(WASHINGTON, D.C. 11/2/2019) — Today marks 102 years since the British government shamefully issued the Balfour Declaration, affirming Zionist colonial ambitions in Palestine and helping to pave the way for the creation of the State of Israel. On November 2, 1917, then-U.K. Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur Balfour sent the letter to Lord Walter Rothschild, a financier and prominent Zionist leader, pledging support for "a Jewish national home in Palestine," which led to the expulsion of the majority of its native people from their land. 

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More than a century later, the dispossession of Palestinians continues with foreign powers still negotiating away their rights. Not only did the international community, namely the British and American governments, fail to bear legal responsibility and correct the grave injustices that were inflicted upon the Palestinians, but it has given Israel carte blanche, and, in fact, served as its enabler, to perpetuate its illegal policies of land theft, mass murder, and ethnic cleansing. 

Since March 2018, Israel has murdered nearly 300 peaceful Palestinian protestors and wounded thousands more. Palestinians in Gaza have been demonstrating weekly during the Great March of Return to break Israel's 12-year inhumane siege. Just last week, Israel shot 96 people including 43 children, in a shocking escalation. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to make its own infamous promises to Israel, with Trump, Kushner, and Friedman, blaming the Palestinians for their own suffering and allowing to expand its land annexation of the West Bank.

Still, on this solemn anniversary, we recognize the perseverance of Palestinian refugees who continue to endure and resists despite all odds. After more than 70 years of a brutal military occupation and attempts at erasing their identity, Palestinians have never abandoned their struggle or hope to return to their land.

Finally, we are heartened to see a growing shift in public opinion in the U.S. with more Americans becoming critical of Israel. Politicians have also publicly criticized's Israel's racist government, and threatened to cut off aid to Israel for its violation of Palestinian human rights. 

Today, Palestinians and Palestine solidarity activists around the world continue to demand justice from Britain for the Balfour Declaration, and for freedom and self-determination in Palestine. To learn more about the history of Palestine, its current challenges, and ways to organize and advocate for it in the U.S., we invite you to join us in four weeks in Chicago for our 12th Annual Conference for Palestine in the U.S.—Election 2020: Palestine Working for Justice

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American Muslims for Palestine
6404 Seven Corners Place, Ste. N
Falls Church, VA 22044
703.534.3032 / 703.534.1904
[email protected]

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