‘We Need a Ceasefire Now!’ Sir Vincent Fean on Deep Dive Palestine Podcast

Mark Seddon: Today British Parliamentarians wrote to PM Rishi Sunak calling for a ceasefire. What did the letter say? Sir Vincent Fean: The letter is signed by around about 120 members of Parliament in both houses: Peers and members of the House of Commons. It was the initiative of Baroness Shas Sheehan, Liberal Democrat. I’ll…

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Palestine the Reality cover image on a landscape background featuring part of the book's cover photo

The best book on the Balfour Declaration is…

Palestine: The RealityThe inside story of the Balfour Declaration 1917–1938 by J.M.N. Jeffries Published: 1939, reissued 2017 Formats: Hardback, paperback ISBN: 9781911072126 £26.99 First published by Longman Green and Co. Reissued by Olive Branch Press and Skyscraper Publications. Paperback £26.99 By John McHugo    Many people trying to get to grips with the Israel/Palestine conflict…

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The Balfour Declaration - Bernard Regan, cover image on a landscape background with an image taken from the cover

Book review: The Balfour Declaration – Empire, the Mandate and Resistance in Palestine by Bernard Regan

Bernard Regan shows us what Britain did (and what Britain thought it was doing) by issuing the Balfour Declaration, by incorporating it into the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, and by governing Palestine in a way intended to implement it.

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Scottish Parliament endorses Balfour Project Call to Action Sept 3rd 2019

Claudia Beamish MSP (Labour) introduced a members’ business debate on motion S5M-16637, “Towards an independent Palestinian state: a Scottish proposal” calling for action leading to an independent Palestinian state and acknowledging Britain’s historical responsibilities in what was to become Israel and Palestine. Claudia argued that British engagement is needed now to help secure a better…

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Palestine and Britain 1917-1948: Competing Policies, Creative Commemoration

This talk was given at  the Balfour Project  conference in Southwark Cathedral  on 5th November 2016  entitled: ‘How will we mark the Centenary of the Balfour Declaration’ By Dr Peter Shambrook Context: it is only in the context of the development of the war that all the promises/agreements that the British government made can be…

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McMahon, Sykes, Balfour: Contradictions and Concealments in British Palestine Policy 1915-1917

by WILLIAM M. MATHEW Lecture given to the History Group of The Norfolk Club, 14 April 2016 to mark the centenary of the Sykes-Picot Agreement 1916 Abstract These three war-time initiatives are presented as part of a compressed, uncoordinated, two-year sequence set against the changing circumstances of international rivalries, imperial anxieties, and domestic politics.  Contradictions …

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Britain and Palestine: past history & future role

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…

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The McMahon-Hussein Correspondence revisited. A lapse into clarity.

By Dr Peter Shambrook Paper given at the Balfour Project conference, Britain and Palestine: past history & future role, Durham, Oct 31st 2015 Abstract The origins of the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence – and the subsequent official interpretations, and the controversies surrounding those interpretations – are essential to the understanding of a great deal of Middle-Eastern diplomatic…

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Rescuing Balfour: Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office 1921-22, By William Mathew

                    Given the sheer improbability of the Balfour Declaration, its source in temporary war-time contingencies, its activation of inter-communal conflict in Palestine, and its exposure to increasing opposition both at home and in the Levant, the 1917 War Cabinet pledge to Zionism was in manifest danger of collapse in the early 1920s in advance of…

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British policy and Arab Displacement in Palestine, 1915-23: Contingency. Imperialism and Double-Dealing

            By  William M. Mathew, Senior Fellow in History, University of East Anglia Lecture given as part of the Contemporary Middle East Lecture Programme,               School of Oriental and African Studies, 28 October 2014                                                      I I should begin by briefly explaining the three-part title: “Contingency, Imperialism, and Double-Dealing” – these bearing on the one…

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Perfidious Albion: Britain’s broken promises: the Balfour Declaration (1917) and its impact on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict: what are our responsibilities today?

This lecture was given by Professor Mary Grey in the URC Church, Crondall, Northumberland for their Peace and Reconciliation centre, 5th September 2014 Here in Northumberland, it is impossible to forget the bloodshed of the Battle of Flodden in 1513, not to mention centuries of border raids, preceded by Viking invasions and so on. In…

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The Balfour Declaration – Key players and events by Mary Grey

Introduction – what motivated the Balfour Declaration?  (Powerpoint of Key Players) There is still conflict as to which motive for the Balfour Declaration is stronger – there are at least three motives, and some may interlock: 1. According to Avi Shlaim, there are two main schools of thought: He cites Leonard Stein’s[2] conclusion is that…

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