Our right is steadfast and storms of normalisation and liquidation conspiracies to disappear

Our Great Palestinian people,

The anniversary of the ill-fated Balfour Declaration bears witness the deviation of humanitarian values and international policy as it was not ruled by principles and morals. It will remain the biggest witness to the largest grab in history facilitated by the British mandate, the world’s largest power at the time, and carried out by rogue gangs with no principles or history, undermining Palestinian rights, massacring thousands of Palestinian citizens and displacing tens of thousands others under a British protection and amid an international silence.

This anniversary comes as the Palestinian people are still facing brutality, suppression, dispossession and forceful displacement at the hands of the Israeli occupation while the international community remains silent and the United States plays the same role embraced by its ally, Britain, in its quest to make similar proposals under new names, such as the “deal of the century”, which is no less ill-fated and dangerous than the Balfour Declaration.

This anniversary comes as Judaisation plots and plans to alter Jerusalem’s Palestinian and Arab identity and divide Al-Aqsa Mosque are being accelerated with a US backing, a suspicious Arab silence, and a blessing from Arab states normalising ties with the Israeli occupation.   

Through their continued resistance against the Israeli occupation throughout history, the Palestinian people have stressed that these plans and moves are null and void and global conspiracies are also doomed to fail.

Despite the great sacrifices made by them and the tragic and bloody stages that have experienced, the Palestinians remain committed to their homeland and are always willing to make further sacrifices for the sake of their freedom and independence.

They will never waive their right to any inch of their homeland with the passage of time; all suspicious deals, annexation plans and attempts to falsify history and undermine the Palestinians’ awareness will never succeed in changing facts and suppressing the truth.

On this tragic anniversary, the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas states the following:

First: The Balfour Declaration, which has prepared the ground for the “deal of the century” and caused the gravest historical injustice, has been null and void since its release as it has distorted history and undermine the Palestinians’ rights; Britain shares responsibility for all sufferings and tragedies experienced by the Palestinian people with the Israeli occupation and its allies and has to rectify its historic crime.    

Second: We salute Palestinian citizens of the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948, as well as Palestinian refugees in diaspora and exile, for standing steadfast in the face of all plots and schemes intended to liquidate their national rights, from the ill-fated Balfour Declaration to the “deal of the century”.

Third: We reiterate our rejection to normalisation with the Israeli occupation and view such moves as a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause and a losing bet on an enemy that would turn its back on other sides which had extended their hands to.

Fourth: Achieving national unity and unifying the Palestinian decision-making process at this critical stage is a strategic option to face off such conspiracies and foil all attempts to legitimise the Israeli occupation and normalise its existence in the Middle East.  

Fifth: Resistance in all forms, from popular to armed action, will remain a legitimate option proved effective that the Palestinian people will never abandon until retrieving their rights and ending the occupation.

Sixth: Hamas stresses that Palestinian refugees have the right to return to their lands and homes from which they were forcibly displaced and be compensated for years of dispossession and displacement; this is a constant right that will not be waived with the passage of time.

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas

November 2, 2020

Rabi Al-Awal 1442