On the 109th anniversary of the infamous Balfour Declaration, the Palestinian Democratic Youth Union (PDYU) and the Young Communist League of Britain reaffirm that the declaration issued by the British government on 2 November 1917 was a flagrant expression of a colonial policy that treated Palestine and its people as objects of imperialist bargaining and political schemes. It paved the way for the Palestinian Nakba of 1948, which brought about the forced displacement of Palestinians and the destruction of their cities and villages.
The Balfour Declaration allowed a colonial power to dispose of the future of a people whose land it did not own, disregarding the Palestinian people’s national and historical rights and paving the way for the establishment of a settler-colonial project in Palestine. The Nakba was not an isolated historical event, but an ongoing catastrophe whose consequences continue through occupation, settlement expansion, annexation, siege and aggression, alongside persistent attempts to uproot the Palestinian people from their land and liquidate their national rights.
One hundred and nine years after the declaration, the Palestinian people continue to face the consequences of these colonial policies. The genocidal war, destruction and forced displacement in the Gaza Strip, the escalating attacks by Israeli occupation forces and settlers in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and the continued denial of millions of Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homes and properties all reflect the enduring nature of this injustice. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon also face severe economic and social hardship, exacerbated by cuts to UNRWA services and the deterioration of educational, healthcare and social provision, threatening the future and fundamental rights of younger generations.
We, the Palestinian Democratic Youth Union (PDYU) and the Young Communist League of Britain, affirm that the passage of time cannot legitimise historical injustice, and that the Palestinian people’s rights are inalienable and cannot be extinguished by the passage of time. Foremost among these rights is the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194; the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and to establish an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital; an end to occupation and settlement expansion; and freedom for Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli prisons.
We hold the British government historically, politically and morally responsible for the role played by the Balfour Declaration in laying the foundations for the Palestinian tragedy. We call on the British government to acknowledge this responsibility and take concrete steps towards justice for the Palestinian people, including ending political and military support for the occupation, working to ensure accountability for its crimes, and upholding international law and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.
We further affirm that the Palestinian cause is a struggle for national liberation against settler colonialism and racism. Building the broadest possible internationalist front, bringing together youth and student movements, communist, progressive and democratic forces, is essential. This solidarity must connect the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, return and independence with the struggles of peoples everywhere against exploitation, domination and imperialist hegemony.
We call on youth and student movements in Britain, Europe and across the world to sustain popular and campus mobilisations, intensify solidarity campaigns with the Palestinian people, advance boycotts of the occupation and institutions complicit in its crimes, oppose all forms of complicity, and defend the Palestinian people’s right to freedom, dignity and self-determination. We also stress the importance of resisting attempts to criminalise solidarity with Palestine and silence those demanding an end to the aggression and the occupation.
Despite differences in their circumstances and experiences, progressive Palestinian and British youth share a commitment to defending justice, human rights and the struggle against colonialism and racism. From this perspective, effective internationalist solidarity with the Palestinian people is a political and moral responsibility that must go beyond statements of condemnation towards collective action to change the policies that sustain occupation and oppression.
The Balfour Declaration failed to erase Palestine from the collective memory or sever its people from their national identity. Nor will projects of displacement and liquidation break the determination of its younger generations. A people who have upheld their land and rights for more than a century will continue their struggle until freedom, return, self-determination and independence are achieved.
Together against colonialism, imperialism and racism.
Together for a free Palestine and the Palestinian people’s right to return and self-determination.
Long live internationalism and solidarity among peoples! Long live the common struggle for a world of justice and freedom!
Palestinian Democratic Youth Union (PDYU)
Young Communist League of Britain
02 November 2026
