LONDON – PRC

The Balfour Declaration has had serious repercussions as regards the rights of the Palestinian people, said a UK government spokesperson.

Alyson King, a UK government Arabic spokeswoman and Senior Regional Communicator for MENA, told Palestine TV Channel that the UK-drafted Balfour pledge has been a double-edged sword.

Alyson said Britain is looking forward to a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian refugee cause, saying the UK government has increased donations to the UN agency for Palestine refugees UNRWA as part of ongoing attempts to enhance basic services for Palestine refugees.

King, who was in a visit to the occupied Palestinian territories, said she had pursued part of her academic studies in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, some 20 years ago.

The UK official said the best way out of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to establish a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders.

However, she said her government will only recognize Palestine as an independent state when the “right” moment turns up.

November 2 marks the notorious Balfour Declaration (1917), in which the British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour signaled the go-ahead for the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine.

The pledge is generally viewed as one of the main catalysts of the Nakba - the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 - and the conflict that ensued with the Zionist state of Israel.