ON THE hundredth anniversary of the Balfour Declaration more than 60 leading British personalities signed the Balfour Centenary Declaration launched in London on Tuesday by four Parliamentarians – one from each of the main British parties – and former British Consul General to Jerusalem Sir Vincent Fean.
The Declaration, titled Israel/Palestine: Equal Rights, calls, among other things, for immediate British government recognition of the State of Palestine along the pre-June 1967 lines. The following is the full text of the Declaration: ‘The centenary of the Balfour Declaration is the time to reconcile peace with justice for both Israelis and Palestinians, consistent with the principle Britain claims as her own: equal rights for all under the law.
‘Through the Declaration of 2 November 1917 the British government decided to facilitate “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”, on the explicit understanding that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”.
‘In 1917, and until Britain gave up her Mandate for Palestine in 1948, the Palestinian people were in the majority, as they had been for centuries. The Mandate conferred on Britain a “sacred trust of civilisation” to help the people of Palestine towards self-determination and nationhood.
‘In 1948, the government handed the problem to the United Nations, and withdrew – but the legacy of that period is still with us. There was joy and sanctuary in Israel for the Jewish people surviving the horrific Holocaust – but pain and despair for the Palestinians: many expelled in 1948, and more occupied in 1967.
‘Israel, created in 1948 as the permanent national home of the Jewish people, is recognised as a state by Britain, the EU, the US and – crucially – the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
‘Israel’s prosperity and military strength have grown. But Israel’s 50-year military occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem prevents the Palestinian people from exercising their own equal and inalienable right to self-determination, a right endorsed by the UN, the EU and our government.
‘This occupation dehumanises both the occupier and the occupied. One people is repressing their neighbouring people, by closing Gaza militarily and transferring 600,000 Israeli settlers illegally into occupied Palestinian territory. Change is urgently needed, delivering equal rights for both peoples.
‘We condemn violence from any quarter. But conducting and resisting occupation inevitably means chronic and sustained violence, stemming from the repression of a people. Inequality does not bring lasting security and prosperity.
‘In the best interests of both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, and in our own national interest, we urge our government to:
• Recognise immediately the State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel on the basis of the pre-June 1967 borders, as two thirds of UN members have done;
• uphold rigorously the Geneva Conventions which Britain co-wrote and ratified after World War ll;
• give practical effect to the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, the Arab Peace Initiative and the Quartet Roadmap which Britain has endorsed;
• require genuine freedom of worship without hindrance for all believers – Jewish, Muslim and Christian – at their holy sites in Jerusalem;
• encourage West Bank/Gaza reunification on the basis of PLO agreements;
• work with like-minded partners, including France, Germany, Sweden, Belgium and Ireland, to respect and safeguard the rights of both Palestinians and Israelis, with due and proportionate consequences for breaches of those rights, alongside incentives for those seeking to uphold them.
‘Ending the 1967 occupation through negotiation will realise the acknowledged right of the Palestinian people to self-determination; a right gained by Israel 70 years ago. The political and economic cost/benefit calculations of those who oppose this outcome must be challenged.
Establishing the Palestinian state, with sustainable international security guarantees both for it and for Israel, will help to stabilise the Middle East region and enhance our own security. The opposite is also true. This inequality supplies oxygen to the propagandists of Islamic State, and contributes to radicalisation both abroad and at home.
‘We commit ourselves to work for a secure future of equal rights and peaceful coexistence between the citizens of Israel and Palestine in two states along pre-June 1967 lines. We support the majorities on both sides of that border who see this outcome as just. Britain should uphold her core values by taking the lead to address this bitter, harmful conflict. The government of the day took a decision in 1917. We now need to acknowledge what is right, and exert political influence to achieve it – for our own good, and the good of the two peoples who will share the Holy Land forever.’
Hamas has also issued a statement ‘Balfour’s Declaration (crime of the century) … requires a British apology, compensation and rectification.’ It reads:
‘The Balfour Declaration, the crime and setback of the century, boldly and daringly advocated by the British government with the stroke of a pen, erased the history, culture and heritage of the Palestinian people who have always been the legitimate citizens of Palestine.
‘Britain, through the Balfour Declaration, paved the way for the establishment of a “Jewish State” which ultimately led to the century-long oppression, massacre, persecution, and arrest of thousands of Palestinians. Britain has unlawfully granted Israel an illegal state on the basis of “grant he, the unworthy, what he doesn’t own”.
‘Britain, during its occupation of Palestine, worked by all means to implement the Balfour Declaration to establish a “national homeland for the Jews in Palestine”, ignoring the rights of the Palestinian population of this country.
‘Britain denied the essence of its mission as a mandate power under the Charter of the League of Nations, and premeditated towards the Palestinian people unjust policies; and appointed British officials in support of Zionism in Palestine to achieve its goal of empowering the Jews on the Palestinian land and developing the military, economic, educational and social structures of the Jews. Such steps were not only catastrophic for the rights of Palestinians, but also opened the door for regional wars, conflicts, suffering and blood-shed.
‘Our steadfast Palestinian people, our Arab and Islamic nations, a hundred years on, the Balfour Declaration means tens of thousands of martyrs, wounded, and detainees and more than six million citizens displaced from their homeland. It means a hundred years of sacrifices in which the people of Palestinian created history by resisting the Israeli Occupation and re-enacting the David and Goliath standoff with nothing more than a slingshot as an initial stage. One hundred years on, we reiterate the following:
‘First, the Balfour Declaration, which was based on the granting of land without people to a people without land, is a lie that contradicts the given reality on the ground, for the Palestinians have been entrenched in Palestine like the Roman olive trees.
‘Second, the Balfour Declaration – “grant he, the unworthy, what he doesn’t own” – is the theft of Palestinian history, culture, civilisation and life, and replaced by an occupying force based on lies, slander and domination and not on the power of logic and truth.
‘Third, our great people have resisted and defied the declaration by the numerous revolutions and uprisings carried out through the past 100 years, the last of which is the on-going Al-Aqsa Intifada.
‘Fourth, our great people have never hesitated to sacrifice their lives for freedom, for they faced, with bare chests, the ruthless Israeli occupation that Britain is complicit in establishing. It’s fair to say that Balfour was foolish when he thought that Palestine was uninhabitable and the disgraceful decision of Britain’s Prime Minister, Theresa May, to commemorate and voice her pride in Britain’s role in establishing Israel on the 100th anniversary of the disastrous Balfour Declaration, and to continue to disregard the rights of the Palestinian people and intensify their suffering, proves the tyrannical nature of May as she continues to support the crimes, persecution and displacement of the Palestinian people.
‘Fifth, Britain committed a historic massacre against a people with existence, culture and history. It is now obliged to atone for its sin by restoring the rights of the Palestinian people, issuing an apology to the Palestinian people and guaranteeing their right of return as well as their right for freedom and independence.
‘Sixth, the long years of occupation have unified our people and enforced their self-reliance towards their freedom.
‘Seventh, Netanyahu’s commemoration of the Balfour Declaration and his ultimate dream of celebrating the establishment of Israel will be short-lived, for our fighters will regain the rights of the Palestinian people in the near future.
‘To our great people, to the oppressive Israeli Occupation, history doesn’t forget nor forgive. We will never surrender and the Israeli occupation will eventually pay a heavy price for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people.
‘– Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.’