One hundred and eight years ago, British colonialism issued its infamous declaration — granting what it did not own to those who did not deserve — paving the way for the birth of a usurping entity founded on dispossession and discrimination, and igniting one of the longest human tragedies in modern history.

President Mahmoud Abbas has issued a “constitutional declaration,” adding to a series of decrees aimed at restructuring the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in a manner that shifts control from one individual to another.