Israeli army suppresses Palestinian Balfour Declaration protest

Protesters began their march in the north of Bethlehem and planned to continue until they had reached the southern part of the city, where Israel’s separation wall is built.

The protesters built a dummy of Arthur James Balfour, the then British foreign secretary who wrote the declaration, throwing shoes at it while burning a copy of the declaration, according to Palestine based Ma’an News Agency.

Shortly after the protest began, occupying Israeli forces took fast measures to put an end to it, attacking Palestinians with various methods including live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas.

One Palestinian was injured after getting shot and several others suffered symptoms of tear gas inhalation.

Protests took place in other parts of Palestine, including Nablus and Gaza. Palestinian diaspora groups across the world had also gathered to protest the declaration.

On November 2, 1917, Balfour wrote a three-paragraph letter to Lord Rothschild, a British aristocrat and leading light of the burgeoning Zionist movement, promising the British government's support to establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine.

Since then millions of Palestinians have been displaced, with them being the world’s largest refugee group a century later.