Britain Palestine Project
Peace with justice, security and equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians
A joint statement by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called the decision ‘an alarming escalation,’ as the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ‘unequivocally condemned’ the move. Published in Haaretz on 22 Oct 2021 by Jonathan Lis. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has signed on Friday an order declaring six civil society organizations in the…
Last Friday, Israel’s new government crossed a line that no Israeli government has dared cross before, designating six Palestinian civil society organizations “terrorist organizations.” The shameful declaration says nothing about these organizations – but speaks volumes about the violence, brutality and arrogance the Israeli regime has been routinely employing against Palestinians for decades. B’Tselem stands…
Statement by the Balfour Project On 22 October Israel’s Defence Minister designated six Palestinian human rights NGOs as ‘terrorist’. The aim appears to be to stem the flow of information about breaches of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Balfour Project joins Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Israeli human rights organisations in…
The list of historical documents reveals suspicions that Haganah soldiers committed murder, torture, theft and looting during the War of Independence By Ofer Aderet, published in Haaretz on 18 October 2021 On the morning of April 9, 1948, some 130 fighters from the Etzel and Lehi pre-state underground militias raided the Arab village of Deir…
A new report from international development and humanitarian organisation Christian Aid has highlighted the deep inequalities which divide Palestinians and Israelis across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory and threaten a further escalation of violence and loss of life if left unaddressed. Click here to download the report. Four months ago violence erupted along the…
Human rights case that a UK church took up The young Palestinian woman, Layan Nasir, whom Israeli security forces arrested at her Ramallah area home in a dawn raid last July, has been remanded on bail by an Israeli military court until November 9 on charges of belonging to an unlawful association. Layan, who is…
‘Fair Observer’ talks to Avi Shlaim, professor emeritus of international relations at St. Antony’s College, Oxford By Abul-Hasanat Siddique & Avi Shlaim September 16, 2021 The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has waxed and waned for several decades. The roots of it stem far beyond the most recent clashes in May that once again brought death and disaster to the region.…
Statement by UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the Security Council Briefing on the Middle East Delivered at the UN on September 29, 2021 Madam President, the United Kingdom welcomes recent engagement between the Israeli Government and the Palestinian leadership, including the meeting between Palestinian President Abbas and Israeli Defence Minister Gantz on 29 August. We…
Article on the Balfour Project Fellows published in Arab Banker Magazine, Autumn 2021 Two years ago, a British charity, the Balfour Project, began sponsoring groups of students to explore and report on key areas of the asymmetrical conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, in order to promote a better understanding of this conflict and…
Statement by UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the Security Council briefing on the Middle East Delivered on 30 August 2021. Let me start by once again reinforcing the need to prevent a further escalation in violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and to restore calm. We share concerns about the recent tensions in…
By Julie Elliott MP Europe is neighbour, friend and trading partner to both Israel and Palestine. Economically, the EU/Israel Association Agreement matters greatly to Israel, affording free access to its biggest market. The same terms apply to the UK/Israel Trade Agreement, post-Brexit. Trade between Europe and the Occupied Palestinian Territory – I call it Palestine…
This is not a dispute between equals that can be resolved through bilateral negotiations The writer is a former secretary-general of the UN and deputy chair of The Elders It is time to acknowledge that the longstanding approach taken to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict by the international community has failed and a new one is…
Written 31 May 2021 We welcome the support that European leaders have expressed for the ICC and its unique mandate of advancing justice following war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Consistent support for the ICC and promotion of its universal reach highlight Europe’s serious commitment to deter such violations and to promote a rules-based…
MPs send No.10 the Balfour Project call for the strict application of international law, including via the ICC, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Pro-Israel bias and misrepresentation of the Israel/Palestine situation has been a feature of much of mainstream media for some years. Now GCSE textbooks, published by Pearson and Hodder, have come under intense attention from pro-Israel advocates. As a result, Hodder has discontinued entirely publication of its own textbook title Conflict in the Middle East, 1945–95,…
Published in the Middle East Monitor on 2 June 2021. The BBC has removed a series of educational videos about Palestine and the origins of the ongoing Israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing, following pressure from a pro-Israel lobbyist organisation, UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI). The videos formed part of a 7-part GCSE Bitesize series, and were intended to teach…
By Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer, in The Guardian, 3 June 2021. Michael Sfard was a keynote speaker at our conference entitled ‘Israel/Palestine: in search of the rule of law’ in May 2021 and his talk can be viewed here. When I first heard this argument from Palestinians 20 years ago, I rejected…
Posted May 31, 2021 by Rashid Khalidi in MR Online. The events of the last few weeks have provoked worldwide recognition of realities on the ground in Occupied Palestine, realities of systemic discrimination, of oppression, and of settler colonialism. People have responded to the images that emerged from different parts of Palestine and were diffused by social media.…
Balfour Project statement, 26 May 2021 Equal rights under the law are the foundation stone of all democracies. Israel views itself as a democracy. But many in Israel and around the world, including in Britain, were dismayed by the Knesset’s adoption in 2018 of the discriminatory Nation State Law. This declares that the right to…
Speaking at the Balfour Project online 2-day conference “Israel/Palestine: in search of the rule of law” on 25/26 May 2021 Click here to view the other speakers at the conference. Sir Vincent Fean: Good day, everybody. And welcome to our 1200 plus attendees at this conference. I speak today for the Balfour Project charity, which…
Speaking at the Balfour Project online 2-day conference “Israel/Palestine: in search of the rule of law” on 25/26 May 2021. Click here to view the other speakers at the conference. Dominic Grieve QC: Now it’s my great pleasure to introduce Philippe Sands. Philippe, good afternoon to you. Good to see you. I don’t think you…
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Sir Vincent Fean, Chair of the Balfour Project Trustees and former Consul-General in Jerusalem, and Professor Adam Sutcliffe, Professor of European History at King’s College, London, and member of the steering group, Independent Jewish Voices, have issued the following statement about the crisis. It comes in advance of next week’s conference, ‘Israel-Palestine: in search of…
This piece, by John McHugo, a Balfour Project Trustee and head of its Fellowship Programme, was published by The Independent. As the dust settles on the latest Israel/Palestinian conflict, and the blood of innocents and perpetrators dries indifferently, the great fear is that no lessons will be learned. Everything can go back to “normal”. Israel’s settlement and…
Written by Sir Vincent Fean for the Arab Digest Just when you think it can’t get any worse – it does. Déjà vu, only worse. It is the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, as I used to describe it in my time as Consul-General, Jerusalem (2010-14). Today, the word ‘conflict’ hardly fits, because the Occupation is so lop-sided.…
By Richard Burden There was a time when some politicians would argue that human rights were nothing to do with business; that it was perfectly legitimate for UK companies to profit from trade with regimes overseas however badly those regimes treated their own people or neighbouring countries. The good news is that this blinkered perspective…
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…
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…
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 –…