Category Archives: News

Shameless: Ministers are now attacking our public authorities for respecting human rights in Israel and Palestine

Posted on May 17, 2021 by Diana Safieh

By Richard Burden There was a time when some politicians would argue that human rights were nothing to do with business; that it was perfectly legitimate for UK companies to profit from trade with regimes overseas however badly those regimes … Continue reading →

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Sir Vincent Fean on Sky News, 14 May 2021

Posted on May 14, 2021 by Diana Safieh

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Sir Vincent Fean, Chair of Balfour Project, on BBC, 12 May 2021

Posted on May 12, 2021 by Diana Safieh

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Instagram Censoring

Posted on May 10, 2021 by Diana Safieh

I have received reports that some Instagram users in Jerusalem are facing censorship, presumably by Instagram itself, which is owned by Facebook. Palestinians have reported that recently, when they write Instagram messages about the wave of evictions of Palestinian families … Continue reading →

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UK-European statement condemns Israeli settlements, East Jerusalem evictions

Posted on May 8, 2021 by Diana Safieh

The Governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK issued this statement on Israeli settlements on May 6. We urge the Government of Israel to reverse its decision to advance the construction of 540 settlement units in the Har … Continue reading →

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UK backs Palestinian elections, including in Jerusalem, at UN Security Council

Posted on April 26, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Excerpt of Statement by British Ambassador Jonathan Allen at the Security Council briefing on the Middle East on 23 April 2021 Mr President, following elections held in Israel on 24 March, we look forward to working with a new Israeli … Continue reading →

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson Confirms UK Opposition to ICC Investigation into war crimes in Palestine

Posted on April 16, 2021 by Diana Safieh

The Balfour Project read with sadness and dismay the concluding words in the Prime Minister’s letter to the Conservative Friends of Israel of 9 April 2021. These words assert that “Palestine is not a sovereign State” and that the investigation … Continue reading →

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‘Biased changes’ in GCSE textbooks on Middle East history

Posted on April 6, 2021 by Diana Safieh

A group of academics, the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine, has uncovered what it describes as bias that has been introduced into British GCSE textbooks on Middle East history. BRICUP found hundreds of changes in two books published … Continue reading →

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The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism

Posted on March 29, 2021 by Diana Safieh

The Balfour Project opposes all forms of racism, bigotry and discrimination, including antisemitism. We commend the recent Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism; one year in the making, by international scholars in antisemitism and related fields from Europe, the USA, Canada and … Continue reading →

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ANTISEMITISM: a defining moment

Posted on March 27, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Julia Bard looks at the Jerusalem Declaration and assesses its potential to re-set the political dial Published in the Jewish Socialist, 3 August 2021. I know they said there would be no exams this year, but here’s a question just … Continue reading →

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Palestinian peace must rest on international law

Posted on March 16, 2021 by Diana Safieh

By Mary Robinson, published in The Financial Times on 15 March 2021. ICC decision to investigate Hamas and Israel has implications for both sides. BP Trustee, author and international lawyer John McHugo writes: For far too long, political leaders have shied … Continue reading →

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Working towards a two-state solution

Posted on March 2, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Introduction to UK Government statement to the UN Security Council of 26 February 2021 The latest statement by the UK to the UN Security Council, at its regular meeting on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict on 26 February, deserves attention – for … Continue reading →

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Requesting the UK government’s urgent intervention against the dispossession and forcible transfer of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, East Jerusalem

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Letter from Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights to Rt Hon James Cleverly MP, Minister of State fo rthe Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

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The British Government position on Jerusalem

Posted on February 15, 2021 by Diana Safieh

The British Government has now replied to the six recommendations in the Balfour Project statement “Israel-Palestine: equal rights for a lasting peace” which concluded our 27 October conference on Jerusalem. We are indebted to our patron, Rt Revd John Pritchard, … Continue reading →

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Over 80 UK parliamentarians call on Israel to stop the dispossession of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, or face diplomatic consequences

Posted on February 10, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Published by CAABU, 9 February 2021. Over 80 British parliamentarians representing all parties, in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, wrote in a letter to the British Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab that the British government must … Continue reading →

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Church leaders call on Israel to give vaccine access to Palestinians in West Bank/Gaza

Posted on January 23, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Two distinguished patrons of the Balfour Project signed the communique below from the Holy Land Coordination (HLC):Rt Revd Declan Lang, Catholic Bishop of Clifton and Chair of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference Dept. of International Affairs andRt Revd Christopher Chessun, Anglican … Continue reading →

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We are Israel’s largest human rights group – and we are calling this apartheid

Posted on January 15, 2021 by Diana Safieh

By Hagai El-Ad, published in The Guardian, 12 Jan, 2021 The systematic promotion of the supremacy of one group of people over another is deeply immoral and must end One cannot live a single day in Israel-Palestine without the sense … Continue reading →

