London, April 23rd 2017
The UK government claimed, in an official response to a petition pushing for an official apology over the Balfour Declaration, partial responsibility for the calamitous repercussions of the pledge on thousands of Palestinians.

“We recognise that the Declaration should have called for the protection of political rights of the non-Jewish communities in Palestine, particularly their right to self-determination,” the statement read.

PRC believes that the statement heralds a turn for the better in the government’s position as regards the Balfour Apology Campaign and signals an act of auto-criticism vis-à-vis the legitimacy of the Palestinian anti-occupation struggle.

The government response, dubbing the Balfour Declaration “an historic statement for which HMG does not intend to apologise” and of which the government is “proud of [its] role in creating the State of Israel” sparked anger among the pro-Palestine masses.

London – 20 April 2017

Advocates of the Balfour Apology Campaign (BAC) took to London streets in an attempt to garner more signatures over a petition urging the UK government to make an apology over the Balfour pledge.

BAC campaigners flocked to Paddington Station, trying to win over thousands of signatures from the masses.

The move comes a few days after the petition received over 12,000 signatures, raising expectations of a gracious apology from the British government.

Efforts have, meanwhile, been in full swing to reach a 100,000-signature threshold in an attempt to make the petition eligible for a House of Commons debate.

The petition makes part of PRC’s underway endeavours to urge the British government to apologise for the tragic upshots of the Balfour pledge and to backtrack on its intent to mark the centenary of the declaration.

London – 22 April 2017

The Palestinian Return Centre has re-launched in October 2016, its campaign which started in 2013, titled as “Balfour Apology Campaign”, demanding the United Kingdom Government to officially apologies for its past colonial crimes in Palestine.

On February 2017 the Palestinian Return Centre launched a petition on the British Parliament official website demanding Her Majesty’s Government to openly apologize to the Palestinian people for issuing the Balfour Declaration. The colonial policy of Britain between 1917-1948 led to mass displacement of the Palestinian nation and HMG should recognize its role during the Mandate and now must lead attempts to reach a solution that ensures justice for the Palestinian people. This petition has been signed by 13,269 signatures, in which guaranteed an official response from the British government.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/184398

Today, on 22 April 2017 the British government has responded officially, and its response has caused an outrage, deep disappointment and distress to Palestinian people.

The Balfour Apology Campaign (BAC) strongly denounces The United Kingdom Government position, in which clearly denying the Palestinian people their legitimate and along-awaited apology.

The official British government response to our petition is humiliating, arrogant and emphasizing the British government unconditional endorsement to the brutality of the Israeli governments against the Palestinian people. The fact that the British Government has stated in this response its pride in creating the state of Israel without acknowledging the suffering and injustice inflected on the Palestinian people as a consequence of the Balfour Declaration, is an alarming and an unacceptable position, in which deepening the British government role in denying the Palestinian people their fundamental rights.

It is alarming that the Government’s statement justifies the creation of Israel for religious reasons by stating, “In that context, establishing a homeland for the Jewish people in the land to which they had such strong historical and religious ties was the right and moral thing to do, particularly against the background of centuries of persecution.”

Such statement will only fuel the conflict as it gives religious motivation for the creation of Israel.

The statement shows ignorance of the facts and history and also ignore the Palestinian existence there for thousands of years.
In addition, the official response by the British government has also included a dangerous position in relation to the issue of illegal Israeli settlements, when including “land swap” as one of the elements that should be included in any suggested future two state negotiations, in which is illegal by international law.

And when it comes to the right of return to the millions of Palestinians that were drove forcibly out of their homes and lands by Israel as a result for Israeli atrocities in which Balfour Declaration was their umbrella to justify their horrific acts against the Palestinians, now the British government suggesting as part of the negotiation there would be an alternative solution for the Palestinians other than their right to return to their homes, in which is unacceptable, unjust and simply adopting the Israeli government position on the cost of the legitimate rights of many Palestinians.

The flaws-filled statement also misleads the public opinion that Britain is working towards the self-determination of the Palestinian people. For decades, the successive UK government failed in obliging Israel to achieve its peace process commitment and strengthened Israeli occupation, particularly the military industry.

We do not accept the official response that we have received from the British Government today, therefore, we will continue all our efforts, using all available channels, whether political, legal, public campaigns and media in order to gain the acknowledgement, the apology and the impartial political policies from the British government to the Palestinian nation collectively.

