BDS Turkey makes a press statement on the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration in Galatasaray Square, noting that making a reckoning with the declaration is a precondition for the creation of a free Palestine. “In an era in which imperial powers, particularly the Trump administration, are giving all manners of support to Zionism’s various tyrannical plans for Palestine, vowing to ‘rip up Balfour’ is incumbent upon everyone that wishes to see the formation of a single and democratic Palestinian state within the historic boundaries of the area,” protesters said at the rally
Members of BDS Turkey (The Initiative to Boycott Israel for Palestine) descended on Istanbul’s Galatasaray Square on 2 November, the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, to decry the proclamation and redouble efforts to boycott Israel.
“We will rip up the Balfour Declaration and end the occupation,” participants said, while also shouting a number of slogans in Arabic and Turkish, including “Murderous Israel out of the Middle East,” “The imperialists will be defeated, those who resist will be victorious,” “Zionism will be defeated, a Palestine of resistance shall be victorious” and “Out with the envoys, cut the relations.”
Making a reckoning with the declaration is a precondition for the creation of a free Palestine, BDS Turkey said in a press statement that was issued in Arabic and Turkish.
“Vowing to ‘rip up Balfour’ is incumbent upon everyone that wishes to see the formation of a single and democratic Palestinian state within Palestine’s historic boundaries,” protesters said at the rally.
The full statement is as follows:
Exactly 100 years ago today, on 2 November 1917, then-British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour signed a declaration promising the world Zionist movement the formation of a “national home” for the Jewish people in Palestine, thus paving the way for the formation of the Zionist Israeli state on Palestinian land in 1948.
Britain, which was the pre-eminent imperialist power, was taking a number of steps during World War I to partition at will the region that it would come to call the “Middle East” and to establish its own tyranny over these lands. In 1915, it promised the sharif of Mecca, Hussain bin Ali, a monarchy in the Arab world in exchange for his launching of a rebellion against the Ottoman state. In 1916, it signed the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement with France to divide the region’s countries between British and French mandate administrations that were subsequently formed. Amid pressure from Walter Rothschild and Chaim Weizmann, the British government ultimately promised in 1917 to support the Zionist goals that were declared 20 years previously; in the subsequent 30 years, Zionist immigration to Palestine became an official imperialist policy.
In the decades that followed the Balfour Declaration, Palestine witnessed an invasion, a change in its demographic structure, dispossession and the shedding of blood. In time, the British soon lost control over the immigration that was being conducted under the mandate administration. The British “escaped” from Palestine on 14 May 1948, paving the way for the Zionist entity to declare itself a state on the same day. This declaration touched off a series of bloody deportations, known to the Palestinians as the “Nakba.”
And like the beginning of one of modern history’s longest-running occupations, the Israeli state that was created did not just occupy Palestinian lands, but also a number of other areas, from Syria’s Golan Heights to the villages of southern Lebanon and, for a time, the Sinai Peninsula. It is no secret that Israel is seeking to expand its territory. The traces of the role and impact of Zionists with such aims can be seen in a number of civil wars in our region.
Despite all of this, the fact that Great Britain, which should be apologizing to the Palestinian people for the ramifications of its actions, has, by contrast, made the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration a reason for “celebration” can only be interpreted as “imperialist arrogance.”
For us, the Balfour Declaration is neither an event in the past nor the topic of a history lesson; it is a living reality of the occupation of Palestine. The fact that millions of Palestinians are living in different areas of the region as refugees without basic rights is primarily due to Balfour. Israel’s continued expansion, as well as the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, are the legacy of Balfour. Efforts to de-Arabize Jerusalem and remove the local Muslim and Christian population so as to declare the city as “the Jewish state’s eternal capital” are a result of the encouragement given to Zionists by the Balfour Declaration 100 years ago. While Great Britain, the pre-eminent imperialist power of the day, rolled up its sleeves to act as a patron for Zionist aims 100 years ago, today’s pre-eminent power, the United States, has assumed this role of patronage today alongside support from the European Union and the Gulf regimes. In addition, the Zionist entity draws strength from a number of governments, including that of Turkey, which recently signed a comprehensive normalization and cooperation deal with the country.
Making a reckoning with the Balfour Declaration, which was published 100 years ago today, is a precondition for the formation of a free Palestine. Properly comprehending and explaining the significance of this date will draw attention to the fact that the true owner of Palestine is no one but its native people.
In an era in which imperial powers, particularly the Trump administration, are giving all manners of support to Zionism’s various tyrannical plans for Palestine, vowing to “rip up Balfour” is incumbent upon everyone that wishes to see the formation of a single and democratic Palestinian state within Palestine’s historic boundaries.
We will not recognize or provide legitimacy to the century of illegitimate invasion and colonialism, as well as its resultant institutions. We will always support the century-old Palestinian resistance under any circumstance. Until a free Palestine is formed and its native people gain their historical rights as they return to the soil to which the belong, we will continue to issue our call to boycott and isolate Israel in the economic, political, military, diplomatic, cultural and academic arenas.
Palestine is for the Palestinians.
We shall rip up the Balfour Declaration.
Freedom for Palestine, Boycott against Israel
BDS Turkey
2 November 2017
Photos: Meltem Ulusoy
bdsturkiye.org
