Britain Palestine Project
Peace with justice, security and equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians
While the government can rely on national-religious identity to mobilise supporters, the opposition’s counternarrative suffers a serious weakness By Menachem Klein on 24 July 2023. This article originally appeared in the Israeli +972 magazine The brewing “civil war” we are witnessing in Israel is not a flashing spectacle, but rather a long-running process. Contrary to how…
By Ben Lynfield, published 29 July 2023 on Plus 61J Media The religious Right wants Jewish supremacism, the liberal Left wants democracy. The war could yet turn violent, political scientist Menachem Klein tells Ben Lynfield. Could there be a civil war in Israel? That question is on the minds of many Israelis, including President Isaac…
Sir Vincent Fean writes: The Balfour Project commends a new report by Save the Children on the plight of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention. Please click here to read the report. The report results from sustained, careful research. It builds on Save the Children’s 2020 report: “Defenceless: the impact of Israel’s Military Detention on…
Sir Vincent Fean writes: Every month, the UN Security Council discusses developments in the Middle East, including Palestine/Israel. As a permanent member of the Security Council, the UK makes a statement at each session. The latest statement can be found here and is reproduced below. Remarkably, the 27 July statement condemns Israeli Government policy on…
By Andrew Whitley Often it requires taking a break away from a situation to be able to observe more distinctly dramatic changes taking place; changes that might otherwise pass unnoticed to a day-to-day observer. That was the case for The Elders, the global group established by Nelson Mandela. Madiba cared deeply about the injustice suffered…
By Ian Portman, 22 June, 2023 In May this year, Palestinians were preparing for their 75th commemoration events marking the Nakba (disaster) which overcome their land before and during the 1948 war. Starting in the autumn of 1947, colonial settler Zionist forces drove out hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, committing massacres of civilians and other…
30 June 2023 Dear Sir Keir, Economic Activities of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill: If Labour’s “reasoned amendment” is voted down in Parliament on Monday, please vote against the Bill I write on behalf of the trustees of the Balfour Project charity, dedicated to raising awareness in Britain of our role in Palestine before the…
Al Haq Annual Field Report on Human Rights Violations in 2022Al Haq Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories 2022Amnesty International Not a “Vibrant Democracy” This is Apartheid 2022B’tselem (The Israel Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories) A Threshold Crossed Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution 2021Human Rights Watch The…
Following their visit to Israel and and Palestine, Mary Robinson and Ban Ki-moon warn that a ‘one-state reality’ is now rapidly extinguishing the prospect of a two-state solution. The Chair and Deputy Chair of The Elders today warned that a ‘one-state reality’ is now rapidly extinguishing the prospect of a two-state solution foreseen in the 1993 Oslo Accords to bring peace and…
The European Legal Support Centre (ELSC) has launched (June 6. 2023) its new report “Suppressing Palestinian Rights Advocacy through the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism – Violating the Rights to Freedom of Expression and Assembly in the European Union and the UK”. The report is the first case-based account of human rights violations resulting from…
By Richard Burden, Trustee This week, the UK Government has published a Bill that will both jettison Britain’s respect for international laws that ban the acquisition of territory by conquest and ignore UN rules signed by the UK over a decade ago calling on businesses to ensure their commercial dealings abroad uphold human rights. The…
Published 21 March 2023 Signed at One Carlton Gardens, London, on 21 March 2023 For the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Of the State of Israel For the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Vision The bilateral relationship has never been stronger. Our two countries complement each…
Netanyahu and Sunak – Letter in The Times, 28 March 2023 On Friday Rishi Sunak welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu, and stressed the importance of upholding shared “democratic values, including in the proposed judicial reforms in Israel”. Mr Netanyahu went home and sacked his Defence Minister for opposing those reforms, which demolish the checks and balances protecting…
By Michael Lynk In his eloquent 2012 memoir, Kofi Annan, the former secretary general of the United Nations, wrote that the failure of the U.N. to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East was a deep internal wound as old as the organisation itself. In his words, it has been “a painful and festering sore…
By Menachem Klein (reprinted from the US journal LOGOS*) The death of Faisal Husseini, the senior Palestinian leader in East Jerusalem, in May, 2001, and Israel’s order to close the Orient House, the PLO headquarters in Jerusalem, in August of that year, left East Jerusalemites without local leadership. The leadership vacuum that Israel carefully maintains…
By Menachem Klein (reprinted from LOGOS*) This is a much-extended and updated version of a previously published article.[1] Israel’s November, 2022, election results, which led to the establishment of a far right coalition with radical settlers occupying key positions in the ministries of finance, defence and home security, surprised many on the left and the centre.…
with Balfour Project chair Andrew Whitley 8 March 2023 Ambassador (ret.) Ilan Baruch is chairperson of the Policy Working Group (PWG), an Israeli advocacy team focusing on policy issues pertaining to the achievement of peace between Israel and Palestine based on the two-state paradigm. PWG members are all volunteers and come from senior diplomatic, academic,…
