London, 21 February 2017

The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) expressed  its concern to number 10 the possibility of having any form of celebration on the centenary of Balfour Declaration.

The centre sent a letter to  The Prime Minister, Theresa May MP refusing marking or celebrating the infamous declaration which led to today’s Palestinian plight.

The letter below stated , ” After 100 years of this Declaration, Palestinians remain displaced in the refugee camps and denied their right to return to their homeland. They are living under a fifty-year military occupation depriving them of basic human rights and suffer daily humiliation at Israeli checkpoints. Palestinians are made homeless due to the increasing settlement expansion, which Parliament has recently reaffirmed their illegality and an obstable to peace.”

Below the letter sent to the PM

21st February 2017

Dear Rt Hon Theresa May MP,

The Prime Minister,

Subject: Celebrating the “Balfour Declaration Centenary”

The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) is very concerned about the possibility of the British Government or any of its institutions, bodies or senior figures; celebrating or marking the centenary of the Balfour Declaration. We have followed up closely the calls of the pro Israeli groups to celebrate or mark this infamous centenary.

As you may know, for millions of Palestinians the Balfour Declaration is not a source of pride but rather, displacement and agony. Britain’s Middle East Minister, Tobias Ellwood, said in a Parliamentary debate in November 2016 that Government will not “celebrate” the Centenary and will be taking “a measured approach”. Meanwhile, recent media reports suggest that your Excellency has “invited” Israeli Prime Minister to London to celebrate the occasion. The PRC is certain that you are fully aware that the Balfour Declaration has led us to this current moment of continued conflict and instability.

After 100 years of this Declaration, Palestinians remain displaced in the refugee camps and denied their right to return to their homeland. They are living under a fifty-year military occupation depriving them of basic human rights and suffer daily humiliation at Israeli checkpoints. Palestinians are made homeless due to the increasing settlement expansion, which Parliament has recently reaffirmed their illegality and an obstable to peace.

Moreover, Israel has repeatedly violated International laws and UN resolutions as well as committing war crimes in Gaza Strip in the last three military offensives in 2009, 2012 and 2014. The centre firmly believes that celebrating or marking the Balfour Declaration would lead to further damage to Britain’s image not only in Palestine but across the region.

As you may aware, the British Mandate and involvement in the Arab world early in 20th Century is negatively perceived as a foreign “colonial” and “imperialist” project. Therefore, we kindly request that Number 10 issue a statement to confirm its position.

We call on HMG to openly apologise and recognise the suffering caused to Palestinians following the Balfour Declaration during the Mandate years and how it contributed to their current plight. This moral and ethical step would greatly contribute to advancing the cause of justice and achieving peace in the region.

The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) is a non-governmental organization, with UN ECOSOC special consultative status, registered in London that is dedicated to finding a solution for Palestinian refugees in accordance with international and humanitarian law through organising conferences, events, delegations and published materials, working with Palestinians alongside UN and government officials. We are also a member NGO on Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People since 2003.

Best

The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC)

London 16-02-2017

The Balfour Apology Campaign (BAC) has just launched its petition which calls on the British Government to apologise for the Balfour Declaration and lead peace efforts in Palestine. The campaign which is initiated by the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) urges the Government to acknowledge responsibility for its colonial crimes in Palestine following the infamous declaration.

The Balfour Declaration issued by the British Government in 1917 resulted in the mass displacement of the Palestinian people and a hundred-years suffering.

The Balfour Declaration had no legal authority. It was described by the Jurist Henry Cattan as “legally void, morally wicked and politically mischievous”.

BAC invites the British public to join our petition below:

UK must apologise for the Balfour Declaration & lead peace efforts in Palestine

“We call on Her Majesty’s Government to openly apologise 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.

HMG should recognise its role during the Mandate and now must lead attempts to reach a solution that ensures justice for the Palestinian people.”

Link to sign: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/184398

The Campaign aims to impact all sections of society through working with politicians, MPs, media, NGOs, Charities, students and members of the public to raise awareness of Britain’s colonial past and its role in creating the longest standing conflict in modern times.

