The DFLP condemns the Zionist Balfour Declaration

On the 107th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine Central Media issued the following Nov. 2, 2024, statement on Resistance News Network, holding British colonialism historically responsible for planting the Zionist project in Palestine starting in 1917.  In a bold act of solidarity, Palestine Action removed sculptures of the first Zionist president of Israel and an architect of the Balfour Declaration, Chaim Weizmann, from the University of Manchester in England on Nov. 2, 2024.

Had colonial Britain not worked to plant the zionist project in our land, to build the foundations of a settler state and to seize land, the zionist project would have remained lost in the world, searching for refuge far from us.

British colonialism provided the zionist settler-colonial project with all the elements necessary for its realization: political pledges, land, water, weapons and open doors for the migration of hundreds of thousands of Jewish migrants, while the United States and Western Europe closed their doors to Jewish refugees, pushing them forcibly toward Palestine to contribute to building a Jewish state on our land.

British colonialism did not stop at providing every element for establishing the colonial Jewish state on our land; it also actively suppressed the Palestinian national movement, pursuing its leaders, especially those of the armed resistance, starting with the esteemed Sheikh Izz El-Din Al-Qassam and passing through all the heroes of the resistance. [The British] persisted in tilting the scales in favor of the zionist project, paralyzing the foundation of the Palestinian national project.

British colonialism still exhibits hostility towards our Palestinian people, openly participating in the genocidal war waged by the aggressor state against our people in Gaza, covering Gaza’s skies 24/7 with an aerial surveillance network feeding reports to the occupation army for its mass-killing operations.

It also shows hostility towards the people of Yemen, who have taken on the responsibility of supporting our people in Palestine, by joining naval and air fleets alongside the United States.

It is not enough for Britain to offer an apology for its historical and ongoing crimes against our people. At the very least, alongside an apology, Britain is obligated to cease supplying the occupation state with arms, boycott the economy of its settlements, stop providing cover for the aggressor state in the [United Nations] Security Council or the General Assembly, recognize the State of Palestine, cease obstructing its full membership in the United Nations, continue supporting UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) and clearly and unequivocally affirm Palestinian refugees’ right of return to their homes and properties from which they were displaced in 1948, in addition to refraining from participating in wars against our Arab peoples.

Despite everything Western colonialism has offered to the zionist project, our people’s resistance has not ceased over the past 100 years and will continue, presenting legendary stories of heroism by our people and their resistance throughout all occupied Palestinian territories.

This statement was lightly edited.