1948, combined forces from Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq joined local Arab forces in an attempt to eradicate the newly established State of Israel. The Nakba (Arabic = catastrophe) refers to the establishment of Israel, and the subsequent defeat in the war, including the killing and displacement of Arab civilians that occurred during the war.
Excerpt of an editorial by the official PA daily
Headline: “It is not a promise”
“[The Balfour Declaration] was not a promise, but rather a declaration of war against Palestine for the benefit of the Zionist movement, so that it would control [Palestine], expel its people, and establish a national home for a religion, which is the religion of members of different nations from all corners of the earth (sic., genetic research has proven Jews share a common origin in Israel). This is based on a narrative packed with falsifications, empty claims, and racist descriptions!
Let us stop calling it a ‘promise,’ because this word has a moral overtone – something that did not exist at all in [former British Foreign Secretary Arthur] Balfour’s declaration, which unjustly gave a land of which he had no ownership to those who have no right to ownership over it!
One hundred and four years have passed since this declaration, which created nothing but a military state that turned the Middle East into an area of bloody wars and conflicts, a state that is not even attempting to be like the rest of the world’s states with recognized borders, sincere commitments, and respect for the international community’s laws and legitimate resolutions!”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 2, 2021]
Excerpt of a column by Fathi Al-Bis, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “Balfour – the anniversary of the sinful promise”
“Tomorrow [Nov. 2, 2021] will be the anniversary of the Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration) (Nov. 2, 1917), whose goal was to establish in Palestine a national home for ‘the Jewish people.’ In that period there were only believers of the Jewish religion who lived throughout the world (sic., the Jewish people have been documented in history for millennia, and genetic research has proven Jews share a common origin in Israel), but the Europeans wanted to get rid of the Jews and were convinced that the Zionist movement would serve them [the Europeans] and protect their interests. Thus they would kill two birds with one stone: They would get rid of the Jewish problem in Europe, and would ensure their colonialist interests in the Near East and Far East.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 1, 2021]
Posted text: “The [Fatah] Movement Commission of Information, Culture, and Ideology issued a statement today, Monday [Nov. 1, 2021], for the 104th anniversary of the crime against humanity that was committed by the mandate and colonialism state (Great Britain), which is known as ‘the Balfour Promise’ (i.e., Declaration), in which on Nov. 2, 1917, it was promised to the Zionist system that a national home would be established for the Jews on the land of Palestine. The Balfour Promise was considered the cornerstone a colonialist military apparatus (i.e., the State of Israel)…
Fatah said that its leadership and its fighters… know for certain that the Balfour Promise was and will remain the most shocking crime in modern human history, as this British promise paved the way for bloody periods and a series of massacres against innocent Palestinian civilians. [These massacres] were committed by the Jewish Zionist terror organizations… in order to empty the land of Palestine of its people who have cultural roots, and to replace them with Jews who were uprooted from their original societies worldwide and brought to our homeland of Palestine. This was in order to build a military apparatus under the title ‘a national home’ and ‘a state for the Jews,’ so that they would fulfill a role for the global colonialist system.
Fatah demanded that the British political parties and the peace and freedom loving forces in Britain and the world pressure the British government to recognize the independent and sovereign State of Palestine whose capital is East Jerusalem in the June 4 [1967] borders, as a first step on the path to confessing the crime that its predecessors committed against the Palestinian people.”
[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Nov. 1, 2021]
Excerpt of a column by Muwaffaq Matar, Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “The Balfour Promise is the spark of the religious wars and bloody conflicts”
“The shameful act done by the representative of the Israeli racist settlement occupation system on the stage of the UN General Assembly is not surprising or strange (refers to Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan tearing apart the UN Human Rights Council’s annual report that attacks Israel -Ed.). This representative, who tore apart the UN Supreme Human Rights Council convention (sic., report) in front of the representatives of the member states, only reflects the nature of the [occupation] system government, which was established by a UN resolution…
We think that the massacres against the Palestinian people in its cities and villages, which are documented in the UN archives, are enough not only to expel this system from the UN, but also to work seriously to dismantle it and restore the right to its original owners (the Palestinian people) [parentheses in source]. This is because [this system] is a ticking bomb that was planted in the center of the civilized world, which is holy to believers from all ends of the earth, and it will blow up with the first spark of religious war in the area…
One hundred and four years have passed since the historical and unprecedented crime against humanity, which was committed by the mandate and colonialism state (Great Britain) [parentheses in source], which is known in the court of history as ‘the Balfour Promise’ (i.e., Declaration) case. We can consider Nov. 2, 1917, as the date when the Palestinian people’s tragedy and Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) began…
The colonialist states are continuing to use the Zionist system to achieve their goals and protect their interests, while the victim is the Palestinian people…
What made the most shocking crime in human history unique is that this British promise laid the basis for bloody periods and a series of massacres against innocent Palestinian civilians. [These massacres] were committed by the Jewish Zionist terror organizations… in order to empty the land of Palestine of its people who have cultural roots, and to replace them with Jews who were uprooted from their original societies worldwide and brought to our homeland of Palestine.
