By Anshell Pfeffer in Haaretz on 1 Feb 2022. This is the third such report in a year to label Israel an apartheid state, but Jerusalem has only succeeded in generating greater interest in Amnesty’s accusations. We may have to wait decades for the archives to open until we learn by what cunning stratagem Israel’s…
DetailsEditorial published in The Guardian on 6 February 2022. The continuing subjugation of Palestinians erodes the country’s stature internationally and damages its democracy Ehud Barak, Israel’s then defence minister and the country’s most decorated soldier, warned in 2010 that “as long as in this territory west of the Jordan river there is only one political…
DetailsBy Elaine Pasquini, reprinted from the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January 2022. In 1948, some 110,000 Palestinians fled to Lebanon after being violently forced from their homes by Jewish militants seeking to create the State of Israel. With Israel still refusing to allow these displaced individuals to return home, they remain trapped in…
DetailsBy Avi Shlaim This article is reprinted from Middle East Eye, January, 2022. Boris Johnson once described the Balfour Declaration as ‘tragically incoherent’. With Israel now explicitly saying it will never negotiate peace, the UK must rethink its Palestine policy On 3 January, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid made an extraordinary statement. Under last year’s…
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Online talk given in January 2022 Wafa Dakwar – Programme Manager, Beirut, Medical Aid for Palestinians Rohan Talbot – Advocacy and Campaigns Manager, London, Medical Aid for Palestinians Click here to view MAP’s position paper: Systematic Discrimination and Fragmentation Click here to download Rohan’s presentation as a PDF Click here to view the UNRWA Q&A…
DetailsIsraeli fighters at the 1948 battle in Tantura, a coastal village, finally come clean about the mass killing of Arabs that took place after the Palestinians’ surrender. By Adam Raz (this article appeared in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz on January 20, 2022) “They silenced it,” the former combat soldier Moshe Diamant says, trying to…
DetailsThis is a reprint of an editorial in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz from January 24, 2022. The renewed discussion of the capture of Tantura during the War of Independence is aimed at correcting a historic injustice for which the responsible parties include the courts, historians and elderly soldiers. All of the above joined forces…
DetailsStatement by Ambassador James Kariuki at the Security Council briefing on the Middle East Peace Process – Published 19 January 2022 Thank you Madam President. Before I start I’d like to stress, as my Foreign Secretary has said, the United Kingdom condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks of 17 January, claimed by the…
DetailsThe UNWRA appeal is asking for an additional $87.5 million for cash assistance, hospital expenses and other needs for Palestinian refugees amid Lebanon’s economic collapse. Click here to read the full article in Haaretz. Click here to register for our talk with Al Haq on Tuesday 1 February 2022.
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This book brings together meticulously sourced evidence to illuminate a reality that differs starkly from the prevailing narrative.
DetailsHaaretz Editorial published on Dec. 12, 2021 Soldiers of the Israeli army committed war crimes during the War of Independence. Chief among them were massacres in Palestinian villages that were captured in the decisive battles in the lowland plain between the coast and Jerusalem, in the Galilee and in the Negev. People who were alive…
DetailsAfter their obituary on Archbishop Tutu which did not mention his fight for justice for Palestinians, and moderating out posts highlighting this, the Guardian then published When Desmond Tutu stood up for the rights of Palestinians, he could not be ignored and restored the deleted posts. An Observer obituary not mentioning Palestine or Israel was…
DetailsArchbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu wrote an exclusive article for Haaretz in 2014, in which he called for a global boycott of Israel and urged Israelis and Palestinians to look beyond their leaders for a sustainable solution to the crisis in the Holy Land. This article was republished in full by Haaretz following Desmond Tutu’s death.…
DetailsBy Adam Raz in Haaretz on 9 December 2021. Testimonies continue to pile up, documents are revealed, and gradually a broader picture emerges of the acts of murder committed by Israeli troops during the War of Independence. Minutes recorded during cabinet meetings in 1948 leave no room for doubt: Israel’s leaders knew in real time…
DetailsBy Avi Shlaim, published in Middle East Eye on 30 November 2021. As long as its political opponents are labelled ‘terrorists’, Israel is absolved from the need to negotiate and gets a free pass from its allies to continue using naked military force. British Home Secretary Priti Patel has declared her intention to proscribe the…
DetailsOnline launch in December 2021 Dominic Grieve is a barrister and a visiting professor on Law, Politics and Human Rights at Goldsmiths, University of London. From 1997-2019 he was MP for Beaconsfield. He was Shadow Home Secretary from 2008–09 and Shadow Justice Secretary from 2008–10. He was Attorney General of England and Wales from 2010–14.…
DetailsBy Colin Smith, December 10, 2021 (This article appears in the current issue of Prospect). On 11th December 1917, celebratory peals in London and the Vatican announced Britain’s first significant land victory in the First World War. But though the conflict was well into its fourth year, the bells were not ringing for ground gained…
DetailsOnline talk given in December 2021 Gideon Levy is an Israeli journalist, currently for Haaretz, and author. Levy has won prizes for his articles on human rights in the Israeli-occupied territories. Levy was drafted into the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in 1974 and served as a reporter for Israel Army Radio. From 1978 to 1982,…
DetailsBy John Dugard The apartheid regime of South Africa initially sought to discredit its political opponents by labelling them “communists”. When the international community realized that the term was abused the regime resorted to labelling its opponents “terrorists”. This proved to be more effective. Nelson Mandela remained on the United States terrorist watch list until…
DetailsA motion to label the entire Hamas movement as ‘terrorists’ is an attempt to score political points at the cost of a peacemaking strategy for Israel-Palestine. By Hugh Lovatt on +972, November 25, 2021 Following a brief debate, the British House of Commons passed a motion on Wednesday to proscribe the whole of the Palestinian Islamist movement…
