PLO blasts Balfour Declaration on 98th anniversary

The Palestine Liberation Organization sends out a statement about the Balfour Declaration, issued 98 years ago today, in which the British Empire said Palestine should be the “national home for the Jewish people.”

The statement, by PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat, says the declaration “should serve as a reminder that what is happening in Palestine is a result of a colonial decision made in faraway capitals.”

He says that “the international community must assume its historic responsibility and take immediate steps to remediate the decades of occupation, colonialism and exile.

“The United Kingdom in particular should close the darkness of its colonialist past in the region by taking concrete steps in order to protect and promote Palestinian rights, including the recognition of the State of Palestine on the 1967 border with East Jerusalem as its capital.”