Abbas’ advisor on Religious Affairs labels Balfour Declaration a “crime”
Headline: “Al-Habbash briefs Portuguese Parliament members and solidarity activists on the developments in the Palestinian arena”
“Supreme Shari’ah Judge of Palestine and [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas’] advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash yesterday [May 20, 2017] briefed Portuguese Parliament members and members of the Parliamentary Committee for Portuguese-Palestinian Friendship… on the developments in the Palestinian arena, especially on all that is related to the prisoners’ [hunger] strike.
During the meeting, which was held in the Portuguese Parliament building in the capital city Lisbon, Al-Habbash said: ‘The Palestinian people has been suffering from injustice and aggression since approximately 100 years ago, when the ominous Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration) was issued by the British Mandate authorities. [It also has been suffering] from the crimes that embarrass the human conscience which came as a result of this crime, when the Palestinians were uprooted from their homes, their villages and cities were destroyed and erased, and in their place the occupation state arose. Disasters have befallen them one after the other, while the world is silent and stands aloof, and its conscience is in a deep coma.’”
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.
“Supreme Shari’ah Judge of Palestine and [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas’] advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash yesterday [May 20, 2017] briefed Portuguese Parliament members and members of the Parliamentary Committee for Portuguese-Palestinian Friendship… on the developments in the Palestinian arena, especially on all that is related to the prisoners’ [hunger] strike.
During the meeting, which was held in the Portuguese Parliament building in the capital city Lisbon, Al-Habbash said: ‘The Palestinian people has been suffering from injustice and aggression since approximately 100 years ago, when the ominous Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration) was issued by the British Mandate authorities. [It also has been suffering] from the crimes that embarrass the human conscience which came as a result of this crime, when the Palestinians were uprooted from their homes, their villages and cities were destroyed and erased, and in their place the occupation state arose. Disasters have befallen them one after the other, while the world is silent and stands aloof, and its conscience is in a deep coma.’”
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.