The PA Ministry of Information has released a statement on the 105th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration
“The [PA] Ministry of Information said that the black Balfour Promise in its 105th year is the crime of the era, which our people is still paying its price with its living flesh, its existence, its land, and its freedom.
In a statement the ministry said that this unjust promise is a dangerous precedent in the history of international relations. It added that it exceeded the crimes of colonialism, ‘with favour’ and discrimination laid the basis for the endless suffering of every Palestinian, and with a the stroke of a pen gave our land to a state that began to commit ethnic cleansing…
It also said that 67 words by [former] British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour laid the basis for our people’s long suffering, which will only end with the restoration of our rights and freedom and with the establishment of our independent state whose capital is East Jerusalem.
The Ministry of Information reemphasized that Britain and all its diplomats should be ashamed of their sin, their historical injustice, and their denial of all the laws and conventions – which obligates them to recognize the State of Palestine and stop blindly siding with injustice, occupation, and colonialism.
The Ministry of Information called on the national, Arab, and international media outlets to deal with this painful anniversary, and to recall the greatest political crime that has been continuing since 1917 and constitutes a promise from one who has no ownership to one who has no right.”
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.