Palestinians participate in a march on November 2, 2017, in the centre of the West Bank city of Ramallah to protest the 100th anniversary of Britain's Balfour Declaration, which helped lead to Israel's creation and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (AFP PHOTO)

RAMALLAH, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip held protests on Thursday marking 100 years of the Balfour Declaration, which paved way for the establishment of Israel on the lands of Palestine.

Demonstrators protested British government's celebrations of the centenary of Balfour Declaration with Israeli officials in London.

They also urged the British government to apologize for "its historic injustice against the Palestinian people."

Mahmoud Aloul, vice chairperson of Fatah Party, told Xinhua "this, with no doubt, comes in response to this deliberate British impertinence against the Palestinian people. They have committed a crime 100 years ago and today they still insist on it, as per the statements of the British prime minister and the new crime to celebrate this memory."

"They are aware that their crime has led to the displacement and huge sufferings of hundreds of thousands back then and led to destruction of cities, towns," added Aloul.

Political activist and writer Adnan Dagher said "the Palestinian people held demonstration today for all the world to remember that we are still suffering from that engagement, the Balfour engagement 100 years ago, and to prove that still we are struggling to have our independent state."

The Balfour Declaration is the name given to the letter dated November 2, 1917 from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary back then Arthur James Balfour to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild, who was then a leader of the British Jewish community, announcing the British support for the Jewish people to build their state on the lands of Palestine.

Theresa May, the British Prime Minister announced over a week ago that her country "will certainly mark the centenary with pride."

"We must also be conscious of the sensitivities that some people do have about the Balfour Declaration and we recognize that there is more to be done. We remain committed to the two state solution in relation to Israeli and the Palestinians," she added.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas demanded during his UN General Assembly speech last September that Britain apologize for the Balfour Declaration and compensate Palestinians for the occupation of their lands after that letter paved the way for it.