It is important to remind the world and particularly Britain that they should face their historic responsibility and to atone for the colonial history of Britain had committed against the Palestinian people.
Whilst the campaign is seeking an official recognition/apology from the British Government; the Campaign is in no way attempting to deny the right of any sect, nation or religious group to exist.
An apology would be recognition of the mistake that Britain made in the Balfour Declaration. There are many precedents in which UK Prime Ministers recognised Britain’s role in causing suffering in its former colonies. For example, Tony Blair in 1997 apologised to the Irish for the famine the country endured in the middle of the 19th century. Gordon Brown in 2009 issued a formal Government apology to thousands of British children who were shipped from Australia and other Commonwealth countries between 1920s and 1960s. Similarly, Cameron in 2011 recognized that Britain’s colonial history made it responsible for much of the historic problems in the world when he was discussing the dispute in Kashmir. In addition, many leading scholars and historians such as Avi Shlaim stated that Britain should apology to the Palestinians “for all the betrayal going back to the Balfour Declaration.”
Do you want to contribute to just and peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Join the Balfour Apology Campaign.
- Sign the online petition asking for the British Government to officially apologise for the Balfour Declaration. If the petition reaches 100k signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament
- Share the online petition.
- Support the campaign on Social Media
- Attend our events throughout the country.
- Volunteer with us
- Write to your MP asking him to support the campaign
- Organise an event to raise awareness about Britain’s legacy in Palestine
The Balfour Declaration was sent as a 67-word statement contained within the short letter addressed to the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Arthur Balfour on November 2, 1917. The letter promised the Jews a homeland in Palestine. The Declaration resulted in the displacement of the Palestinian nation and created the long-lasting Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East.
Lord Balfour served as the Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from July 1902 to December 1905. He then became Foreign Secretary (1916–1919) in David Lloyd George‘s coalition government.
Balfour: “For in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present population of the country… The Four Powers are committed to Zionism… Zionism be it right or wrong is more important than the wishes of 700,000 Arabs.”
Balfour: “The weak point of our position is of course that in the case of Palestine we deliberately and rightly decline to accept the principle of self-determination.”
Balfour: “The weak point of our position is of course that in the case of Palestine we deliberately and rightly decline to accept the principle of self-determination.”
At the end of WWI, Palestine’s modern development and the welfare of its people were entrusted to Britain, as the Mandatory Power, by the League of Nations as part of the fulfilment of the ‘Sacred Trust of Civilization”; that is, Britain was charged with bringing freedom and democratic government to the people of Palestine. Instead it was converted into a colonial project as a result of the British betrayal of this principle by ignoring the rights and needs of the indigenous people. It did so by repressing the Palestinian political rights which is evident in the case of the 1936-1939 Arab revolt.
The British army occupied Jerusalem on Sunday, 9 December 1917, and withdrew on 14 May 1948. According to professor Ilan Pappe’ during the period from 1917 and 1948 “No other international power was involved in the faith of Palestine and the Palestinians as much as Britain was.” This was a result of the British Mandate over Palestine which gave it powers to make the ultimate decisions in Palestine.
Britain imposed military rule on Palestine and violently suppressed their legitimate concerns. When Palestinians protested this policy British colonial rule responded brutally. In 1936, the British army put down a three-year revolt in which the Palestinian Arabs sought independence from Britain. By 1939, approximately 5,000 Palestinian had been killed, 10,000 were wounded and 5,670 were detained. This effectively meant that over ten per cent of Palestine’s adult male population had been killed, wounded, imprisoned, or exiled.
This "land without people” is a Zionist myth and propaganda that has been used for long to justify the occupation of Palestine. In 1917, at the time of the declaration, Palestinian community was over 90% of the total population.
By itself the Balfour Declaration, issued by the British government, it had no basis of legal authority.
The declaration acknowledged the establishment of a national home for Jewish people in Palestine, without consulting the indigenous population. It failed to protect their rights and resulted in their suffering and displacement.
The Declaration facilitated the perception that outsiders who supported the Zionist movement had the right to the land of Palestine. This led to increase of Jewish immigration and many Palestinian uprisings to protect their lands. The year of 1948, known as Nakba, was the most significant as the Israelis took over many of the Palestinian lands, destroyed people’s homes and forced many to leave their homeland and live in Diaspora until today.