This was not done out of love for the Jews, but rather to use them as a pawn that would confront the Palestinian people and the neighboring Arab peoples. The results of the wars would serve the global colonialist system…
The time has come for Great Britain – the one who gave the promise that constituted a crime against humanity – to renounce its historical crime… and to take practical positions indicating a true desire to correct the historical path of its leaders and diplomats, who have caused bloodshed for the Palestinian people for more than 100 years. This is because the Palestinian people will not forgive as long as the British diplomats do not want to recognize its historical and natural rights to its homeland, Palestine, and the minimum is recognition of a Palestinian state in the June 4, 1967 borders.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 2, 2021]
Official PA TV program Topic of the Day, broadcast from Nazareth on the 104th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration
Chairman of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel and former Israeli Arab MP Muhammad Barakeh: “This [Balfour] Promise (i.e., Declaration) constitutes the colonialist foundation of the Zionist movement, of the Zionist project, not only as a settler project but also as an economic and military spearhead in the Arab region in general…
I want to direct attention to a date that not many remember and that was marked a number of days ago – the memorial day of the Kafr Qassem massacre on Oct. 29, 1956 (see note below -Ed.). Two things happened on this day – we remember Kafr Qassem, but it was also the day the Tripartite Aggression (i.e., the 1956 Sinai War) against Egypt began. Israel, Britain, and France launched an attack to bring down the government of pan-Arab [Egyptian] President Gamal Abdel Nasser. In other words, this Zionist project’s goal was to clear the Palestinians from their land, to establish a colonialist entity on the Palestinian land, and to remain like a spearhead controlling the throats of the Arab peoples. This was by creating forces cooperating with the West or weaving plots with the West, and by creating a threat to the [Arab] governments that were liable to threaten this project. What has changed in these 104 years [since the Balfour Promise]? This project is not a memory. It is still being implemented on the ground to this day… But what was possible in 1948 is no longer possible today, since the Palestinian people has picked itself up – it has the PLO and international experience. In other words, the idea of [population] transfer no longer exists as it did. Therefore, they are carrying out another project – a project of transferring and expelling [Palestinians] from the affiliation and identity, dismantling the identity. We see this in the Interior (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel) through the crime [in the Arab sector] and the like, and in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip we see this through imposition of a blockade, through the poverty, and through placing a ceiling of aspirations for the Palestinian people – to get through the day with a slice of bread and living securely for that day… Even the cultural and religious rights are being violated. It is true that they speak about freedom of worship in Jerusalem as if Israel is protecting it. What freedom of worship are they talking about? The Al-Aqsa Mosque is desecrated, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is desecrated, the right of the people to carry out their religious ceremonies is violated. Not only is our right being violated at our holy sites, but they also want to share these sites with us.”
[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Nov. 2, 2021]
“Head of the [PLO] Department of Refugee Affairs and PLO Executive Committee member Ahmad Abu Houli said that this [Balfour] Declaration established the law of injustice, force, and negating rights for the first time in history. He added that this was the beginning of the ugliest historical injustice that was inflicted on our people of expropriating its land and right to its homeland, and of planting a foreign body that represents the last military colonialism in the world.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 3, 2021]
Images and text posted on the Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture
Posted text: “Marking the 104th anniversary of the wretched Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration) at the Muntaha Al-Hourani School for Girls in Jenin.
The [Jenin] district popular refugees’ committee, in cooperation with the Martyr Muntaha Al-Hourani School for Girls in Jenin and the Fatah Movement, marked the 104th anniversary of the wretched Balfour Promise (which was given by one who has no ownership to one who has no right) [parentheses in source]…
[All the speakers] noted that the Balfour Promise will remain a mark of disgrace on Britain, and that it was the cause for the loss of Palestine, the expulsion of its residents, the destruction of its uprooted communities, and the deaths as Marty..rs of thousands of Mart…yrs from among the Arabs and Palestinians as a result of giving a national home to the J…ews. [The speakers] also demanded that the British government apologize to the Palestinian people and recognize the Palestinian state.
