Britain Palestine Project
Peace with justice, security and equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians
I have received reports that some Instagram users in Jerusalem are facing censorship, presumably by Instagram itself, which is owned by Facebook. Palestinians have reported that recently, when they write Instagram messages about the wave of evictions of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, their messages are recorded as having been sent – but do not…
The Governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK issued this statement on Israeli settlements on May 6. We urge the Government of Israel to reverse its decision to advance the construction of 540 settlement units in the Har Homa E area of the occupied West Bank, and to cease its policy of settlement…
2021 Action Plan Goal Build broad, Cross-Party support in Parliament for British Government action to advance equal rights between Israelis and Palestinians, contributing to ending the Occupation of 1967. There is urgency: Israel’s political leadership is opposed to (and systematically undermining) the two-state paradigm, which remains U.K., EU and (once more) US policy. Why do…
Nadia Hijab is co-founder and President of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, the transnational Palestinian think tank. She is a writer, public speaker and media commentator. Her first book, Womanpower: The Arab debate on women at work was published by Cambridge University Press and she co-authored Citizens Apart: A Portrait of Palestinians in Israel (I.…
House of Lords, 21 June 1922 By William M Mathew Contents PART IPART IIPART III PART I On 21 June 1922, following his elevation to the peerage a few weeks earlier, Arthur Balfour – now the Earl of Balfour – delivered his maiden speech to the House of Lords, this in response to a…
A statement from the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, on the postponement of elections in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: It is disappointing that elections in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have been postponed. The Palestinian people should be allowed to enjoy their democratic rights – and Israel must allow voting for Palestinians…
John Lyndon is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP), the largest network of peacebuilding NGOs in Israel/Palestine. He brings with him over a decade of experience leading NGOs concerned with conflict resolution and international development, with a particular focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the pivotal role civil society can…
Excerpt of Statement by British Ambassador Jonathan Allen at the Security Council briefing on the Middle East on 23 April 2021 Mr President, following elections held in Israel on 24 March, we look forward to working with a new Israeli government, when it is formed. We also strongly support the forthcoming elections in the Occupied…
What is more likely to incite violence? Military occupation for 53 years. Over 650,000 Israelis in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank, including East Jerusalem 12,000 new settler housing units approved by the Israeli Government in 2020, plus 2,500 approved this January Demolitions of Palestinian homes at an unprecedented high. Schools are also…
UK charities statement on the Prime Minister’s comments on the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation – 14 April 2021 We condemn the Prime Minister’s statement on the ICC’s investigation into alleged grave crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). This investigation is bringing victims, survivors and their families one step closer to justice –…
The head of the Palestinian mission to the United Kingdom, Husam Zomlot, has made the following statement: The announcement by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a letter to the Conservative Friends of Israel that the UK opposes the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into war crimes by Israel is deeply regrettable. It marks a…
The Balfour Project read with sadness and dismay the concluding words in the Prime Minister’s letter to the Conservative Friends of Israel of 9 April 2021. These words assert that “Palestine is not a sovereign State” and that the investigation by the ICC “gives the impression of being a partial and prejudicial attack on a…
We, the undersigned, share our deep concern at the threat of illegal Israeli annexation of any part of the occupied Palestinian West Bank. Unilateral annexation is a grave breach of international law, and a further obstacle to achieving equal rights and self-determination for Palestinians alongside Israelis. Annexation must not pass unchallenged, whether it be formal…
A group of academics, the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine, has uncovered what it describes as bias that has been introduced into British GCSE textbooks on Middle East history. BRICUP found hundreds of changes in two books published by Pearson, averaging over three alterations per page. The changes to the books were made…
Uncovering shocking foreign office communications and using fascinating footage never seen on television before, this documentary shows how British double-dealing during the First World War ignited the conflict between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East. This is a story of intrigue among rival empires; of misguided strategies; and of how conflicting promises to Arabs…
We, the undersigned, share our deep concern at the threat of illegal Israeli annexation of any part of the occupied Palestinian West Bank. Unilateral annexation is a grave breach of international law, and a further obstacle to achieving equal rights and self-determination for Palestinians alongside Israelis. Annexation must not pass unchallenged, whether it be formal…
