Statement of acknowledgement on the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration
On the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration
we British citizens wish to express our profound regret
at the conspiracy of the British government of that time
to dispossess the inhabitants of Palestine.
This was done by means of promises
to the people of that and surrounding regions
with the intention to deceive.
We are conscious that one of the motives of those promises was
to provide a sanctuary for the Jews
who have been grievously ill-treated over the centuries
by ourselves and our European neighbours.
But two wrongs do not make a right,
and those promises have led to unending death, destruction and dislocation for millions of people of all communities in that region.
We make this statement in the hope that
the acknowledgement of wrongs can
open a way forward to the establishment of
a just peace for all the peoples in the Middle East.