Israel Matzav

'Palestinian' 'youth group' to sue UK over Israel's creation

A 'Palestinian' 'youth group' has announced plans to sue the United Kingdom over Israel's creation, charging the British government with committing a 'series of crimes' against the so-called 'Palestinian people.'

Representatives of the Watanuna (Our Homeland) Palestinian Youth said the biggest crime the British government committed was when it promised a homeland for the Jewish people in the 1917 Balfour Declaration.

They said they were also planning to collect a million signatures from Palestinians in support of the lawsuit against Britain.

Ali Ubeidat, a spokesman for the youth group, whose members include many university students, said preparations had already begun to file the suit in a British court.

He said the decision to go after the UK government came after a thorough study of all the legal aspects related to Britain's responsibility for the Palestinians' "nakba" (catastrophe), the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

"We hold Britain responsible for the suffering of the Palestinian people over the past 60 years," Ubeidat said. "It's time for Britain to bear the moral and political responsibility for this suffering. The British people should be among the first to support the rights of the Palestinians."

The organizers began collecting signatures over the weekend from Palestinian youth in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Israel and overseas.

Rami Masharaka, director of Watanuna Palestinian Youth, said the lawsuit would also refer to the time of the British Mandate for Palestine.

He said his group had begun collecting testimony and other evidence about Britain's practices back then, especially "its policy of expelling the Arabs from their homeland."

I am debating which of the following is the greater irony in this story: the fact that the British government did everything in its power to prevent the creation of a Jewish state, or the fact that the British have opened their courts to ludicrous lawsuits like this one.

I wonder if the sovereign still has immunity in Great Britain, or whether they have done away with that rule too. If the sovereign is not immune, perhaps the 'International Court of Justice' will take up the 'Palestinians' cause.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:51 AM