The Balfour Project opposes all forms of racism, bigotry and discrimination, including antisemitism. We commend the recent Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism; one year in the making, by international scholars in antisemitism and related fields from Europe, the USA, Canada and Israel. The Declaration is intended as a response to the Working Definition on Antisemitism adopted…
Julia Bard looks at the Jerusalem Declaration and assesses its potential to re-set the political dial Published in the Jewish Socialist, 3 August 2021 I know they said there would be no exams this year, but here’s a question just to keep you in practice. Compare and contrast these two definitions of antisemitism. Discuss them…
Thank you all for joining us. I’m privileged to speak to you and address this really important and relevant topic of Christian Zionism as an imperial theology. The impact and influence of Christian Zionism have been manifested, especially in the last four years during the Trump presidency, and it was evident to everyone how influential…
By Nathan Thrall, published in The New York Review, 19 March 2021. One man’s quest to find his son lays bare the reality of Palestinian life under Israeli rule This article explains the history and the ethos of the Israeli settlement programme in the Occupied Palestinian Territory through the prism of the death of a…
By Mary Robinson, published in The Financial Times on 15 March 2021. ICC decision to investigate Hamas and Israel has implications for both sides. BP Trustee, author and international lawyer John McHugo writes: For far too long, political leaders have shied away from calling on Israel and the Palestinians to take international law as the starting…
A live online talk in March 2021. Raja Shehadeh is a lawyer and writer and the founder of the pioneering Palestinian human rights organisation Al Haq. Shehadeh is the author of several acclaimed books published by Profile Books including the Orwell Prize-winning Palestinian Walks, as well as Strangers in the House; Occupation Diaries; Language of…
Introduction to UK Government statement to the UN Security Council of 26 February 2021 The latest statement by the UK to the UN Security Council, at its regular meeting on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict on 26 February, deserves attention – for what it said and what it omitted. Several aspects of what Ambassador Barbara Woodward had…
Sayeeda Hussain Warsi is a British lawyer, politician and member of the House of Lords who served as co-Chairwoman of the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2012. She served in Cameron–Clegg coalition, first as the Minister without portfolio between 2010 and 2012, then as the Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and…
Rabbi Danny Rich is a freelance Jewish educator, having been the Senior Rabbi and Chief Executive of Liberal Judaism from 2005 to 2020 and, prior to this, serving as rabbi to Kingston Liberal Synagogue for nearly two decades. Rabbi Rich is a Justice of the Peace, and a hospital and prison chaplain. Rabbi Rich has…
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Letter from Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights to Rt Hon James Cleverly MP, Minister of State fo rthe Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
How the Zionists hitched a ride on the Imperialist bandwagon By William M Mathew It was fundamental folly to annex Palestine out of persistent anxieties over imperial, notably Indian, security, while at the same pursuing therein a policy of Zionist settlement that, through resulting ethnic conflict, served to render the territory almost useless as an…
By Adam Abdalla, Jordan Jones, Stav Salpeter Our aim is twofold. Firstly, we raise awareness of the situation of the Bedouin communities living in Area C, who are structurally sidelined both due to the occupation and within the Palestinian society. Moreover, we outline Britain’s historic responsibility towards these communities and the implications of this responsibility…
By Gilang Al Ghifari Lukman, Jack Walton, Martha Scott-Cracknell, Omar Sharif, Sarah Chaya Smith In this project, we explore the controversial issues surrounding the effects of the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) working definition of antisemitism — in particular issues of freedom of speech and the different limitations on justice and equality that may arise when…
By Aimée-Stephanie Reid, Haneen Zeglam, Sam Lytton Cobbold Click here to download the report.
2023/24 projects Antisemitism Handbook by Toby Kunin, Elah Cohen, and Sylvie Maxwell Macdonald “A Social Media War: Palestine and Israel” A-Level and GCSE workshops by Taya Amit, Lara Arekat, Haneen Khano and Emma Todres ‘My Past, our Future’ podcast by Valentin Herdeg, Jasmine Moore, and Haneen Khano Tik Tok/Social media project by Lily Wood, Becky…
By Rosie Richards and Francesca Vawdrey
The British Government has now replied to the six recommendations in the Balfour Project statement “Israel-Palestine: equal rights for a lasting peace” which concluded our 27 October conference on Jerusalem. We are indebted to our patron, Rt Revd John Pritchard, for asking his MP to forward the statement to the Foreign Secretary and seek a…
A live online talk given on 10 February 2021 Arabella Dorman: It’s great honour to be with you all tonight and thank you to the Balfour Project for hosting this talk. I’d like really to start with asking a question. What is art for? Why do we do it? We live in a world where…
Published by CAABU, 9 February 2021. Over 80 British parliamentarians representing all parties, in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, wrote in a letter to the British Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab that the British government must do everything in its power to prevent the mass/forced evictions and dispossession of Palestinian families…