Declaration of Death

When looking at the Middle East today, most people wonder: when did this all start? How did the Middle East become so unstable? The answer is actually quite simple. Most of it can be traced back to the Balfour Declaration which was written on November 2, 1917; almost a full century ago.

What exactly did this declaration state for it to cause this much instability? To summarize, this declaration supported the creation of a “Jewish Homeland” in the country of Palestine. However, there was only one problem; People were already living in this land, the Palestinians. The Palestinians were made up of Muslims, Christians, and Jews who all lived peacefully and were allowed to worship freely.

The movement behind this declaration was Zionism. The Zionist belief is that Israel should be set up as Jewish homeland that has a Jewish majority. So how does someone remove an entire population from their land? The answer is mass genocide and ethnic cleansing. When European Zionists started their removal of ethnic groups that were not their own, even Palestinian Jews were removed from their home land. This resulted in thousands of Palestinians being massacred and millions being exiled. Cities were completely bulldozed, but the Palestinian culture lived on in the neighboring countries of Jordan, Egypt, and Syria, where a majority of Palestinians refugees fled to.

The Zionist movement hasn’t let go of its radical ideologies, even today. Through violating UN resolutions and committing war crimes, Israel has made it clear that they aren’t playing by the rules. UN resolution 242 clearly states that Israel must withdraw troops from the occupied territories of the West Bank and the Golan Heights, both of which they have failed to do. Israel has also committed war crimes by using white phosphorous as an offensive weapon on the civilians of Gaza, a small strip of Palestinian territory, in their latest two assaults in 2012 and 2014.

In addition, Israel is still building illegal settlements on Palestinian land. Today, 900,000 Israelis illegally live in the West Bank. Palestinians live as second class citizens in their own land. Resources are limited and the illegal settlements are given priority in services. However, the West Bank is doing a lot better than Gaza.

According to the UN, Gaza will be unfit for living by 2020. The territory has been under Israeli siege for more than 10 years. It has been described as an open-air prison, with Israel being the oppressive warden. Gaza receives only a few hours of electricity a day. Water and food are limited as well. After the 2014 assault on Gaza, millions of dollars of building materials were needed to repair the houses, schools, hospitals, and power plants that were bombed by Israel. Very few of these materials were allowed in, while the rest were blocked by the Israeli Government.

The Balfour Declaration gave Zionists the green light to massacre Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Palestinians to pave the way for a haven for European Zionists. Palestinians who still live in their homeland today face oppression and have to live as second class citizens. All of this caused by this declaration, which the UK refuses to apologize for, even today. Instead, they responded to the request by saying that they are proud of their in the creation of the state of Israel. But what truly is there to be proud of? The massacre of thousands and the exile of millions?