This year marks the 108th anniversary of British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour’s infamous declaration of 2 November 1917, which pledged to establish a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.The declaration led to the Nakba—the catastrophe that befell the Palestinian people—resulting in their displacement from their land and the perpetration of the most heinous crimes against them. These crimes continue to this day, constituting one of the greatest human tragedies endured by an entire people and a historical injustice whose disastrous consequences persist and escalate, threatening regional and international peace, security, and stability.
This year’s commemoration of the Balfour Declaration comes amid the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people as a result of the genocidal war waged by Israel, the occupying power, in the Gaza Strip for two consecutive years. This war has led to the martyrdom and injury of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, including women and children, the near-total destruction of the besieged Strip, and the repeated displacement of two million Palestinians. In addition, Israeli policies, practices, and violations continue in the occupied West Bank, including extrajudicial killings, mass arrests, house demolitions, settler terrorism, settlement expansion, resource theft, the desecration of Christian and Muslim holy sites, and ongoing attempts for the Judaisation of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. These form a continuous series of crimes amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, in violation of international norms, conventions, resolutions, international law, international humanitarian law, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The General Secretariat of the League of Arab States welcomes the United Kingdom’s decision to recognise the State of Palestine, reaffirming its commitment to the two-state solution as the only viable path to achieving security, peace, and stability in the region, in accordance with international consensus and relevant UN resolutions. Considering this a step towards rectifying the historical injustice of the Balfour Declaration, the Secretariat calls upon the United Kingdom to take all necessary measures to redress this injustice and to exert pressure on the occupying power to cease its violations and crimes against the Palestinian people. It also urges the United Kingdom to refrain from providing any form of support to the expansionist colonial settlement enterprise that perpetuates the illegal Israeli occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory, in line with its obligations under international law, relevant UN resolutions, and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the illegality of the Israeli occupation.
The General Secretariat further calls on the international community, and particularly the United Kingdom, to intensify efforts in the coming stage and contribute effectively to relief operations and the reconstruction of the devastated Gaza Strip, in order to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people. It also urges support for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, the State of Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations, and the continuation of efforts to implement the two-state solution by ending the Israeli occupation and realising an independent and sovereign State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the 4 June 1967 borders, in accordance with international law, relevant UN resolutions, and the Arab Peace Initiative.
