❗️Hamas marks 109th anniversary of Balfour Declaration by reaffirming Palestinian rights to liberation and return "The anniversary of the ominous Balfour Declaration comes this year as the occupation escalates its aggression and crimes in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, and occupied Jerusalem. Our people in Gaza are enduring a genuine tragedy and the continuation of the genocidal war, while our Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem face dangerous plans and projects of forced displacement and Judaization that violate all international laws and conventions, amid international silence and failure to put an end to this escalating Zionist terrorism. One hundred and nine years have now passed since the greatest injustice committed against a people in modern history, perpetrated by the British government through the so-called Balfour Declaration — a promise made by those who had no right to give to those who had no right to receive. The colonial mentality continues to govern this usurping entity and its fascist government to this day, through policies of killing, siege, starvation, and forced displacement practiced against our people in the Gaza Strip and in the cities, villages, and refugee camps of the occupied West Bank. We, in the Hamas movement, on the 109th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, affirm the following: • First: The Balfour Declaration and the political injustices that followed against our people, our rights, and our historic land, as well as the crimes of killing, forced displacement, ethnic cleansing, and expulsion committed by the occupation from the time of that ominous declaration until today, will not succeed in suppressing or erasing our people’s just cause and legitimate rights. These practices and crimes will not be extinguished by the passage of time, however long it may be, and will remain a testament to the terrorism of this brutal occupation and its supporters. • Second: Achieving national unity through a unified strategy of struggle involving all Palestinians is the only way to confront the Zionist occupation’s plans and crimes against our land, our people, and our Islamic and Christian holy sites. • Third: The right of Palestinian refugees to return to the homes from which they were forcibly displaced is an established legitimate and legal right that cannot be relinquished, compromised, or negotiated away. • Fourth: We call on our Arab and Islamic nations, and all free people around the world, to take serious action on all fronts to put an end to the occupation’s escalating terrorism, work toward its international isolation and rejection, and support our people’s steadfastness and legitimate struggle until the liberation of their land, their return to it, and the establishment of a fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. • Fifth: We call for serious and effective international action to pressure the occupation government to halt its crimes and terrorism, work to hold its leaders accountable as war criminals before international courts, and make every responsible effort to enable our people to secure their legitimate rights, foremost among them the liberation of their land and their return to it. We pray for mercy upon the countless righteous martyrs who have fallen throughout the course of our Palestinian people’s resistance struggle. We ask Allah to grant a speedy recovery to the wounded and the sick, and freedom soon for our captives. We salute the masses of our great Palestinian people wherever they may be, and call on them to strengthen their unity and solidarity and continue their path of steadfastness and resistance until they secure their rights, liberate their land, and return to it."