100 years on, Balfour declaration triggers celebration, mourning

In a 67-word statement composed 100 years ago, Britain endorsed the establishmentofaJewishhomelandin the Middle East, triggering a process that would culminate in the creation of Israel - andwithit one of the world’s most intractable conflicts.

OnThursdayBritishandIsraeli leaders commemorated the centenary of that statement, known as the Balfour Declaration after the foreign minister whopennedit,withabanquetin the gilded halls of London’sLan- caster House mansion.

But as UK’s Prime Minister TheresaMayandIsrael’sBenjaminNetanyahudined,protesters in London and the Palestinian Territories gathered to demand Britain acknowledge the suffering they say the declaration has caused to Palestinians, and recognise their claim to statehood.

While Israel reveres Arthur Balfour,namingstreetsandaTel Aviv school after him, Palestinians decry his declaration as a promise by Britain to hand over land it did not own.

Thecontesteddeclarationisat therootoftheIsraeli-Palestinian territorial conflict which, after several wars and decades of international diplomacy, remains unsettled.

Britain held Palestine, which hadpreviouslybeenunderOttomanrule,from1922untilafterthe end of World War 2.

Israel declared independence in 1948, at the endofBritish MandatoryruleandaftertheUNGeneral Assembly voted in 1947 in favour of a plan, rejected by Palestinianrepresentatives,topartition Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state.

Britain has refused previous Palestiniandemandsforanapology,anddoesnotofficiallyrecognise Palestine as a state.

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