PLO pushes for UK apology for Balfour Pledge

PLO pushes for UK apology for Balfour Pledge

The Balfour Declaration came in the form of a letter from Britain's then-foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has urged Britain to apologize to the Palestinians for the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which led to the displacement of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland.

In a Saturday statement, PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat said that it is time for Britain to act with responsibility and extend an apology over the notorious pledge.

The PLO official also called on Britain to acknowledge the political rights of the Palestinian people, which were denied a century ago.

The Balfour Declaration, which resulted in a significant upheaval in the lives of Palestinians, was issued on November 2, 1917.

The declaration turned the Zionist aim of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine into a reality when Britain publicly pledged to establish "a national home for the Jewish people" there.

The pledge 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.

Though the Balfour Declaration included the admonition that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine", the British mandate was set up in a way to equip Jews with the tools to establish self-rule, at the expense of the Palestinian Arabs.

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