Abbas: “Colonialist states conspired… to get rid of the Jews in Europe” and “protect their interests in our region”

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “The colonialist states conspired together to issue[the Balfour Declaration] - and foremost among them was Britain and America - in order to get rid of the Jews in Europe on the one hand and establish a so-called national home for them in Palestine on the other hand. The truth is that they wanted to build an outpost to protect their interests in our region.”

[Official PA TV, Feb. 12, 2023]

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas made this statement at the Arab League’s Jerusalem Conference in Cairo, Egypt, on Feb. 12, 2023.

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.