PA Minister of Foreign Affairs demands that the UK apologize for the "ominous Balfour Promise"
Headline: “Al-Malki: The Arab foreign ministers decisively emphasized the centrality of the Palestinian cause”
“[PA Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad] Al-Malki discussed the recent developments in the Palestinian arena with his British counterpart [UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs] Boris Johnson…
He emphasized the [Palestinian] opposition to the preconditions set by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for starting any sort of negotiation between the Palestinian side and the Israeli side, and particularly what [Netanyahu] said in the US and in Australia regarding the need for Palestinian recognition of a Jewish state and for Israeli security control over the Palestinian state…
He mentioned the ominous Balfour Promise (i.e., Balfour Declaration), and demanded that Britain apologize for this promise instead of calling to mark [its 100th anniversary], because it is the greatest disaster that has been caused to the Palestinian people and to its dream to remain on the soil of its homeland like the rest of the peoples of the world.
He added: ‘It would have been better for Britain to fix the historical mistake that caused the greatest damage to the Palestinian people and to its national cause, as it made two-thirds of the Palestinian people refugees and homeless in the region and throughout the world.’ He also called on Britain to recognize the Palestinian state in the June 4 [1967] borders, whose capital is East Jerusalem.”
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” and is seen as the basis for later international commitments to establish the State of Israel.
“[PA Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad] Al-Malki discussed the recent developments in the Palestinian arena with his British counterpart [UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs] Boris Johnson…
He emphasized the [Palestinian] opposition to the preconditions set by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for starting any sort of negotiation between the Palestinian side and the Israeli side, and particularly what [Netanyahu] said in the US and in Australia regarding the need for Palestinian recognition of a Jewish state and for Israeli security control over the Palestinian state…
He mentioned the ominous Balfour Promise (i.e., Balfour Declaration), and demanded that Britain apologize for this promise instead of calling to mark [its 100th anniversary], because it is the greatest disaster that has been caused to the Palestinian people and to its dream to remain on the soil of its homeland like the rest of the peoples of the world.
He added: ‘It would have been better for Britain to fix the historical mistake that caused the greatest damage to the Palestinian people and to its national cause, as it made two-thirds of the Palestinian people refugees and homeless in the region and throughout the world.’ He also called on Britain to recognize the Palestinian state in the June 4 [1967] borders, whose capital is East Jerusalem.”
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” and is seen as the basis for later international commitments to establish the State of Israel.