Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Thursday to immediately initiate a court procedure against Britain due to the “political crime committed against the Palestinian people through the Balfour Declaration,” signed 100 years ago by Britain to be the first international recognition of a Jewish state in Palestine.
Fatah Central Committee member Mahmoud al-Aloul told Asharq Al-Awsat: “We will take legal action, as quickly as possible, against the British government for its crime against the Palestinian people. We will first file a charge before the British Court, and then the International and European courts.”
Al-Aloul asserted that this move comes as a response to the British attachment to the Balfour Declaration, although it was signed 100 years ago, and its determination to celebrate the centennial of the declaration in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who flew to London last Wednesday.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Malki is expected to sign very soon through his office legal proceedings against the British government.
Malki confirmed that the Palestinian Authority would ask the British government to apologize to the Palestinian people for the “suffering” caused by the declaration and to compensate them for what they suffered.
The foreign minister also said Great Britain should also recognize Palestine as a state.
The Palestinian action against Britain came after the British government rejected a request to annul a dinner for the centenary celebration of the Balfour Declaration held in London Thursday evening and attended by Netanyahu.
Saeb Erekat, the Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization, described the celebration as a “disgrace.”
Meanwhile, Palestinians protested on Thursday in large numbers in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and in the Palestinian diaspora, condemning the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, as well as the British government.
