Palestinian President Orders Flag to Fly at Half-Staff

Ramallah, MINA – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, on Sunday, issued a decree ordering flags to be flown at half-staff on November 2 every year to mark the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.

Wafa News Agency reported that the decree issued by President Abbas ordered the flying of flags at half-mast in all government ministries and departments, and in all Palestinian embassies and representative offices abroad.

The decree aims to remind the world in general and Britain in particular about the plight of the Palestinian people and their right to achieve independence, statehood and self-determination.

The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 during the First World War announcing support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.

The Balfour Declaration is contained in a letter dated 2 November 1917 from the British Secretary of State, Arthur Balfour, to Lord Rothschild, leader of the British Jewish community, for notification to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. The Balfour Declaration was broadcast through the mass media on November 9, 1917.

The declaration then caused various sufferings of the Palestinian people and their expulsion from their homeland by the Zionist Movement. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)