Wed 03 November 2021:
The Arab League on Tuesday urged Britain to apologize for the Palestinians’ suffering over more than a century due to the Balfour Declaration, and to recognize the Palestinian state in accordance with the two-state solution.
The League made the statement on the 104th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, a statement by the British government on Nov. 2, 1917 announcing its support for the Jewish people to build a state on Palestinian lands.
The pan-Arab body called on “Britain to correct the historical mistake and bear its legal and ethical responsibility towards the Palestinian people.”
“The Balfour Declaration was the beginning of the Palestinian tragedy that caused compulsory deportation of the real owners of lands, while most heinous crimes have been going against the Palestinian people,” the statement said.
The statement said the declaration deprived the Palestinians of their legitimate rights that have been approved by international resolutions.
The group demanded that Britain recognize Palestine as an independent state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and to achieve permanent and comprehensive justice and peace based on the two-state solution.
The League renewed its calls for the international community to stop Israel from occupying Palestinian lands and provide international protection for the Palestinian people.
The pan-Arab body reiterated its support for the Palestinian people and their legitimate struggle to win freedom and independence.
More than a century on, millions of Palestinian refugees continue to grapple with the devastating upshots of the Balfour Declaration, which led to a significant upheaval in the lives of Palestinians.
Issued on November 2, 1917, the declaration turned the Zionist aim of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine into a reality when Britain publicly pledged to establish “a national home for the Jewish people” there.
The pledge came in the form of a letter from Britain’s then-foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, addressed to Lionel Walter Rothschild, a figurehead of the British Jewish community.
Though the Balfour Declaration included the admonition that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”, the British mandate was set up in a way to equip Jews with the tools to establish self-rule, at the expense of the Palestinian Arabs.
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