No document in Middle Eastern history has had as much influence as the Balfour Declaration on the current plight of the Palestinian people. The Balfour Declaration, a 67-word statement is contained in the short letter by the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leading English Jew, on November 2, 1917. The declaration “[viewed] with favour” the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, without the consent of the inhabitants of the country who were the majority. In 1917, at the time of the declaration, Palestinians constituted over 90% of the total population.

About the Campaign

Our mission is to seek an official apology from the British government for issuing the infamous Balfour Declaration. We believe that the British government’s recognition of its destructive colonial past is a necessary step towards achieving peace, justice and reconciliation.

Balfour Apology Campaign (BAC) denounces the smearing campaign launched by some of the mainstream media outlets.

The Campaign reckon that Media outlets and pro Israeli news websites are disseminating flagrant misinformation in a step do hit the campaign image and make it look negative.

Our Balfour Apology Campaign event launch at the parliament focused on the mechanism of Britain apologising but sadly many of the media outlets ignored this.

Jewish News, part of “Times of Israel” newspaper published an article titles: ” Jews ‘blamed’ for Holocaust at House of Lords event”

BAC refuses such attempt by the Jewish News and call for an immediate removal of this libellous article. BAC has made it clear that it doesn’t tolerate any form of anti-Semitism.

About the Campaign Balfour Apology Campaign (BAC) is an initiative launched by the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) for the purpose of obtaining an official apology from the British Government over its infamous Balfour Declaration of 2017. The declaration resulted in the establishment of Israel and displacing the Palestinian nation. This year marks the centenary of the Declaration where Palestinians are still their refugee camps in the Diaspora and Israel is still imposing its brutal occupation.

[Source]: Jewish News: http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-denounces-campaign-to-apologise-for-balfour-declaration

The Palestinian Authority Ambassador to the United Kingdom has described the British government’s invitation for Benjamin Netanyahu to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the notorious Balfour Declaration in London as a “new slap for the Palestinians,” it has been reported.

“Britain has to correct its mistake, apologise to the Palestinians and recognise the Palestinian state instead of inviting the Israeli prime minister to celebrate 100 years of granting Palestinian land for Jews to build their state,” insisted Professor Manuel Hassassian.

The PA response to the government invitation coincided with the British parliament discussing a motion to call on Israel to halt settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories immediately.

Last Monday, the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, approved a law which legalises previously illegal — even under Israeli law — settlement outposts built on private Palestinian land in the occupied territories. All Israeli settlements are illegal according to international laws and conventions.

Hassassian said that he was commissioned to contact the British foreign office to get clarifications about Netanyahu’s invitation. The ambassador said that the Minister of State for Middle East Affairs, Tobias Ellwood MP, initially ignored his request for a meeting. When Ellwood did respond, said Hassassian, he agreed to a meeting but did not specify a date and time.

[Source]: Middle East Monitor: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170211-inviting-netanyahu-to-celebrate-balfour-in-london-a-new-slap-for-palestinians

Photo By: JewishNews

On Tuesday November 29th Michael Gove MP hosted an event in the House of Commons which was organized by the Henry Jackson Society, a known pro-Zionist, neoconservative and deeply influenced by Islamophobia think-thank[1]. The event was a frantic effort to salvage and defend the Balfour Declaration after the emergence of Palestinians’ efforts to seek an apology and accountability for Britain’s past colonial crimes.

This event was staged as a direct response to the Palestinian Return Centre’s meeting held in October in the House of Lords. As PRC’s launch of the Balfour Apology Campaign made headlines in the UK and around the world, pro-Israel supporters scrambled to organize an event in the House of Commons to defend the Balfour Declaration. The panel included Israel’s ambassador to the UK and other figures close to Netanyahu’s government.

We attended the event and were shocked by the many comments which can certainly be characterized as anti-Palestinian hate speech.

