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Court invalidates Balfour Declaration, holds UK responsible for Palestinian plight

Press TV – February 22, 2021

A Palestinian court has declared as invalid the Balfour Declaration, a document issued by the British government in 1917 that paved the way for the creation of Israel, as it violates the rules of international law.

The Court of First Instance in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Sunday also held Britain legally responsible for the consequences of the Balfour Declaration, demanding an apology to the Palestinians.

The Balfour Declaration came in the form of a letter from Britain’s then-foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, addressed to Lionel Walter Rothschild, a figurehead of the British Jewish community. It was published on November 2, 1917.

The declaration was made during World War I (1914-1918), and included in the terms of the British Mandate for Palestine after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

It is widely seen as the precursor to the 1948 Palestinian Nakba, when Zionist armed paramilitary groups, who were trained and created to fight side by side with the British in World War II, forcibly expelled more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland, captured huge swathes of the Arab land, and proclaimed existence of Israel.

The lawsuit was filed by Palestinian lawyers in October last year on behalf of the National Assembly of Independents, the International Foundation for the Follow-up of the Rights of the Palestinian People, and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, against the British government.

“Britain and its foreign minister at the time, Arthur James Balfour, from whom the ‘Balfour Declaration’ was issued at the time, neither owned Palestine nor did they have the right to determine the fate of its people,” the court ruled Sunday.

Britain’s acts violate “the rules of international law, local laws, international norms and the decisions of the United Nations League and the United Nations during the period of its occupation of the Palestinian territories throughout the period of the British Mandate, including its implementation of the Balfour Declaration,” it said.

The ruling said the declaration deprived “the Palestinian people of their legal, human and political rights, and prevented them from their right to self-determination on their Palestinian lands”.

The court’s decision was welcomed by the Palestinians, with the head of the Supreme Islamic Authority, the preacher of the al-Aqsa Mosque, Ikrimah Sabri, saying it “came to expose the crimes of the occupation”.

The head of the National Assembly of Independents, Munib al-Masri, also described the ruling as “historic”, saying it was a fair trial.

He noted that the next step would be bringing the case to the British courts.

Deputy governor of Nablus Anan al-Atire said, “What we are witnessing in terms of legal battle confirms that our people will not forget the historical injustice, and we will not forgive those who put us under this colonial occupation.”

Palestinians, she said, “will only accept independence, an independent state with Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital, the return of refugees, and the expulsion of these colonists from our land.”

“We will continue the battle of struggle and resistance in all its forms.”

February 22, 2021 - Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular | , , ,

7 Comments »

  1. “A Palestinian court has declared as invalid the Balfour Declaration, a document issued by the British government in 1917 that paved the way for the creation of Israel, as it violates the rules of international law”. Of course, Balfour was Jewish, so the declaration was hardly done with any consideration for International Law, in a World at War at the time.

    While their argument sounds quite fair and reasonable, the chances of Britain and Israel(and Israel’s “greatest friend and ally, the USA), taking ANY notice of a Palestinian court is ZERO.

    The Palestinians should instead, take their case to the International Criminal Court at The Hague, where a court representing the rest of the World could give is due consideration, and make a ruling.

    Liked by 1 person

    Comment by brianharryaustralia | February 22, 2021 | Reply

    • I would think there is a stragegy here. And this is an opening gambit.

      Liked by 2 people

      Comment by almostvoid | February 25, 2021 | Reply

  2. I love this! You go, Palestine!

    ‘Palestinians, (Ms. Anan al-Atire) said, “will only accept independence, an independent state with Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital, the return of refugees, and the expulsion of these colonists from our land.”’ Yesssss!

    Liked by 1 person

    Comment by roberthstiver | February 24, 2021 | Reply

  3. The UK has always inundated our history books, I grew up DownUnder, about how their parliament is so superior and ahead of all civilisations since the beginning of the universe. Rule of law, enshrined by their mother of parliament so that a sound basis for civil society rests on venerable traditional and a secure foundation to guide all safely through the vissitudes of social upheavel etc etc. The Balfour Declaration is just that. It is not a legal document in the sense of a piece of legislation enacted by a democratic representative government governing in the name of the will of the people who democratically their representatives to look after their well being, their safety and keep them from harm. So the Mandate imposed by the League of Nations is not strictly legal either. It will be interesting what specious or tortured or obscurantist legalism will create so much froth coming from the overheated brains of their current legislators and their hired advisors who with their servile mendaciousness may be even more creative than the myth of the pandemic they have instigated with such concern that many wore masks to keep the stink of their deliquescent brain’s vapours which were the real cause of so many premature fatalities in the UK.

    Liked by 3 people

    Comment by almostvoid | February 25, 2021 | Reply

  4. “The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the World. Lies will pass into history”……..George Orwell.

    “All the war propaganda, all the lies screaming and hatred, comes invariably, from people who are not fighting”…..George Orwell.

    Liked by 1 person

    Comment by brianharryaustralia | February 25, 2021 | Reply

    • I like yourself and many more have read Orwell who has that capability of journalists -not to be mistaken for reporters- to write so economically succinctly and brilliant combined. Something rare indeed though not yet dead I’m glad to find out. Though certainly absent DownUnder. I stopped reading the SMH when they started writing woke. Desperate to chase gen whatever. Not realising when I was that age I didn’t read newspapers either. Going past the shops and reading the headlines was enough. History though has rarely been about truth since day one. It was actually a journalist who managed to inform me that the con began with the first cave paintings. Impresing upon the clan an impression which was used to spin a yarn and it was on. Not the art but the interpretations. Karl Krauss had a beauty when he asked: how to wars start? Politicians lie to journalists then believe what they read in the papers.

      Liked by 2 people

      Comment by almostvoid | February 28, 2021 | Reply

      • The SMH used to be a great Paper(but, I grew up in Adelaide), where R Murdoch had his Paper, which, was only good for “Toilet Paper”(as his publications still are today). I don’t read newspapers now. Buying trash news only encourages Murdoch and the rest of the vile propagandists around the World.
        Even the New York Times is rubbish(Propaganda).

        Liked by 2 people

        Comment by brianharryaustralia | February 28, 2021 | Reply


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