Below you will find both audio and video recordings, as well as transcripts, of each session of our Online Conference on 27 October 2020. Click here for conference brochure. Click here to read the statement. IntroductionWelcome: Sir Vincent Fean (BP Chair of Trustees)Video Message from HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal of JordanSession I: HistoryChair:…
A live online talk given in October 2020. Ian Black: Thanks very much for inviting me to give this talk. It is based on the research for my book, Enemies and Neighbours: Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel, 1917-2017, which was published in November 2017 on the centenary of the Balfour Declaration and the…
A talk given online in September 2020. Alon Liel is a courageous man. He dares to speak truth to power, and knows the cost of this in his own life. While calling for an end to occupation and for equal rights for all Israelis and Palestinians, Liel outlines in this talk some of the current…
A talk given online on 30th June 2020. John McHugo is a trustee of the Balfour Project and a board member of CAABU, The Council for Arab British Understanding. This paper is the edited text of a Balfour Project talk he gave on 30 June 2020, and is a development of what he wrote about…
On Saturday May 18th 2013, the Balfour Project held a one day conference at The Stripe, University of Winchester exploring the different legacies of the Balfour Declaration and how a greater understanding of history can contribute to justice and peace in the Middle East today. Speakers included, Professor Mary Grey, Rabbi Professor Dan Cohn-Sherbok, Dr…
A talk given online in August 2020. Tim Llewellyn: Hello, everyone. I want to start by saying two basic things to plan out, to map out my thesis, if you like, about the British media coverage, particularly the broadcasting media coverage of the Israel/Palestine question over the past 40 years or so. The first, the…
A live online talk given in July 2020 Welcome everyone. Sarah Helm was a staff correspondent for The Sunday Times and a foreign correspondent for The Independent and she’s written two books, most recently, If This is a Woman about the Nazi concentration camp for women. And she has also written a play about the…
Q&A Session with Sir Vincent Fean, Chair of the Balfour Project Vincent Fean: It’s a pleasure to be with you. I think it’s important for us to address questions raised by participants at the 2 April talk. We will try and make a habit of that. Diana Safieh: During the talk, Michael Goodwin made the…
3pm UK time, Thursday 7th May 2020 Click here to register.
Online talk by Sir Vincent Fean, Balfour Project, 2 April 2020 Read the transcript below: Vincent: A welcome to all. Thank you all for joining the Balfour Project today. I think it’s important to have this discussion to keep the spotlight on an issue which only gets worse with neglect. And at this time of…
Conference Edinburgh March 2019 Gaza, under Israeli military occupation since 1967, is home to two million Palestinians. Most are there because in 1948, when Britain abandoned its Mandate for Palestine, Gaza gave refuge to Palestinians forced to flee from the fighting which erupted. For the last 12 years Israel has blockaded this strip of land.…
The Glasgow Balfour Project event. March 14, 2019. ( Held at the Sir Charles Wilson Building, Glasgow University, 7.30pm-9.30pm Thursday March 14, 2019) Hala Safadi, a film-maker from Gaza, made the essential point: “The truth is always censored for the Western world.” Ms Safadi was speaking at a conference of journalists, media analysts, diplomats and…
March 14th and 17th 2019 On March 14th at 300 people at Glasgow University heard former British and Israeli diplomats and distinguished journalists speak on ‘The news from Gaza: dispelling myths and telling the truth’. The following Sunday at Edinburgh University 400 people heard politicians, former diplomats and others speak on ‘Tragedy in Gaza – Britain’s…
A 20-page booklet is now available containing the speeches at the conference of the Balfour Project in partnership with King’s College London (see below). The booklet also includes the Balfour Centenary Declaration, which has now been signed by 141 British public figures including 83 Members of the British Parliament. Below is a 20 minute YouTube…
The British Parliament does not often hear an Asian perspective on the Middle East. The very term ‘Middle East’ is Europe-centred; in India the region is known as West Asia. This perspective was offered by Rajmohan Gandhi, a historian and a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, at a talk to 170 people in the House of…
This article was part of Robert Cohen’s talk at the Balfour Project conference,’How will we mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration’ in Southwark Cathedral on November 5th 2016: A leading British Rabbi has written: “Zionism and Zionistic activities not only depress Judaism by putting nationality first and religion second, but they injure Judaism by…
‘I never knew that ……’ Liverpool Hope University 1st October 2016 The use of round tables in the Eden Arbour Room at Liverpool Hope University facilitated a welcome and a warmth to the buzz of conversation as participants in the Balfour Project conference gathered to consider the ‘Balfour Declaration Centenary, 2017: towards constructive commemoration.’ We…
Parliamentarians from all four of Britain’s main political parties sponsored a showing of ‘Britain in Palestine, 1917-1948’ in The Attlee Suite – one of the main conference suites in the British Parliament. The audience of 130 watched the documentary, which tells the story of Britain’s role in Palestine 1917-1948, and then took part in a…
Scores of people squeezed into Sarum College, Salisbury, to hear from experts on the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which gave British support to a home for Jews in historical Palestine. The Very Reverend Nicholas Frayling said the declaration was the defining document which had never been fully implemented. The former Dean of Chichester Cathedral –…
Held at St Chad’s College Durham 31st October 2015 Summary Report Seventy people from places as far apart as Omagh, Norwich, Somerset, Inverness, Salisbury and Edinburgh, spent Saturday 31st October in Durham reflecting on Britain’s responsibilities, past and present, for today’s situation in Israel/Palestine. The occasion was the Balfour Project’s annual conference which takes place…
St Chad’s College, Durham University, 31 October 2015 ‘I believe there is a constructive role for the UK in bringing about a just peace. It is good to look back in order to look forward. The Balfour Declaration helped bring about Israel, and Israel is here to stay, and its right to exist in peace…
What has been the historic role of Britain that has led to the present day tragic situation in Israel/Palestine? This was the theme engaged with by a very mixed group of over seventy people as part of the Thatcham Festival. The mayors of both Thatcham and Newbury were present and both spoke very appreciatively at…
Commemorating the 97th Anniversary of the Balfour Declaration Report of Balfour Project conference, Britain in Palestine 1917-1948 in St John’s College, Oxford, Oct 30th 2014. A common theme from speakers at the Balfour Project’s annual event was that Britain’s history in the Middle East lays a responsibility on us to be more active in helping…
Tony Klug, speaking at the Balfour Project conference in October 2013 spoke stirringly to the question “Are we trapped by our own narratives?” He began by demonstrating that everyone becomes a player in this seemingly intractable conflict, where what passes for objective analysis masks partisan agenda. He urged empathetic understanding of key protagonists on both…
Second annual Balfour Project conference to mark the 96th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration October 30th 2013
A one day conference exploring the different legacies of the Balfour Declaration and how a greater understanding of history can contribute to justice and peace in the Middle East today was held in Winchester University on May 18th 2013. Over 50 people gathered in the Stripe Theatre. They represented a wide range of opinions from…
The Promised Land – From the Nile to the Euphrates? I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an…
Broken promises: Britain in Palestine A one-day conference on the British responsibility for conflict between Israelis and Palestinians took place at the Quaker Meeting House in Edinburgh on Friday 2nd November. A full house included people of Christian, Muslim and Jewish faiths. It was held on the 95th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, the letter…