One of the speakers was Dore Gold, the head of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and up until a month ago the Foreign Ministry’s director-general, highlighted what he said were the links between the Palestinian Return Centre, which had asked for the apology, and Hamas. The PRC, he said, had been outlawed in Israel in 2010 by then Defence Minister Ehud Barak, because of these links.

“They appeared in the House of Lords seeking to delegitimise Israel, but the shoe should be on the other foot”, he said, and denounced the PRC for “seeking an apology from the British government for past colonial crimes.” Israel, he said, was not a colonialist entity: “It was restored as a Jewish commonwealth after it had been destroyed.” It was “an audacity” of the PRC “to come to the greatest parliamentary democracy in the world and challenge Israel’s existence.”[2]

As per usual, Israel’s hasbara advocates decided to use the ‘terrorists’ card in order to delegitimize PRC’s campaign, which is gaining support in the UK. Dore Gold is referring to the Israeli government’s decision to ban the PRC in 2010 due to alleged connections to Hamas, which according to a study by the British independent research centre Public Interest Investigations, the ban was based on unfounded allegations and circumstantial evidence.[3]

Even after the PRC was accredited as an NGO with special consultative status to the United Nations ECOSOC in 2015, pro-Israel propagandists continue to smear the PRC as a “terrorist entity” or “Hamas’ operative in Europe”.

The fact that the PRC has been active in the UK since 1996 and continues to legally work within the UK and EU parliament and regularly attends UN meetings in Geneva and New York, makes Israel and its advocates’ ridiculous claim hard to believe. Furthermore, if Israel had any evidence of PRC being part of Hamas, why doesn’t it ask her supposedly great ally and friend Britain to close down this “terrorist” NGO?

Of course, it’s not enough to try to discredit the NGO behind the Balfour Apology Campaign, and so this event was purposively scheduled in the UK parliament with the aim to influence public opinion, which they fear might be moving waking up to the unpleasant reality of Britain’s colonial legacy in Palestine.

According to an article of the Jerusalem Post “A group [PRC] met in Britain’s House of Lords with the aim of burying the Balfour Declaration, an Israeli group on Tuesday will take to a room in the House of Commons to praise it.”[4]

However, the task of praising the infamous Balfour Declaration is becoming increasingly difficult. Only last week, during a Westminster Hall debate, Conservative MP Bob Stewart stated that “Britain was being either duplicitous or incompetent with the Balfour Declaration”.

During the same debate Foreign Office Minister Tobias Elwood MP, backtracked from previous statements and announced that the government will not be celebrating the centenary of the Balfour Declaration. As the conflict continues to affects millions with no end in sight, the desire to “celebrate” or “praise” the Balfour Declaration is a contradiction too great even for a great supporter of Israel such as the Conservative Party.

The narrative of pro-Israel advocates was abundant of contradictions as evidenced in their “Refuting Balfour’s Detractors” event. During the discussion Balfour was described as a great intellectual and philosopher. Praise was conferred even to President-elect Trump, as one of the panelists, Yair Hirschfeld, echoed other Israeli politicians in his claim that election of Trump is a “good opportunity” for Israel to implement her “vision”. While discussing the two-state solution, which he is a self-proclaimed a strong supporter, he suggested that the illegal settlements established in the occupied territories should be part of Israel in a two-state solution. His statement is evidence of Israel’s goal ever since the Oslo Accords – lip service to the international community about a two-state solution while in reality acquiring as much Palestinian land with as little Palestinians in it as possible.

Another speaker was Andrew Roberts, visiting professor at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. Mr. Roberts’s made great efforts to pay tribute to the Balfour Declaration, though his argument was rife with incongruity. He claims that the declaration was a “miraculous event” and one of the “most egregious moments of the British Empire” while at the same time suggesting that Britain should be “proud of it but it has nothing to do with colonialism”. Is Mr.Roberts implying that the British Empire had nothing to do with colonialism?

Similar denial emerged from some of the audience’s questions. One unidentified individual questioned whether Palestinians were a real people and actually existed. The phrase “there is no such thing as Palestinians” is one of the core Zionist’s myths propagated by Israeli leaders such as Golda Meir.

