Palestinian Authority aims to sue Britain for 1917 Balfour Declaration

JERUSALEM - Britain is responsible for all Israeli war crimes since 1948 because it created the 1917 mandate which saw Arabs removed from their state to clear room for the state of Israel, a top Palestinian diplomat has said.

Originally signed by UK Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, the agreement officially sanctioned the Zionist movement’s aims, leading to its eventual colonization of what was then the Ottoman-controlled territory of Palestine.

Today the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) chief foreign minister, Riyad al-Malki, told the Arab League that Britain would be held to account for its role in what Palestinians still see as a cataclysmic political event.

That decision, Al-Maliki told the League on Monday, “gave people who don’t belong there something that wasn’t theirs.”

It is not clear where or how the PA will sue. The UK government has yet to reply to the PA's charge.