Author Archives: Diana Safieh

Open letter calls on Jewish leaders to speak out against ‘ultimate purpose’ of PM’s judicial reforms – upholding ‘regime of apartheid’ By Chris McGreal, published in The Guardian on 15 August 2023. Hundreds of Israeli and American public figures have … Continue reading →

By Sir Vincent Fean The Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill was heavily mauled in debate in the House of Commons on 3 July, particularly in this excellent speech by Conservative MP Alicia Kearns (Chair of the influential … Continue reading →

Report by Francesca Albanese Sir Vincent Fean, Balfour Project trustee, writes: Francesca Albanese is the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). She studies developments and reports regularly to the UN Human Rights Council, of … Continue reading →

by Peter ShambrookOneworld Academic£35.00, $US45.00ISBN 978-0-86154-632-9 Review by John McHugo                                                                  Before Peter Shambrook produced Policy of Deceit, many historians in the West had shied away from the controversy over the Hussein-MacMahon correspondence of 1915-16. Whatever British commitments the letters … Continue reading →

By Mike Scott-Baumann The Commission was appointed by Sir Herbert Samuel, the High Commissioner for Palestine, to inquire into, and report on, the “disturbances” in Jaffa and elsewhere in early May 1921. It was headed by Sir Thomas Haycraft, the Chief Justice … Continue reading →

Sir Vincent Fean writes: Last year the UN General Assembly voted to request that the International Court of Justice should deliver an advisory opinion which would consider the question of the legality of the Israeli military occupation of East Jerusalem, … Continue reading →

Policy of Deceit Britain and Palestine, 1914–1939 Published by Oneworld Publication date: August 3, 2023 ISBN: 9780861546329 RRP: £35.00 Pages: 416 ‘The most comprehensive and incisive exposure of the origins of the British betrayal of Palestine.’ Ilan Pappe ‘Deeply researched, powerfully argued and meticulously … Continue reading →

Sir Vincent Fean writes: There are over forty British volunteer friendship and twinning groups with Palestine, from Dundee to Camden, from Sheffield to Bradford on Avon. To see the full list, please visit  www.twinningwithpalestine.net, the attractive website of the Britain … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

By Michael Scott-Baumann Review by Prof. Menachem Klein  The History Press, 2021, hard cover. 258 p. £14.99 The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the oldest active national conflict in the world. It has raged without cease since the late 19th Century. The … Continue reading →

By Raja Shehadeh The brief history I present here about the relations between Britain and Palestine is selective. I focus on events in which my father, Aziz Shehadeh, played a role. Much of what I will cover in this talk … Continue reading →

By Avi Shlaim Review by Gillian Mosely “The trouble with nationalism is that it stops us thinking.” The source of this piece of profound wisdom, imparted on page two of Avi Shlaim’s new book, Memoirs of an Arab Jew, is … Continue reading →

An epic journey to uncover a Holocaust inheritance leads relentlessly to discovering a Nakba inheritance: two catastrophes that are very different, but very connected. Can they both be heard and understood? With personal testimony, letters and memories by those who … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

Thursday 6 July 2023 at 6pm UK Time, Tickets £5, Free for Friends of the Balfour Project. The film and Q&A will be available to ticket holders for 3 days after the screening, for those who cannot make the live … Continue reading →

By Hil Aked Review by Tim Llewellyn Verso, £18.99 Israel’s usually deep well of public approval in the British Isles began in 2000 quickly to empty. It was being seriously depleted by the collapse of the Oslo peace process and … Continue reading →

6 June 2023 NOTE: this webinar was not be recorded, as per EAPPI standard policy. Ann Wilson (ex CAFOD employee in the Diocese of Salford and previous chaplain of Loreto College, Manchester)  returned from monitoring human rights violations and breaches … Continue reading →

Veteran Palestinian-British activist and academic Dr Ghada Karmi talks to the rapper and activist Lowkey about her new book One State: The Only Democratic Future for Palestine-Israel setting out what in her view is the only workable democratic future for … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

April 2023 Palestine Museum US held a Screening of our film 18-minute documentary Britain in Palestine 1917-1948, followed by Q&A discussion with Balfour Project Vice-Chair Sir Vincent Fean, a British diplomat, and Trustee John McHugo, a British historian and lawyer. … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

12 April 2023 Richard Falk is an American professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, and Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Falk has published extensively with multiple books written about international law and the … Continue reading →

Andrew Cunningham is a Founder of Darien Analytics, a UK firm that advises clients on Corporate Governance and Risk Management. He is a Visiting Professor at the London Institute of Banking and Finance, and a non-Executive Director of ARC Ratings. … Continue reading →

530pm UK time, Wednesday 12th April 2023 (please note the later start time) Richard Falk, John Dugard and Michael Lynk have agreed to come speak to us to celebrate the launch of their book, Protecting Human Rights in Occupied Palestine: … Continue reading →

By Rabbi Danny Rich Stranger in My Own Land Palestine, Israel and One Family’s Story of Home By Fida Jiryis (C.Hirst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., London, 2022) In a submission to ‘Zionism: a Jewish Communal Response from the UK’ (Board … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

As you may have read or heard, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s government is advancing large-scale plans to build many new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. These are being done in defiance of … Continue reading →

Andrew Whitley – ChairAndrew Whitley succeeded Sir Vincent Fean as Chair of the Balfour Project on 1 June 2022. He has been a Trustee since 2018. A retired senior United Nations official, Andrew spent much of his working life in … Continue reading →

We are republishing this review of Collusion Across the Jordan (1988), the first book to demonstrate conclusively that in 1947-1948, Britain, Jordan and the Zionists worked to ensure there would be no Palestinian state. Israel has continued that policy to … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

By Mike Scott-Baumann The Report of the Palin Commission (or Court) of Inquiry, 1920 The Commission was established in May, 1920, to examine the reasons for the Jerusalem [‘Nebi Musa’] riots of April, 1920, and “the extent and causes of racial feelings … Continue reading →

Israel and its acolytes have long pushed the agenda that anti-Zionism is a form of anti-Jewish racism. A new book shows how this endeavour came at the expense of Palestinians and diaspora Jews alike. By Em Hilton  “Whatever Happened to Antisemitism?: … Continue reading →

Recordings now available below Welcome – Andrew Whitley, Balfour Project Chair & Introduction to Conference—Baroness Sayeeda Warsi Click here for Audio/Podcast Keynote Speech followed by Q&A—Francesca Albanese,  United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Click here for Audio/Podcast … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

Thursday 23rd February 2023 Matthew Hughes is Chair in military history at Brunel University London. His most recent book Britain’s Pacification of Palestine: the British Army, the Colonial State and the Arab Revolt, 1936-39  came out with Cambridge University Press in 2019. … Continue reading →

March 2023 Matthew Teller’s “Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City” (Profile Books, 2022) was named a Book of the Year by the Daily Telegraph. Matthew writes for the BBC, Guardian, Independent, Times, Financial Times and … Continue reading →