Occupied Palestinian Territories: Volume 829: debated on Monday 27 March 2023 Asked by Baroness Janke (Lib Dem) To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) the recent transfer of governance powers in parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories from Israeli military authorities to Israeli civilian ministries, and (2) the implications of…
Jerusalem, Jan 30, 2023, issued by the Office of the European Union Representative (West Bank and Gaza Strip, UNRWA) Representatives of Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, the EU, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland the UK and like-minded missions today visited the Palestinian community of Khan Al Ahmar to express their…
By John McHugo, Mike Scott-Baumann and Peter Shambrook Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said: “The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land nor occupiers in our eternal capital Jerusalem, and no UN resolution will twist this historical truth”. He has also asserted, in a recent interview, that the Jews are the indigenous…
19 January 2023 in The Ambassador Partnership By Sir Vincent Fean A team in the UK Foreign Office deals with the Middle East Peace Process, also known as Israel/Palestine. Problem: there is no Process, and no Peace. There is increasing injustice and violence. Our country has a role to play, given our historic responsibilities in…
UK Statement at the UN Security Council, 18 Jan 2023 Last year saw large numbers of Palestinians and Israelis killed, worsening rates of settler violence, and the emergence of new Palestinian militant groups. Unfortunately, 2023 has also started with violence and instability. In this context, the UK Minister of State, Lord Ahmad, visited Israel and…
5 January 2023 Statement by British Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council meeting on situation in the Middle East Firstly, the UK recognises that Jerusalem’s holy sites including Haram al Sharif/Temple Mount hold particular significance for many around the globe, especially the three Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. In that context,…
Thursday 2nd February 2023 Ray Dolphin worked in the West Bank and Gaza for over 30 years, most recently for the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), where he was Senior Analyst. In addition to numerous UN reports, his book ‘The West Bank Wall: Unmaking Palestine’ was published by Pluto Books in…
ANDREW WHITLEY, Chair of the Balfour Project Trustees, introduces an article by HUGH LOVATT, of the European Council on Foreign Affairs, on the UN General Assembly decision to ask the World Court to give its opinion on Israel’s occupation and annexation of Palestinian territory ON 30 DECEMBER, its last working day of 2022, the UN…
9th January 2023 Please join us for a 45 minute recording of our webinar with Layla Moran MP. Layla, our chair Andrew Whitley and trustee John McHugo launched the Balfour Project booklet recording our 2022 conference “Abandoning Palestine: the end of the British Mandate and our continuing responsibility”. The booklet is available to download here.…
I commend to you the letter below to the Foreign Secretary about the incoming Israeli Government. It is signed by Julie Elliott MP, co chair of the Britain Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group at Westminster, and co signed by Parliamentarians from the four major UK political parties. Our country has a duty to uphold international…
This is an address by Alon Liel, a leading member of the Policy Working Group in Israel, an NGO that works to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories, now in its 56th year, and opposes Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians. Sir Vincent Fean, former British Consul-General in East Jerusalem, now vice-president of the…
Mostafa Mohamed 8 December 2022 Headed to the quarter-finals after an unprecedented run, the North African team has come to represent something bigger than football After a tense two hours, Morocco defeated Spain in a penalty shootout on Tuesday to seal their historic passage to the World Cup quarter-finals. The Atlas Lions have become the…
From player demonstrations to unfurled flags, Palestinian struggle has been visible and fearless at the World Cup. By Dave Zirin and Jules Boykoff When Morocco defeated Spain in a penalty shootout, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Qatar 2022 men’s World Cup, players celebrated by posing for their victory photos with a Palestinian flag. This…
20th December 2022 Omar Karmi, a Palestinian-British journalist, and Tamir Sorek, an expert on football in Palestine-Israel, discuss the Palestinian phenomenon at the 2022 World Cup, the reactions worldwide, and the game and players in Israel-Palestine. Video Audio Transcript Omar Karmi: Good afternoon, everyone. Let me please first thank you for the opportunity to speak…
…for the Palestinians! How the World Cup put Palestine in the international spotlight. Palestine: The Unexpected Star of the 2022 World Cup Joy, faith and Palestine: How Morocco’s team united the Arab world Israel scores own goal with World Cup charm offensive WEBINAR: Palestine’s World Cup triumph
Mark Seddon of Deep Dive Palestine is live with Andrew Whitley, founder & executive director of Geo-Political Advisory Services (GPAS) & Chair of the Balfour Project. Andrew has had an expansive career first as a journalist for the BBC & Financial Times, before serving as the New York Director of UNRWA & then as Policy…
Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council meeting on the Situation in the Middle East, Nov 28, 2022 ‘The UK is gravely concerned by increasing instability in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Since 14 November, four Israelis have lost their lives in terror attacks in the city of Ariel and in Jerusalem,…
The United Nations General Assembly Fourth Committee (on Decolonisation) has voted 98-17 on a resolution to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on whether Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal on the grounds that its duration (more than 55 years) makes it a de facto annexation. The resolution also asked…
Letter to UK Foreign Secretary from 27 international law experts says ‘there is nothing to review’ by Professor Iain GM Scobbie, Chair of Public International Law, and Director of the Manchester International Law Centre, University of Manchester