The British government denial of the Palestinian suffering as a consequence to its historic role in creating the ongoing injustice inflected on them, in addition to the current official position that the British government has communicated with us, we are left more determined to continue our legitimate campaign until we achieve all our outlined targets in this campaign.

The incumbent Prime Minister of the UK Theresa May sidestepped a question on the government’s position as regards underway calls to apologize for the Balfour Declaration during her stopover in Jordan.

When asked by AlJazeera correspondent about whether the British government would make an apology over the notorious Balfour pledge, May failed to provide a straightforward answer, and responded by restating the government’s standpoint vis-à-vis the Arab-Israeli conflict.

In an exclusive interview with May, Head of AlJazeera’s office in Jordan, Hassan AlShoubaki referred to underway attempts to mark the Balfour centenary on November 2, wondering about whether May’s government would apologize to the Palestinians for the tragic fallouts of the declaration.

May failed to deal with the issue in a clear-cut manner, saying the government has been seeking ways to boost Israeli-Palestinian talks, push for a two-state solution, and work on the establishment of a terror-safe Israeli State besides a sovereign Palestinian State.

A campaign urging the British government to apologize for the Balfour Declaration has been launched by PRC, amid emerging reports on the government’s intent to mark the centenary of the pledge. A petition launched by PRC to that very end managed to garner nearly 10,000 signatures in just a few weeks.

London – 4 April 2017

Lord Norman Warner urged the British government to make an apology over the notorious Balfour Pledge during a lengthy debate hosted at the British House of Lords on Monday.

Lord Norman called on the British government to assume its historical responsibility for the tragic fallouts of the Balfour pledge, which gave, one hundred years ago, green light for the establishment, in Palestine, of a national home for the Jewish people.

In Warner’s terms, the British government has failed to protect the rights of existing non-Jewish communities, in a barefaced contravention of the text of the letter.

Speaking at the debate round, Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Baroness Joyce Anelay, said that the British government will mark the Balfour centenary with pride, adding that a guest of government invitation was extended to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to visit the UK on the centenary.

“We are proud of our role in the creation of Israel,” said Baroness Anelay of St Johns. “However we recognize that the declaration should have called for the protection of political rights of non-Jewish communities in Palestine, particularly their right to self-determination. This is why we support a two-state solution.”

Warner leveled heavy criticism at the successive British governments, both under the British mandate and subsequently, for having failed to protect the Palestinian people, urging the government to rather mark the centenary with a gracious apology for the agony that that failure has caused.

Lord Warner’s comments were delivered during his chairmanship of a seminar staged by PRC to discuss the issue. A plethora of academics and diplomats were in attendance. A number of pro-Israel speakers were kicked out of the room for breaching the rules set for the debate round.

London – 29 March 2017

A debate was organised by the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) on Tuesday evening at the British House of Lords under the patronage of Baroness Jenny Tonge to discuss underway arrangements by the UK government to mark the notorious Balfour Declaration.

The event, held under the slogan “No for Celebration . . . Yes for Apology”, was chaired by Lord Norman Warner. A number of academics were in attendance.

A minute of silence was held at the onset of the event in memory of the victims of the Westminster terror attack and of the departed pro-Palestine MP Gerald Kaufman.

Keynote speaker Professor Salman Abu Sitta held the UK historically responsible for the fallouts of the Balfour Declaration, which resulted in the influx of thousands of Jewish immigrants and Zionist gangs to Palestine.

Speaking on behalf of AlSabil Friends NGO, Mark Pattison highlighted the key role played by the British Church in ongoing campaigns promoting Palestinians’ infringed rights.

Palestinian writer, Dr. Ghada Karmi, stressed Palestinians’ inalienable right of return to their motherland and the tragic upshots of the Balfour pledge on the refugees’ cause. She slammed the international community for their apathy as regards the status quo.

British author and journalist David Cornin briefed the audience on the finding of his book Balfour’s Shadow: British Support for Zionism and Israel, slated to be published in the near future. The book covers the repercussions of the Balfour pledge on the entire region and the wars sparked by the declaration.

PRC’s head Majed AlZeir concluded the seminar with an extensive note on PRC’s efforts to urge the British government to apologize for the Balfour Declaration and to pin down the ad hominem campaigns waged by the Israeli lobby against the center over the past few months. AlZeir further underlined the findings of a report by the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee acquitting Baroness Tonge of anti-Semitism allegations.