Lord Arthur James Balfour
The 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration marks one of Great Britain's betrayals. A shameful part of history that I have written about many times before. It refers to a letter dated 2 November 1917 from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour to Walter Rothschild 2nd Baron Rothschild for the supporters of the Zionist cause which had no legal authority where the indigenous Palestinians at the time of the letter amounted to 90% of the total population which paved the way for the creation of Israel in 1948.
This cursed declaration is considered to be the first political recognition of the Zionist aims by a foreign government. It meant that those who had no ownership (Britain) permitted those who had no right to establish a national homeland on a established country Palestine with no moral or legal framework to do so.
The letter made it clear that the British government backed the establishment of a 'national home for the Jewish people; in Palestine. Three years later, in 1920, Britain was mandated to implement the resolution through the League of Nations.
However Palestinians were not represented in the discussions that led to the declaration, nor were they cited by name in the letter. Indeed, they were defined by what they are not ("non-Jewish"), which set the pattern for their " invisibility " in later official discussions about their future.The letter marks a pivotal moment in the history of Palestine, laying the groundwork for the eventual loss of their land, years of dispossession, conflict and displacement affecting millions of Palestnian lives and their subsequent occupaton with ramifications that are so clearly felt today..
The Palestinian conflict does not begin in 1948 but in 1917, with this declaration. It is necessary that we go back to this crucial watershed in the history of the Middle East and the roots of the continuing betrayal of the Palestinian people, expelled from their ancestral homeland to refugee camps, to live in exile across the globe, to this present day. The continuing seperation of the prople of the West Bank and the open prison that is Gaza.
The content of the declaration seems no less distant or downright baffling. The prominent Jewish intellectual Arthur Koestler, repeating a frequent mantra, would call it “one the most improbable political documents of all time,” in which “one nation solemnly promised to a second nation the country of a third.” The fact that it included no explicit rationale for itself has also fuelled the suspicion that its authors had darker motives. After all, it was issued in the name of the largest empire in history, the Balfour Declaration is considered to be by many one of the greatest mistakes in our imperial history.
Palestinian leaders over the years have strongly urged British officials to apologise and diavow the Declaration as well as acknowledge their responsibility in the plight of the Palestinian people. The British government has refued. The writer Arundhati Roy was right to describe the Palestine tragedy as one of " imperial Britain's festering, blood-drenched gifts to the modern world.' It is also a product of a history of racism and empire that extended across most of the West. On this centennial of the Balfour Declaration, reflection on this shared culpability should serve as a reminder of the responsibility for the political action that comes with it.
Israeli officials say it is right to celebrate the centenary, and have accused those demanding and seeking an apology of being antisemitic.But I reject that and believe the British government politicians should apologise unreservedly for having turned a blind eye to Israel's breaches of international law, offences against humanitarian law which has seen the massacre of Palestinians. Because of this tainted promise, Britain bares responsibility for setting the stage for the conflict that currently exists and the legacy of deceit, injustice and oppression that exists to this day.
In pursuit of justice this ocassion could be marked by a long adherence to the rules of international law, with an immediate apology from the Government of Great Britain. This task would take courage but is urgent.Millions of Palestinians are still marooned in refugee camps. West Bank citizens have endured 50 years of military occupation and Palestinian homes are continuing to be destroyed and replaced by thousands of new Israeli settlements.
Ahead of the 100th anniversary pro-Palestinian groups launched the following petition
https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/184398
calling on the British government to crap plans to celebrate. They argued Prime Minister Theresa May should instead use the occasion to issue an apology. Responding to the petition in April this year, the Foreign Office said: “The Balfour Declaration is an historic statement for which Her Majesty’s Government does not intend to apologize. We are proud of our role in creating the State of Israel. The task now is to encourage moves towards peace.”
It is really sad to witness Theresa May's blinkered ability to further shame the British people by ingulging in overt celebrations on the occasion of the centenary of the signing. She has also said the declaration was a "source of great pride" for Great Britain. Surely Theresa May and her cabinet cannot be simply unaware of the 100 year suffering this infamous agreement has caused.
Well done to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn though who has refused to attend Balour Centenary Celebration dinner that is taking place, I believe he is right to avoid it. He's not snubbing Israel per say, but a celebratory dinner that is exremely controversial and inflammatory to celebrate this .to the Palestinians it would be seen as celebrating their ethnic cleansing, the continuing denial of a viable Palestinian State, and the fact that 2017 also marks the 50th anniversary of the occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza and other Arab land and Israel’s refusal to end this, any celebration would be a complete mockery to the Palestinian peoples collective memory and a continuing violation of their rights..
Simon Johnson, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), says British Jews should feel proud of the UK’s role in the creation of Israel, today a key regional trade and security partner. But it is worth pointing out that that all British Jews consider the declaration worth celebrating. For instance Jews for Justice for Palestinians, offered the following perspective.The group’s parliamentary and diplomatic liaison officer, Arthur Goodman, says the government’s response to the Balfour apology petition is a skew on British history.
In reality the British government shouldn’t be particularly proud because, more than the Balfour Declaration itself, the way they ran it, in the Mandate, was very detrimental to the Palestinians,” he said.“If it had been to create a homeland on an equal basis with the already existing indigenous population, that would have been different. But that’s not what the British Mandate did. They created a state for the Zionists, who were Jews, and they excluded the possibility of the Palestinians having a state or having an equal part in a binational state.”
What would an apology actually achieve?
“Very little. In fact, if that’s all the government did, but didn’t actually help the Palestinians create a state, then it would just make Palestinians and Arabs even more convinced that the British government, among others, was being very hypocritical,” said Goodman.
“I think the correct response would be not to celebrate it, not to mark it, except to say that it’s now time for Israel to accept that it already has 78 percent of British Mandate Palestine and that should be enough for it. And the other 22 percent, i.e. the Occupied Territories, rightly belong to the Palestinians.”
I do aknowledge though that Balfour was not unique in history in giving what he did not own to those that were not entitled to it.With Israel currently entrenching its military occupation of Palestine and senior politicians articulating there rejection of a Palestinian state, Britain should not be inflaming the situation ny marking Balfour in the way that they are, which will create barriers to the ongoing peace process.100 years after Balfour it is more than time for Britain to now apologise for this declaration that has caused so much pain, a the time for reflection , not celebration, for us to consider on the profoundly negative consequences of the declaration by the colonial actions of Great Britain, and its continuing global consequences and think about the ongoing tragedy of the Palestinian people that my country owes a moral responsibility to.
Despite the consequences of Balfour the Palestinians commitment to fight for freedom also remains unchanged, and neither Balfour nor all of Britain's foreign secretaries since then have managed to break the will of the Palestinian nation.Let us also remember that the leaders of Israel were never satified with what they eventually got in 1948. They unfortunately set their sights much wider. And to this day carry out policies of expansion and domination in acts of provocation. Until measures are made by Israel to improve the standard of living and bring economic prosperity to the Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Bringing some chord of social justice, and reconition of the Palestinians identity and stolen land given back to them. and an end to their continuing use of apartheid practices, their will be no peace. This is Balfours tragic legacy.
