Jeddah (UNA-OIC) – Today marks the 104th anniversary of the ominous Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, when British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour committed the British government to establish in the Arab land of Palestine a national homeland for the Jewish people.
This declaration is widely viewed as the precursor to the continuous Palestinian colossal cataclysm (Nakba) with its dangerous consequences to the whole people of Palestine.
The pledge provided for the establishment in Palestine of a colonial occupation state with its ongoing policies of mass expulsion, ethnic cleansing, colonial settlement, Judaization, land confiscation, property destruction, and denial to the Palestinian people of their legitimate national rights.
As the world commemorates this dramatic event in the history of humanity that has left a stain on human consciousness and marked a setback to the values of freedom and justice, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) renews its unfailing commitment to the Palestinian people in their struggle for their legitimate rights.
The OIC also calls on the international community to assume its historical, legal and political responsibility to bring the Israeli occupation to end, and to enable the Palestinian people to recover their inalienable rights, including the right of return and the right to establish an independent state on the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on the vision of the two-state solution and relevant UN resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.
