Former French PM: Creation of Israel by Balfour Declaration a Historic
Mistake
www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2004/2004_06/112.html

[IMRA: EUOBSERVER reported on 17 June that Rocard is in the running to
serve as president of the European Parliament for two and a half years in a
deal between the socialist group (PES) and the European People Party's (EPP)
www.euobserver.com/?sid=9&aid=16660 ]

GAZA, June 19, 2004 (IPC + Asharq Al-Awsat)-- [Official wesbite of the PA]
The former French Prime Minister and current member of the European
Parliament, Michel Rocard, blasted Israel as an "abnormal case in the
world", describing its creation by the 1917-Balfour Declaration as a
"historic mistake".

Rocard, who is also a well-known member of the French Socialist Party, was
delivering a lecture at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina on June 16, in which he
said that the Balfour promise England gave to the Jews to create a national
homeland for them in Palestine was a "mistake".

He also described the Israeli state as a "unique and abnormal condition
because it was created with a promise, and that millions of Jews gathered
from all around the world, creating an entity that continues to pose a
threat to its neighbors until today."

Rocard also drew attention to the fact that Israel was also historically
created on a racist basis, depending on armed conflict to set its borders.
Rocard referred to the colonization of the Arab world, of which his country
was involved in, as the main reason behind the current state of violence and
conflict in the Middle East.

However, Rocard warned that delaying a peace agreement between the Arab
states and Israel would "greatly increase violence in the region," pointing
out that the long-demanded reforms in the Arab states stemmed from the
inside, not imposed by outside forces.

"Peace must spring from a religious base . all reforms can be made possible
through the teachings of our divine religions. To pray to God is accepted,
but violence is not," concluded Rocard.