CMEP Bulletin: 100 Years Since the Balfour Declaration

The Balfour Declaration Still Divides the Middle East 100 Years Later [The Washington Post]

“In a year brimming with profoundly symbolic centennials, Thursday marks perhaps the most politically fraught one. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will appear in London alongside his British counterpart, Theresa May, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. … [T]he Balfour Declaration is held up as a seminal event, the first formal utterance of the modern Israeli state’s right to exist (though some historians quibble that a ‘national home’ is not the same thing as a state). For that reason, it is also bitterly regarded by many Palestinians as the first instrument of their dispossession,” according to The Washington Post.

Abbas: Any Minister in Future Unity Gov’t Must Recognize Israel [The Jerusalem Post]
“Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he would not appoint Hamas officials to a potential Palestinian unity government, if they did not recognize the State of Israel, according to former members of Knesset who met with the Palestinian leader on Sunday. … The PA president’s comments on a potential unity government came after his party, Fatah, and Hamas signed an Egyptian-brokered deal to advance reconciliation efforts and restore the PA’s rule in the Gaza Strip. While Fatah and Hamas have not agreed to form a unity government, upcoming talks between Hamas, Fatah and smaller Palestinian factions in Cairo in late November are slated to deal with the topic,” according to The Jerusalem Post.

CMEP Press Release: CMEP Delegation Meets With Palestinian President Abbas on 100th Anniversary of Balfour Declaration
Thursday, November 2, 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the historic declaration by Lord Balfour of Great Britain that “[viewed] with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” The Balfour Declaration also stated “that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.” A CMEP delegation to the Holy Land including, CMEP Executive Director, Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon; CMEP Board Chair, Rev. Nathan Hosler; member denominations, Church of the Brethren and the Christian Reformed Church in North America, met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. During the meeting, President Abbas expressed appreciation to Rev. Dr. Cannon for CMEP’s work. “Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) laments the unilateral translation of the Balfour Declaration into support of one people group over another.”

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