„Almost 100 years after the Balfour Declaration expressed British support for a Jewish state in Palestine, the Palestinians call on the Arab League to assist them in bringing a criminal case against the UK for being a direct cause of the ‚Palestinian Catastrophe.‘ Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas called for Britain to be prosecuted for the 1917 Balfour Declaration. The statements were made during an Arab League meeting in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott on Sunday. He also called on Arab League members to assist him in pursuing this legal action. According to Abbas, the Balfour Declaration – which stated Britain’s support for a Jewish homeland in what was then Palestine – was a direct cause for the ‚Palestinian Nakba.‘ Nakba, meaning ‚catastrophe‘ in Arabic, is how the Arab World refers to the founding of the State of Israel.
The speech itself was given by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki speaking on behalf of Abbas. Abbas was unable to make it to the Arab League summit on account of the death of his brother in Qatar. ‚We are working to open up an international criminal case for the crime which they committed against our nation – from the days of the British Mandate all the way to the massacre which was carried out against us from 1948 onwards,‘ al-Maliki said. ‚With the commemoration of 100 years since this historic massacre, and following the continuity of this tragedy, we request that the Secretary General of the Arab League assist us in prosecuting the British government for publishing the Balfour Declaration which caused this catastrophe against the Palestinian people.‘“
(Roi Kais/Elior Levy: „Palestinians call to sue UK over Balfour Declaration“)
