Former French PM: Creation of Israel by Balfour Declaration a Historic Mistake

GAZA, June 19, 2004 (IPC + Asharq Al-Awsat)-- The former French Prime Minister and current member of the European Parliament, Michel Rocard, blasted Israel as an "abnormal case in the world", describing its creation by the 1917-Balfour Declaration as a "historic mistake".

Rocard, who is also a well-known member of the French Socialist Party, was delivering a lecture at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina on June 16, in which he said that the Balfour promise England gave to the Jews to create a national homeland for them in Palestine was a "mistake".

He also described the Israeli state as a "unique and abnormal condition because it was created with a promise, and that millions of Jews gathered from all around the world, creating an entity that continues to pose a threat to its neighbors until today."

Rocard also drew attention to the fact that Israel was also historically created on a racist basis, depending on armed conflict to set its borders. Rocard referred to the colonization of the Arab world, of which his country was involved in, as the main reason behind the current state of violence and conflict in the Middle East.

However, Rocard warned that delaying a peace agreement between the Arab states and Israel would "greatly increase violence in the region," pointing out that the long-demanded reforms in the Arab states stemmed from the inside, not imposed by outside forces.

"Peace must spring from a religious base … all reforms can be made possible through the teachings of our divine religions. To pray to God is accepted, but violence is not,” concluded Rocard.

http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e1/e_News/news2004/2004_06/112.html