Arthur Balfour's Promise and Donald Trump's Orders

Between the years 1917 and 2025, more than a century has passed, as if history is repeating itself, a saying that revolves around the words of God Almighty in verse 140 of Surat Al Imran: “If a wound should touch you, there has already touched the [former] people a wound similar to it. And these days We alternate among the people that God may make evident those who believe and take from among you martyrs. And God does not like the wrongdoers.”

Although international charters, covenants and resolutions, whether issued by the UN Security Council or the UN General Assembly, all affirmed the right of self-determination for the peoples of the world.

Since the Palestinian Arab people are one of the peoples of the world, who are still impatiently awaiting the implementation of dozens of international resolutions regarding their self-determination, the so-called Arthur Balfour, the British Foreign Minister at the time, had previously made a promise to establish a homeland for the Jews in Palestine in October 1917, so that his promise was issued by a person who does not own you to someone who does not deserve you.

The international conspiracies against the Palestinian cause continued in various forms, under the cover of darkness over the past years, until US President Donald Trump came out during his presidency of the United States of America between 2017-2021, with an idea that goes beyond the context of international law, as on 12-6-2017 he issued a promise in the form of written recognition that Israel has the right to determine its capital, in addition to announcing the transfer of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

And then the days continue to pass and a few years pass, and despite the end of Trump’s term at the beginning of 2021, the aforementioned returns to the presidency of the United States at the beginning of 2025, and his chair is burdened with the blood of Palestinians for a year and three months before his inauguration as president for the second time, as a result of the absolute support from the Biden administration with equipment and weapons to the occupying state throughout the aforementioned period.

It is true that Trump instructed his envoy hours before his inauguration to oblige the Israeli occupation government to stop the war on the people of the Gaza Strip, so that the world’s television screens would be focused only on his inauguration ceremony, but time has passed and is passing with a truce whose outcome we do not know, in light of the attempt by the various Palestinian factions to portray the scene of victory from the exchange deal between the Palestinian prisoners and the Israeli prisoners and hostages, which is something that did not please the Israeli side, and in light of the breaking of the latter’s will with the scene of a great day of God’s days on 1/27/2025, and the entire world witnessed the return of the displaced Palestinians from the south of the Strip to its north.

This crowd, with the return of the people from the south of the Strip to its north, is something we have not witnessed since 1948, as the world has become accustomed to seeing the Palestinians in a state of asylum, displacement and exodus from their homes due to the successive wars against them, and the world has never witnessed a return movement of this form and number.

The right of return in the aforementioned manner from the south of the Gaza Strip to its north, confirmed for the first time since the history of the Arab-Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a new historical and legal reality that would not have been implemented for 8 decades, and that manner was one of God’s manners in His promise to His faithful and patient servants, on a blessed day connected to the anniversary of the Isra’ and Iraj, and with conclusive evidence and firm proof, that the Palestinian will not budge from his land that God has blessed with an unparalleled blessing.

So this new equation imposed by the people of Gaza put Trump and his team, along with the occupying state, to a real test, either by opposing the international legitimacy related to international law and international humanitarian law, and the extent of the enforcement of the United Nations Charter on the occupying state and its ally, the United States of America, or by correctly applying the provisions of international law, and issuing a declaration by Trump to correct his strategic mistake that he committed at the end of 2017, in what he called “Israel’s right to determine its capital” and considering all of Jerusalem as its capital, by issuing a parallel declaration to the 2017 declaration, the content of which is the right of the Palestinian people to have Jerusalem as their capital, as a legal basis for enforcing international law on that conflict and implementing international legitimacy resolutions.

I firmly believe that Trump will not issue his announcement, and will not care about the Palestinian reality. Rather, he increased the arrogance of the occupation by providing it with more deadly bombs on the first days of his inauguration as president for the second time. He went beyond the politeness and context of diplomatic dealings between countries, and between those he considers friends, to try to satisfy the arrogance of the occupation, which rejected the scene of return. Rather, all politicians of the occupying state considered it a bad omen for them, because this return constitutes the nucleus of the right of return to the villages and cities of historic Palestine, supported by international resolutions.

The return of the people of Gaza from the south of the Strip to its north also disturbed Trump, so he issued an order to two neighboring Arab countries to receive the people of Gaza, and asked other countries to receive a number of them. For example, he asked Albania to receive 100,000 Gazans, and asked other countries, whose request is not important and whose names are not important to mention, to receive a number of the people of Gaza, to erase the image of the return and uproot it forever under the name of rebuilding the Strip.

This painful reality, issued by the president of the most powerful country in the world, reflects disdain for the rights of others, and even hatred and arrogance that go beyond the foundations of humanity. Therefore, we find that Trump, with his policy of ignorance of the nature of the rights of the Palestinian people, and his blind and absolute support for the policy of the occupying state to continue further in falsehood in violating international laws, with a methodology stemming from premeditation, and this matter will inevitably increase the cohesion of the peoples of the region in confronting the plans of Trump and the occupying state, and will lead to the cohesion and solidarity of its peoples with their leaders, especially in light of what the Egyptian president announced in a press conference two days ago that Egypt's national security will not allow the idea to be accepted or thought about, and this is what King Abdullah II stressed, and Trump's statement that the United States' assistance to the two countries will make them subject to the pressure of his order, is a departure from diplomatic etiquette and a departure from the politeness associated with the ethics of dealing between presidents, as American assistance to the two countries is not a favor or kindness, nor does it stem from good morals, righteousness or charity.

Rather, the international agreements concluded between the two aforementioned countries and the Israeli occupation state were combined with an American pledge to provide material and military assistance, to ensure the continuation of the treaties between their parties.

Therefore, linking the Balfour Declaration to Trump’s orders issued a few hours ago, obligating both Egypt and Jordan to receive the people of Gaza or a large number of them, constitutes a promise and an order from someone who has no right to issue them, to a people whose fate neither Trump nor anyone else has the right to influence, because in colloquial language it is said: The Palestinian people have no authority over anyone except their freedom and emancipation from occupation.

Therefore, the ominous promise and the dwarfed order, although their edge is like a damaged sword, are a lie that will not last, and Trump's order has become the title of the next stage - God forbid - with more bloodshed between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, and will lead us into a cycle of violence, distress, massacres and endless hatred, although the components of the solution are simple. The decent living between the two peoples under the umbrella of the Ottoman state, over the previous 400 years of Ottoman rule over Palestine and the rest of the Arab countries, was enough to remind us that coexistence existed between us, and still exists, provided that we do not deny each other's rights. Is there anyone who will answer?

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The return of the people of Gaza from the south of the Strip to its north disturbed Trump, so he issued an order to two neighboring Arab countries to receive the people of Gaza, and asked other countries to receive a number of them. For example, he asked Albania to receive 100,000 Gazans.