PA seeks support to sue UK over Balfour Declaration

Palestinian Authority (PA) is seeking Arabic and Islamic support in order to prosecute the United Kingdom over the Balfour Declaration which promised a national homeland for Jews in Palestine, Foreign Minister Riyadh Al-Maliki said yesterday.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Al-Maliki said that the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation had adopted this effort.

The Arab League, during its last session, called for the UK to apologise for the Balfour Declaration and condemn its consequences, the minister added.

Al-Maliki said that the ground of the PA’s prosecution attempt is the fact that the declaration was a “promise of the one who did not own to the one who did not deserve,” noting that the UK had promised the Jews a homeland in Palestine in 1917, five years before the British Mandate in 1922.

Regarding the remarks of the UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson that they are proud of the Balfour Declaration, he said: “This is a kind of political hypocrisy and confirmation of the historic oppression.”

Explained: The Balfour Declaration