Palestinians Sue UK for Balfour Declaration

Palestinians walk at the headquarters of the High Court in Ramallah. Reuters file photo
Palestinians walk at the headquarters of the High Court in Ramallah. Reuters file photo
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Palestinians Sue UK for Balfour Declaration

Palestinians walk at the headquarters of the High Court in Ramallah. Reuters file photo
Palestinians walk at the headquarters of the High Court in Ramallah. Reuters file photo

Palestinians are suing the British government for the Balfour Declaration, more than a hundred years after it was first issued.

Head of the National Assembly of Independents Mounib al-Masri filed the lawsuit at the Palestinian courts, saying the Declaration was “the root of the suffering of the Palestinian people and paved the way for the violation of their rights and the confiscation of their land and capabilities.”

Masri said the lawsuit, launched in collaboration with other foundations, was part of an integrated program aimed to prosecute anyone who violates the rights of the Palestinian people.

It is also one of the outcomes of the national strategy conference to confront the US deal of the century and occupation policies launched in collaboration with al-Quds University, and in partnership with the Ministry of Justice and Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS).

Masri held the British government, and everyone who participated in the implementation of this declaration, responsible for the ongoing massacres and tragedies that the Palestinian people are subjected to, especially the crime of uprooting and displacing them.

The declaration became a project that was executed literally through the cancelation of the national Palestinian identity, while Zionist gangs in Palestine boosted their capabilities through training and arming, said Masri.

He condemned the silence regarding Zionists’ crimes against Palestinians who constituted 93 percent of the population.

The businessman clarified that the case will be registered before the competent courts in Ramallah on Thursday. It will be preceded by a public assembly to assert the Palestinian rejection of the Balfour Declaration, and all that resulted from it, including the deal of the century.

The meeting, which will be held at the hall in Zahra Towers near the Courts Complex in Ramallah, will include a seminar introducing the project.

The Palestinian Authority had repeatedly called on Britain to apologize for the Balfour Declaration and recognize a Palestinian state, as compensation for this crime, but the British government has not heeded such calls.

The registration of the case does not mean that the judiciary may issue a ruling because it requires a specialized judiciary.



Hamas Releases Video of Two Israeli Hostages Alive in Gaza

 A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Hamas Releases Video of Two Israeli Hostages Alive in Gaza

 A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Hamas's armed wing released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli hostages alive in the Gaza Strip, with one of the two men calling to end the 19-month-long war.

Israeli media identified the pair in the undated video as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana, who were kidnapped during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

The three-minute video released by Hamas's Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades shows one of the hostages, identified by media as 36-year-old Bohbot, visibly weak and lying on the floor wrapped in a blanket.

Bohbot, a Colombian-Israeli, was seen bound and injured in the face in video footage from the day of the Hamas attack. After a video of him was released last month, his family said they were "extremely concerned" about his health.

The second hostage, said to be Ohana, 24, speaks in Hebrew in the video, urging the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of all remaining captives -- a similar message to statements made by other hostages, likely under duress, in previous videos released by Hamas.

Bohbot and Ohana, both abducted by Palestinian gunmen from the site of a music festival, are among 58 hostages held in Gaza since the 2023 attack, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas also holds the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in a 2014 war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the fate of three hostages presumed alive was unclear, without naming them.

"We know with certainty that 21 hostages are alive... and there are three others whose status, sadly, we do not know," Netanyahu said in a video shared on his Telegram channel.

Israel resumed its military offensive across the Gaza Strip on March 18, after a two-month truce that saw the release of dozens of hostages.

Since the ceasefire collapsed, Hamas has released several videos of hostages, including of the two appearing in Saturday's video.

Israel says the renewed offensive aims to force Hamas to free the remaining captives, although critics charge that it puts them in mortal danger.

Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 2,701 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in Gaza, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,810.