Mr. Roberts, in response to a question on whether the Balfour Declaration gave Zionists legitimacy to the land in Palestine, affirmed that Balfour did give away any land and that they had to “work and buy every piece of land in Palestine”. Here Mr. Roberts whitewashes the ethnic cleansing that Israel committed in order to establish its state which had to expel the majority of the indigenous population and destroy hundreds of their villages.

Another audience member seemed worried about the Israel’s public perception as he asked: “Don’t you think in a generation time Israel will lose Western democracies supporters?” To this Mr. Roberts sarcastically replied “What support?” and continued “Countries are failing to stand up for Israel”.

Finally, the closing remarks came from Michael Gove MP, which affirmed what the pro-Israel lobby has been increasingly pushing for, which is saying that “anti-Zionism is the same as anti-Semitism”. Mr. Gove ended the evening with a shocking claim, probably taking note from Trumps recent statements, which is that on the centenary of the Balfour Declaration Britain will move its embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem. This would be in violation of international law since the international community has not recognized Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel.

To conclude, Dore Gold exemplifies Israel’s fear to truthfully deal with the Balfour Declaration as he states: “They want to put the state of Israel into the colonialist box, seeing Israel as a colonialist entity born of British imperialism.”[5] He is right – that is our intention because that it is the truth and it is increasingly the perception of the British public which will be ever more difficult for Israel to challenge as we approach the centenary of the Balfour Declaration.

Lastly, the PRC is looking at filing a formal complaint to the House of Commons for this event which was characterized by many extremist comments that amount to anti-Palestinian hate speech.

By

The Research Dept. at The Palestinian Return Centre

London – 2 November 2016 – Today marks the 99th anniversary since the signing of the infamous Balfour Declaration. The British government failed to protect the Palestinian people, which was a breach of its obligations under the Mandate.

Britain’s failure led to communal strife, violence and mass displacement of more than half of the Palestinian population before expiration of its Mandate. The Balfour declaration of 1917 clearly prejudiced the rights of Palestinian people and sealed their fate, leading to untold suffering. Since then, seven million Palestinian refugees, more than half the Palestinian population have had to endure this historic injustice, a blatant denial of their human rights.

We are very concerned that the British Government is planning to mark the centenary of Balfour Declaration. The centre therefore calls on the Government to help ending the plight of Palestinians instead of supporting the political agenda of Israel.

The constant bias of the conservative government towards Israel is dangerous and will only damage the reputation of Great Britain worldwide especially the Middle East.

The British government support of the right-wing Israeli government will only contribute to more human rights violations in occupied Palestine. Such official British support is against the very British values.

Balfour Apology Campaign

To raise awareness about the importance to appropriately remember the Balfour Declaration and its damning consequence we have decided to launch the Balfour Apology Campaign (BAC). Our mission is to seek an official apology from the British government for issuing the Balfour Declaration. We believe that the British government’s recognition of its destructive colonial past is a necessary step towards achieving peace, justice and reconciliation.

Our Campaign supports a just resolution of the conflict based on the principles of international law where Palestinian refugees living in the Diaspora can enjoy there right of return and obtain their rights. This campaign is aimed at the British government to openly recognise its colonial past in Palestine and act accordingly.

A clear British recognition of the colonial history of Britain would contribute to finding a just and peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The British Government should acknowledge its obligation to apologise to the Palestinian people for failing to meet its obligations and to uphold Palestinian rights.

Thorough this Balfour Apology Campaign we also seek to inform the British public about the importance of the British government’s recognition of its mistakes and call on the British people to support us in bringing peace and justice to Palestine, thus bringing an end to a century of suffering.

We will be organizing many events throughout the UK in the coming year leading up to November 2017.  We will also have petition to urge the British Government to debate recognition in Parliament. We aim to impact all sections of society through working with politicians, MPs, media, NGOs, charities, students and members of the public to raise the profile of the campaign.

