Palestinian officials demanded Britain to recognize the Palestinian state and apologize for the Balfour Declaration, on the 104th anniversary of the promise made by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour in 1917, in which he granted the Jews a homeland in Palestine.
Commissioner General of Fatah International Relations Rawhi Fattouh said that Britain should correct the historical error and recognize the Palestinian state, as well as “put pressure on the occupying state to stop its crimes and continuous violations against our people, and end its occupation of Palestinian land.”
“The invalid Balfour Declaration issued by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour in 1917… will remain a wound in the human conscience, because of the catastrophe that it caused, the effects of which are still casting dark shadows on Palestine and the region,” Fattouh said.
On Tuesday, Palestinians in Gaza marked 104 years since the Balfour Declaration.
Ahmed Abu Houli, member of the PLO Executive Committee, said that Britain should “apologize to our Palestinian people for the promise that marked the beginning of the most heinous historical injustice against a people, their land, and their right to their homeland.”
The Palestinian official said that the best way to apologize for this promise was for Britain to recognize the state of Palestine.
The General Secretariat of the League of Arab States called on Britain on Tuesday to correct the “historical mistake and assume its historical, legal and moral responsibility by offering an apology to the Palestinian people and recognizing the Palestinian state based on the borders prevailing before June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in support of achieving a just and lasting peace, according to the vision of the two-state solution.”
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also renewed its commitment to support the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, on the occasion of the 104th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.