DetailsCrispin Blunt said he did not think the measure would ‘draw away violence’. By Martina Bet. Published in the Evening Standard, 25 November 2021. A ban on the Palestinian group Hamas will have a “terrible chilling effect” in the Israeli Palestinian conflict, a Conservative former minister has said. Reigate MP Crispin Blunt reassured MPs in…
DetailsBy Zena Agha, writing for The New York Times On Oct. 19, the Israeli Ministry of Defence singled out six of the most prominent Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations, using secret, and thus far insufficient, evidence to accuse them of being “terrorist” organizations with links to a militant group. Just days later, Israel approved the construction of more…
DetailsBy John Dugard, writing for Mondoweiss, Nov 16, 2021. Even the apartheid regime in South Africa never outlawed human rights defenders in the manner that Israel just did when it declared six Palestinian organizations to be “terrorist organizations. Israel has declared six organizations in occupied Palestine committed to the cause of human rights to be…
DetailsBy Raja Shehadeh, writing for the New York Review of Books December 2, 2021 issue. The Israeli government smears human rights organizations—like Al Haq, the one I founded—rather than attempting to end the violations they bring to light. In 1978 I returned to Ramallah from my legal studies in London brimming with ideas about the…
DetailsEuropean Parliamentarians, including British MPs and Peers, have written to the Foreign Secretary calling for Government action to dissuade Israel from three “red line” actions:– designating six Palestinian civil society organisations as “terrorist”– evicting Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem and– advancing plans to build a new illegal settlement on E1,…
DetailsOnline Q&A given in November 2021, following a screening of The Present. The Present can be viewed worldwide on Netflix and other streaming services. Farah Nabulsi is an Oscar nominated and BAFTA Award-Winning Palestinian British filmmaker, based in the UK. The Present is her first film, which she also co wrote. It premiered at Clermont-Ferrand…
DetailsPublished on The Middle East Eye on 1 November 2021. This article is a condensed version of a talk that was given by Professor Eugene Rogan to the Balfour Project charity. The charity holds regular free webinars focused on Britain’s historic and continuing responsibility to secure equal rights for the Israeli and the Palestinian peoples. Against the rival…
DetailsOnline talk given in October 2021 Jonathan Kuttab is a co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and co-founder of Nonviolence International. He is Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America. Download his book for free. Jonathan Kuttab: Thanks to all of you who are on this call. Clearly you are concerned about…
DetailsA 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…
DetailsLast 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…
DetailsStatement 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…
DetailsBy Sahar Huneidi The twin issues of land and immigration are today, as they were in the early 1920s, the crux of the problem between Israel and the Palestinians. Herbert Samuel, first British High Commissioner in Palestine (1920-25), set the precedent of the policy of ‘facts on the ground’ by reshaping land ownership through a…
DetailsThe 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…
DetailsA 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…
DetailsHuman 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…
Details‘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.…
DetailsStatement 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…
DetailsArticle 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…
DetailsThe Balfour Project opposes and condemns racism and racial, religious and ethnic prejudice of all types. We believe in the promotion of a society that is tolerant and understanding of all races, cultures, and faiths. In particular, and bearing in mind our aims and objectives, we do not tolerate any form of racism or prejudice…
DetailsStatement 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…
DetailsOnline talk given in September 2021 Hannah is the director and a founder of Yachad. Yachad works to mobilise British Jews in support of a political resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She previously chaired the Jewish Social Action Forum for two years, bringing together leading Jewish communal organisations to develop the community’s social action agenda…
DetailsOnline talk given in August 2021 Sir Vincent Fean was a member of the British Diplomatic Service between 1975 and 2014. His last post was as Consul-General, Jerusalem (2010-14). Before Jerusalem, he was Ambassador to Libya, and previously High Commissioner to Malta. Sir Vincent Fean: I will begin with what the Balfour Project charity is…
DetailsBy William M. Mathew. A. INTRODUCTION: A JEWISH ITINERARY B. NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS – PALESTINE C. NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS – SYRIA (AND HOME) D. CONCLUSION: THE ARAB PRESENCE E. END NOTE BIBLIOGRAPHY A. INTRODUCTION: A JEWISH ITINERARY Arthur Balfour`s visit to Palestine in the spring of 1925 came at the invitation of the…
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Click here to visit the official Tinderbox website. THETINDERBOX – TRAILER from Tinderbox Film on Vimeo. Panel discussion with director of The Tinderbox Gillian Mosely, Amos Trust trustee Robert Cohen and Balfour Project executive committee member Tim Llewellyn.
DetailsJuly 2021 Sophie Bridger served as a Human Rights Monitor with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel in 2019. During her time in the West Bank, she observed numerous human rights violations, and witnessed the impact of ongoing occupation on children and local families. Since her return, she has talked about what she…
DetailsThis 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…
DetailsSpeech given at Middle Temple Hall, 2 July 2021 It is great to be here to celebrate the centenary of the Palestine Police so energetically organised by Ralph Cairns. I wish the BPPA many happy returns. The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted for almost a century, but crusader times which were very different from our…
DetailsThis booklet has been published by the British Palestine Police Association (BPPA) for the centenary of the Palestine Police which carried the main burden of law and order during the British Mandate. The Force was at first mainly locally recruited with British senior officers, but the difficulty of policing by Arabs or Jews, given the political emotions involved, led…
DetailsClick here to read coverage in The National News. The majority of Britons today are ignorant of Britain’s colonial role in Palestine and its impact on the current reality. This is one of the key reasons why some people are simply unaware of this issue. The Balfour Project launched its first ever virtual art exhibition…
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