UK: Balfour Declaration was a catastrophe

Britain acknowledges that the Balfour Declaration was a Nakba, or catastrophe, for the Palestinians, the government’s Arabic spokesman Edwin Samuel has said.

In a television interview with Al-Ghad Al-Araby television station, Samuel maintained that apologising and recognising the State of Palestine is detrimental to the settlement of the conflict.

“Britain’s position is that an apology and recognition of an unrealised Palestinian state does not help the situation,” he said.

British policy has been consistent for a long time; two independent states, with justice and security as a result of direct negotiations between the parties.

“Britain maintains its position that East Jerusalem is an occupied city,” he added. “There is no alternative to a two-state solution.”

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called on the United Kingdom to apologise to the Palestinian people for the Balfour Declaration, to provide compensation and to recognise the State of Palestine.

Read: UK government should ‘apologise’ to Palestinians for Balfour Declaration