Thousands March through London to Oppose Balfour Declaration

Rasa - Thousands of people marched through London to call on Britain to apologize for the Balfour Declaration.

News ID: 434616

Date: 05 November 2017 - 20:16

RNA - The demonstration came as UK Prime Minister Theresa May this week celebrated the centenary of the controversial 1917 document which paved the way for the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, Middle East Eye reported.

Organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, protesters marched through the heart of London from outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square to Parliament Square in Westminster.

The Balfour Declaration, which is dated 7 November 1917, is a 67-word letter from Balfour, the foreign secretary of David Lloyd George’s British government, to Walter Rothschild, the leader of the British Jewish community, which is considered by Zionists to indicate British support for the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine, which was then under the control of the Ottoman Empire.

Palestinians decry the declaration as a promise by Britain to hand over land it did not own, which led to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 and the eviction of many Palestinians from their lands.

Some of the signs held at the London march included hundreds of "Free Palestine" placards and home-made signs aimed at Balfour.

Among the speakers at the pro-Palestine rally in Westminster were representatives from numerous trade unions, Friends of Al-Aqsa and other pro-Palestine organizations who supported the march.

The rally also showed a video message from Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Other notable figures who addressed the rally included film director Ken Loach and Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti.

"The Balfour declaration founded the racist regime of apartheid and is being implemented in Jerusalem, in the West Bank and Gaza and that is why we must stop it," Barghouti addressed the rally.

Other protests to decry the declaration took place across the West Bank and the Middle East over the last week.

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