Britain’s 1917 Balfour Declaration to blame for Israeli crimes in Palestine: Syria

Syria's top legislative body says the 1917 Balfour Declaration, through which Britain executed its plan of establishing a Jewish national home in Palestine, is primarily responsible for war crimes and unrelenting aggression by the Israeli regime against Palestinians.

“What is currently taking place in Palestine is the upshot of the entitlement then-UK Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour gave to the global Zionist movement on November 2, 1917,” said a statement by the People's Assembly of Syria on Wednesday.

The statement coincided with the 115th anniversary of the infamous treaty, Syria's official news agency SANA reported.

The parliament rejected the declaration as a "flagrant violation of the most basic principles of the international law", reaffirming that the Syrian government and the Syrian nation will continue to support Palestinians until their legitimate rights are fully restored.

It termed the declaration "null and void" and in clear contravention of the most fundamental standards of international law, added that it symbolizes a brazen attack on all human rights principles and international humanitarian law standards.

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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 was 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.

The Jewish population of Palestine at the time of the Balfour Declaration, according to reports, varied from 60 to 80 thousand within the existing indigenous Palestinian population of 700,000.

Palestinians sue Britain for 1917 Balfour Declaration that led to creation of Israel

Palestinian lawyers file a complaint to sue the British government for the 1917 Balfour Declaration, that led to creation of Israel.

As the Balfour Declaration clearly asserted, the British Empire sought to "facilitate" the growth of Jewish people in the land of Palestine.

"In Palestine, we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country…” because Zionism, “be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long tradition, in present needs, in future hopes, of far more profound import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land," Balfour was quoted at the time.

The Syrian legislature highlighted that “the Palestinian cause has always been the main and central issue in Syria".

"That explains for the most brutal terrorist attacks and unjust economic sanctions that certain Western countries, above all the United States, have subjected Syria to.”

The statement noted that all the Israeli-occupied territories will be liberated one day.

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