A bizarre attack on Israel's legitimacy

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has many faces, but he never appeared delusional until Monday, when it was announced that he had sought assistance from Arab states in taking Britain to the International Criminal Court over the Balfour Declaration of almost 100 years ago. The some 50 words of the note former Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour gave to 2nd Baron Walter Rothschild promised that Britain would work to establish a national home for the Jewish people in the land of Israel, without harming others.

The Balfour Declaration was preceded by 12 drafts. Leonard Stein wrote about it in a 500-page book. The groomsman was Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who later became the first president of Israel. When Balfour wondered why the state should be established in the land of Israel, exactly, Weizmann responded: "Jerusalem was ours when London was still a swamp."

But the Balfour Declaration didn't exist in a vacuum. The world supported it. Even King Faisal of Iraq, whose family originated in Saudi Arabia, reached an agreement with Weizmann on the terms. The declaration was approved in 1920 by an international conference that met in San Remo after World War I. The approval of the mandate by the Council of the League of Nations in 1922 gave the Balfour Declaration international validity, almost like the 1947 U.N. resolution to establish a Jewish state in part of the land of Israel.

Britain cannot, therefore, be condemned as if the Balfour Declaration -- which was the excuse for Arab riots in the land of Israel almost every year -- existed in a bubble. If the International Court discusses the matter, it will have to address the question of whether Israel's existence is legitimate in the eyes of the world, while ignoring the world's decisions on that subject thus far.

It might be that Abbas' desperate move hides malice. He is hoping that if he can put Britain on trial for the 1917 document, the justice of Zionism will be called into question hereafter. That approach certainly doesn't fall into line with his pretence of supporting a two-state solution.

When it comes down to it, this is a laughable appeal. So laughable that he should be pressed and asked why he confined his accusation to Britain. What about blaming God, who promised Abram that "to your offspring I will give this land" (Genesis 12:7)? That seems like much "sexier" grounds for a lawsuit than the Balfour note.

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