'Palestinians going 100 years backwards'

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu participated in the festive Knesset session marking 100 years since the Balfour declaration.

Netanyahu said that the declaration had "lit a fire in hearts and uplifted Jewish pride in the world as well as providing a tremendous growth in the Jewish community in the land of Israel." Netanyahu added that "unfortunately a short time letter Britain disavowed its promises in the declaration and this was a great tragedy. Our being stateless until 1948 prevented the salvation of millions of Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust. The tragedy of the Balfour declaration was that it took 30 years to implement it."

Netanyahu concluded that "when the Palestinian leadership call the Balfour declaration a crime and call on the British government to apologize for it, they are not going forwards but rather 100 years backwards. This is the source of the dispute, the 100-year refusal to recognize Zionism and the state of Israel in any borders."