Author Archives: Diana Safieh

Online talk given in February 2022 Bashir Bashir is associate professor in the department of sociology, political science and communication at the Open University of Israel and a senior research fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. His primary research … Continue reading →

We are pleased to announce that Jon Snow, the distinguished journalist and news presenter, has agreed to be a patron of the Balfour Project charity. Jon has long taken an interest in Palestine / Israel, and has interviewed key politicians here … Continue reading →

Day One: The Collapse of the British Mandate Day Two: Why it still matters, and what Britain should do now.

Online talk given in February 2022 Rula Jamal LLM – Head of Monitoring and Documentation at Al-Haq Dr Susan Power – Head of Legal Research and Advocacy at Al-Haq In 2021, the government of Israel designated al-Haq a ‘terrorist’ organisation, … Continue reading →

On 1 February Amnesty International published an important report on Israel/Palestine. Here is the link to the text of the report, and here the link to Amnesty’s response to questions.  Here is a Haaretz commentary on Israeli Government handling of … Continue reading →

By Chris McGreal (This article originally appeared in the February, 2022, edition of The Link, published by Americans for Middle East Understanding. In 2006, Jimmy Carter published his bestselling book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, to wide acclaim and a vicious campaign … Continue reading →

By Anshell Pfeffer in Haaretz on 1Feb 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 … Continue reading →

Editorial 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 … Continue reading →

By 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 … Continue reading →

By 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 … Continue reading →

Online talk given in January 2022

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 … Continue reading →

Israeli 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 … Continue reading →

This 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 … Continue reading →

Statement 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 … Continue reading →

downloads to your computer opens in new tab What is Gift Aid? Gift Aid is a scheme which allows charities to claim extra money from HMRC. A charity can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you donate if you pay … Continue reading →

The 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 … Continue reading →

By Magan Singodia This is a brilliant book for anyone trying to establish the truth of the political history of America’s unwavering support for Israel. It is an eye-opening account of the lengths the Zionists were and are prepared to … Continue reading →

Haaretz 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 … Continue reading →

By 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 … Continue reading →

By 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 … Continue reading →

Online 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 … Continue reading →

By 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 … Continue reading →

Online 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 … Continue reading →

Help our vital work by leaving a gift in your will. A legacy gift will allow you to play an important part in helping to continue our work. A legacy gift is a unique and very meaningful type of gift. … Continue reading →

By 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 … Continue reading →

A 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 … Continue reading →

Crispin 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 … Continue reading →

By 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 … Continue reading →

By 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 … Continue reading →

By 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 … Continue reading →

European 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 … Continue reading →

Online 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.  … Continue reading →

Published 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 … Continue reading →

Online 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: … Continue reading →

A 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 … Continue reading →

Last 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 … Continue reading →

Statement 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. … Continue reading →

: By 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 … Continue reading →

The 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 … Continue reading →

A 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 … Continue reading →

Human 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 … Continue reading →

‘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 … Continue reading →

Statement 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 … Continue reading →

Article 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 … Continue reading →

The parishioners of the church of St. Philip and St. James, in Leckhampton, Cheltenham, in Gloucestershire, are writing letters to their MP concerning the case of Layan Nasir, a young Palestinian woman who was seized and incarcerated by Israeli forces … Continue reading →

The 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 … Continue reading →

Statement 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 … Continue reading →

Online 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 … Continue reading →