(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) CAIRO, Nov 2 (KUNA) -- The Arab League on Sunday called on the international community, particularly the United Kingdom, to play an active role in relief efforts, reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and enabling the Palestinian people to exercise self-determination on the anniversary of Balfour Declaration.
In a statement marking the 108th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, the League urged influential countries to support Palestine's bid for full UN membership and efforts to achieve a two-state solution, ending the Israeli occupation through the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The statement said the pledge made by then-British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to establish a national home for Jews in Palestine led to a catastrophe for the Palestinian people.
While welcoming the United Kingdom's decision last September to recognize the State of Palestine as a step toward rectifying the "historical injustice" of the Balfour Declaration, the League urged London to pressure Israeli occupation to halt its violations and crimes and refrain from supporting the expansionist settlement regime in accordance with its obligations under international law.
The statement noted that this year's anniversary coincides with what it described as a "genocidal war" waged by Israeli occupation authorities in the Gaza Strip for two consecutive years, resulting in tens of thousands of casualties, near total destruction of the enclave, and the displacement of around two million Palestinians.
It also condemned Israeli occupation's ongoing violations in the occupied West Bank, including extrajudicial killings, arrests, home demolitions, settler violence, expansion of settlements, and continued attempts to Judaize Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque. (end)
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