Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he intends to launch a lawsuit against the British government for the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Abbas issued a statement at the Arab League summit in Mauritania that called for aid from other states in creating this lawsuit.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Image by Chambre des Députés CC-BY-ND 2.0)
President Abbas stated that the “British Mandate and major powers at the time the authority has allowed, for the Jewish terrorist movements, uprooting and expulsion and displacement of nearly half the population of Palestine to the neighboring countries, and to the rest of historic Palestine. In the aftermath of the Nakba (translating to “the disaster” in Arabic, but known to Israel as the “Israeli Independence”) Israeli forces have destroyed more than 485 Palestinian towns and villages, with the result that there are about six million Palestinians currently living in the land of exile and diaspora.”
Mahmoud Abbas refers to the Balfour Declaration that established a line between Palestine and Israel that allowed Jewish people their own land among the Muslim Palestinians, effectively cutting off Muslims from important holy sites.
His full statement urges those at the summit to aid Palestine in supporting their cause for peace and to end the Israeli occupation.
Alexis Henning
BA in Political Science and International Relations, Minor in Middle Eastern studies. US expat in Dublin, IE.
