PALESTINIAN ambassador to the UK, Manuel Hassassian, said yesterday that Britain has officially refused to apologise for the infamous Balfour Declaration, and instead has taken measures to punish the Palestinians for demanding this.
Speaking to Voice of Palestine radio, Hassassian said Queen Elizabeth and the British government have refused to apologise for the Declaration when, on November 2nd 1917, then British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour promised Europe’s Jews a homeland in Palestine totally disregarding the fact that there were sovereign people living there.
The government, he said, has confirmed that the centennial anniversary of the Declaration would be held as scheduled, in spite of strong Palestinian objections and threats to sue it over the Declaration.
Hassassian said that the British government is determined not to back down because, it says, the Balfour Declaration is an integral part of the history of British colonialism. Reacting to the official Palestinian position, the UK, Hassassian added, has taken a series of punitive measures against the Palestinian diplomatic team in London, which it has already started to implement.
This includes not giving diplomatic status (as was the case with outgoing ambassador Hassassian himself) to the new ambassador to the UK, Maen Erekat and his staff, who would also be required to pay taxes to the British government.
Hassassian stressed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ position and determination to sue Britain, noting that there are a number of attorneys in the UK who are following up on this issue.
If the UK backs down, apologises to the Palestinian people and recognises the state of Palestine, the issue of suing the UK would be cancelled, he said.
• The Israel Prison Service (IPS) has transferred a number of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners to hospitals and prison clinics, after their health deteriorated seriously, the Palestinian Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs said yesterday, the ninth day of the large-scale ‘Freedom and Dignity’ hunger strike.
Hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel have been participating in the hunger strike led by Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi since April 17 to protest against torture, ill treatment and medical neglect of prisoners by the Israeli authorities, as well as Israel’s widespread use of administrative detention – internment without trial or charges.
Committee lawyer Karim Ajweh said that Nazih Othman, one of seven sick prisoners who have joined the strike in Ashkelon prison, has spent three days in Barzilai hospital, while fellow hunger-striker Said Musallam is still receiving treatment. Ajweh said that a number of other prisoners – who he identified as Riyad al-Umour, Ibrahim Abu Mustafa, Kamal Abu Waar, Nael Shahin, and Amir al-Titi – continue to refuse all sustenance except for salt and water, despite serious pre-existing health issues.
The statement added that the more than 1,500 imprisoned hunger strikers had begun to lose weight and to feel dizziness and severe head and joint pains after nine days without food, but that they continue to refuse to be treated in prison clinics, and have also refused to stand up during daily head counts as an act of defiance.
• The national committee in support of the striking Palestinian prisoners yesterday called for a boycott of Israeli products as a show of solidarity. The committee urged the public not to buy Israeli products and called on shop owners not sell Israeli goods and to remove anything Israeli from their shelves.
‘The least the public can do to support the strike is to boycott (Israeli) products,’ said the committee in a statement. ‘This battle has to end in victory for our heroes in the occupation’s prisons.’ The strike has now entered its ninth day and more prisoners join it every day.