Check out the campaign’s website for more info http://balfourcampaign.com/

For media enquiries contact us at: +44 (0) 2084530919 or info@prc.org.uk

A campaign demanding that the UK issue a formal apology for supporting the idea of a Jewish state in the Middle East almost a century ago is growing in popularity after the launch of a new parliamentary petition.

Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Jenny Tonge hosted an event at the House of Lords announcing the launch of the Palestinian Return Centre’s (PRC) initiative to pressure the UK government into acknowledging its role in “almost a century of Palestinian suffering” and the UK’s wider colonial impact on the region last Tuesday.

If the petition (currently pending approval) reaches more than 100,000 signatures, parliament will have to consider a debate on the subject.

The Balfour Declaration, as it is known, was a 1917 letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild, head of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland, promising support for the idea of a Jewish homeland in historical Palestine as long as the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities were not “prejudiced.”

Britain ended up governing Palestine shortly afterward under mandate rule after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in WWI.

The controversial meeting in Westminster caused outrage in Israel after video from the event surfaced showing one audience member claiming “If anybody is anti-semitic, it’s the Israelis themselves,” going on to say Jews antagonised Adolf Hitler.

Baroness Tonge was criticised for not appearing to challenge the unidentified man. She later said that she did not hear his full “rant”. The Lib Dems decided to suspend Baroness Tonge pending an investigation into the event, which led her to announce that she has quit the party. The PRC also distanced itself from the comments, which they said were made by a member of the ultra-Orthodox Neturei Karta group.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also called on the UK to apologise for the Balfour Declaration ahead of the centenary during a speech at the United Nations in New York last week. “We ask Great Britain, as we approach 100 years since this infamous declaration, to draw the necessary lessons and to bear its historic, legal, political, material and moral responsibility for the consequences of this declaration, including an apology to the Palestinian people for the catastrophes, misery and injustice this declaration created and to act to rectify these disasters and remedy its consequences, including by the recognition of the state of Palestine,” Mr Abbas said. “This is the least Great Britain can do.”

The UK’s delegation to the UN did not comment on Mr Abbas’ remarks. In a statement sent to Al Jazeera, A British Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said that the government would not apologise for a “historic statement” but recognised that for many, it is a sensitive subject.

“The Balfour Declaration was a historic statement and one that the UK Government will not be apologising for… We are focused on encouraging the Israelis and Palestinians to take steps which bring them closer to peace,” they said, adding that the government supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “However, we do recognise the sensitivities many people have about the Balfour Declaration and will mark the anniversary accordingly.”

[Source]: Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/uk-palestine-israel-barones-tonge-balfour-declaration-a7390666.html

London – 27-10-2016 – Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) condemns the biased article of Dominic Kennedy, Investigations Editor of the Times and regards it as mere “Propaganda” and “bad journalism” that lack the basic ethic and standards of journalism.

On early Thursday, 27th of October, Kennedy published an article titled, “Jews blamed for Holocaust at ‘shameful’ House of Lords event”

The article of Kennedy is based on a blog post by David Collier who is a known pro-Israel blogger.

The article described the event of the Palestinian Return Centre as “‘shameful’ House of Lords event”. Kennedy’s choice for the title fails to accurately depict the purpose and outcome the event, which centered around the launch of the Balfour Apology Campaign. He also gave a platform to the Israeli embassy in London where a spokesperson commented on the matter. Meanwhile, he failed to contact the centre for a comment on the issue.

We call on the Times to adopt a fair, accurate and objective reporting when dealing with press coverage.

In this instance, PRC reiterates its position, which is that we don’t tolerate any form of anti-Semitism nor holocaust denial statements.

The fact that some members of the Jewish Neturei Karta said anti-semitic statements in the Q&A session of our meeting should not be used to defame our event or speakers. Comments being made from members of the audience should not be used to discredit our activities

PRC should be only held responsible for what is being said by our speakers. We are not responsible for what the audience ask or comment while the floor is open for discussion.