[Jenin District Popular Refugee Committee Deputy Chairman] Col. Fida Turkeman noted that the goal of these activities is to increase the memory regarding the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights and to remind the students of the wretched Balfour Promise, by force of which the J…ews were given a state on the land of Palestine, and its lands were stolen from its original residents…
Turkeman also noted that the young people are not forgetting as the Z….ionistocc..upier thinks, because this promise is closely connected to the tyranny, expulsion, and fleeing of their ancestors, and because Britain is the central cause for the Palestinian people’s suffering.”
The “…” in the words “Martyrs, Jews, and Zionist occupier” is an apparent attempt to evade Facebook’s algorithm -Ed.
The images show the activities marking the 104th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration at Muntaha Al-Hourani School for Girls in Jenin.
The image shows girls holding posters with an image of refugees on the left and flames on the right; in the upper right is the Fatah logo and next to it the PLO logo.
Text on poster: “We will not forget the wretched [Balfour] Promise
104 years since the Balfour Promise
One who has no ownership gave to one who has no right
Nov. 2, 1917
The Jenin District Popular Refugees’ Committee and the Muntaha Al-Hourani School for Girls – Jenin”
The image shows a speaker at the event with a large poster hanging behind him.
Text on poster: “Lest we forget – and we will never forget
104 years since the wretched Balfour Promise
One who has no ownership gave to one who has no right – Nov. 2, 1917
Britain must apologize to the Palestinian people and recognize the Palestinian state
The Jenin District Popular Refugees’ Committee and the Muntaha Al-Hourani School for Girls – Jenin”[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Nov. 2, 2021]
September 2021 raids on Hamas terror cell - Israeli forces conducted raids on Sept. 26, 2021 to arrest members of a Hamas terror cell in several locations in the West Bank, in order to thwart imminent large-scale terror attacks that the cell was planning to launch in the West Bank and Israel. Five Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were killed after opening fire on Israeli forces during the raids, and approximately 20 members of the cell were arrested and weapons were seized. The five killed in the raids were: Ahmed Zahran, Muhammad Hmeidan, Zakariya Badwan, Osama Sobeh, and Yusuf Sobeh.
Tawfiq Tirawi also serves as Fatah Commissioner of Popular Organizations.
Sabri Saidam also serves as Fatah Revolutionary Council Deputy Secretary and is the former PA Minister of Education and Higher Education.
Headline: “104 years since the ominous ‘Balfour Declaration’”
“Today, November 2, [2021,] is the 104th anniversary of the issuing of the ominous ‘Balfour Declaration,’ by force of which Britain gave the Jews the right to establish a national home in Palestine.
‘The Balfour Declaration’ was tantamount to the first step of the West on the path to establishing an entity for the Jews on the land of Palestine, while responding to the desires of global Zionism at the expense of a people that has been planted in this land for thousands of years (sic., the Palestinians have no history prior to the modern period).
The Fatah Movement emphasized that the ominous Balfour Declaration is not a decree of fate, and that our people will continue its struggle until it cancels the falsification of history, its consequences, and the negation of our right to self-determination in our homeland, Palestine…
[PA] Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates [Riyad Al-Malki’s] Political Advisor and Ambassador Ahmed Al-Dik said that the diplomatic efforts are continuing for implementation of the official Palestinian position regarding the demand that Britain apologize to our people for the ominous Balfour Declaration…
In a statement, Al-Dik called on Britain to recognize the State of Palestine as an additional part of its atonement for the act of aggression and crime that it committed against our people, and for the suffering and historical injustice that were caused to it and are still continuing.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 2, 2021]
Excerpt of a column by Bassem Barhoum, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “Analyzing the vagueness and the details of the Balfour Promise”
“The [Balfour] Promise (i.e., Declaration), which contains 67 words in the English language, is the summary of a large and dangerous colonialist project that indicates a complicated process through which a people – ‘the Jewish people’ – was invented that did not exist until then in history, but rather there were simply Jews of different races and nations (sic., the Jewish people have been documented in history for millennia, and genetic research has proven Jews share a common origin in Israel).
In the framework of a complicated act of fabrication, the project included establishing a national homeland for the Jewish people, which was just invented, establishing this homeland on the homeland of another people. The establishment of the Jewish homeland will not take place except through the negation of the ownership of the land, taking the Palestinian people’s land, and expelling it from its homeland. This is because the Balfour project cannot be carried out without a large transfer of residents (a process of ethnic cleansing) [parentheses in source] and forcibly settling new residents in their place.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 30, 2021]