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Indonesia is no saviour: against normalisation with Israel

Posted on January 14, 2021 by Diana Safieh

By Gilang Al Ghifari Lukman, published on New Mandala on 11 JAN, 2021 Recent reports of potential normalisation between Indonesia and Israel have received varied reactions in the respective countries. In his three-month marathon toward normalization, U.S. President Donald Trump … Continue reading →

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Seeking cooperation in order to achieve a two-state solution – Ambassador Barbara Woodward

Posted on January 5, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the Security Council briefing on the situation in the Middle East. Published 21 December 2020 Thank you, Mr President, and thank you to Special Coordinator Mladenov for his briefing. As others have done, I’d … Continue reading →

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How Israel’s Settlement-Separation Roads Speed Towards One State

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Diana Safieh

The rapid integration of the settlers and their roads with pre-1967 Israel means a workable two-state solution becomes more impossible by the minute. By Ahmad Al-Bazz and Edo Konrad, published on +972 on December 31, 2020. How Israel’s road projects are ensuring apartheid is … Continue reading →

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A scion of Zionist aristocracy wants to quit the Jewish people. Will Israel let him?

Posted on January 3, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Why Avraham Burg, who has served as Knesset speaker, interim president and head of the Jewish Agency, is asking Israel to annul his registration as a Jew Ravit Hecht | Jan. 2, 2021 (From Haaretz) Avraham Burg has been a … Continue reading →

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Former Jerusalem archbishop: How long will Catholics keep ignoring the suffering of Palestinians?

Posted on January 2, 2021 by Diana Safieh

By Michel Sabbah on 22 December 2020. Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah served as the archbishop and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1987 to 2008, the first native Palestinian to hold the office for centuries. He is a co-author of the … Continue reading →

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The lost potential of Jenin

Posted on January 1, 2021 by Diana Safieh

By Ahmad Al-Bazz and Sarah Abu Alrob for The Electronic Intifada, 23 October 2020. In the northern West Bank city of Jenin, there was once an airfield, a train station, three cinemas and two major roads connecting the town with the neighboring cities … Continue reading →

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Letter from European Parliamentarians to President Elect Biden

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Diana Safieh

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Palestinians Condemn British Colonialism for their Plight

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Diana Safieh

In a rare and outspoken item for British broadcasting media on Monday night (Dec.4, 2020}, Channel 4 news tackled the question of British colonialism and its responsibility since 1917 for the dispossession of the Palestinian people and their mass expulsion … Continue reading →

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Souvenir Booklet from our Jerusalem Conference 2020

Posted on December 11, 2020 by Diana Safieh

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Policy Working Group’s Call For Global Recognition of the State of Palestine

Posted on December 1, 2020 by Diana Safieh

Published November 29, 2020 Today, as the world marks the anniversary of the UN General Assembly’s adoption ofResolution 181, which calls for the establishment of two states – one Jewish and one Arab —on the territory that constituted Mandatory Palestine, … Continue reading →

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Why the World Should Recognize Palestine Now’

Posted on December 1, 2020 by Diana Safieh

By Susie Becher, published in Times of Israel on Nov 27, 2020. I recently came across an article by the renowned Israeli author A.B. Yehoshua explaining his call for recognition of the State of Palestine back in 2014. One of … Continue reading →

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ONE STATE: the Most Natural Outcome Of Unjust Circumstances

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Diana Safieh

This is an except from an interview with the U.S.-based Palestinian writer, journalist and editor (of Palestine Chronicle), Ramzy Baroud, by Linda Ramsdens, director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition. It appears in ICAHD’s November, 2020, newsletter, and is … Continue reading →

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Statement for Conference on Jerusalem

Posted on November 25, 2020 by Diana Safieh

Israel/Palestine: Equal Rights for lasting Peace We acknowledge Britain’s historic responsibilities for inequality and discrimination in Jerusalem and across the Holy Land. They stem from the last century, through the Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate for Palestine, with consequences … Continue reading →

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COPY_ Israel – Palestine: Equal Rights for lasting Peace #2

Posted on November 25, 2020 by Diana Safieh

Click here to read the British Governmanet’s position on Jerusalem. Julie Elliott MP, with seven other signatories of the Balfour Project statement ‘Israel-Palestine: Equal Rights for lasting Peace’, has conveyed its five requests to the Prime Minister and the Foreign … Continue reading →

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Israel Eases Path to Citizenship for 20,000 East Jerusalem Palestinians

Posted on November 24, 2020 by Diana Safieh

By Nir Hasson, Nov 25, 2020 from Haaretz, the Israel daily newspaper. Around 20,000 young Palestinians will be eligible to expedite their requests for Israeli citizenship after a court forced the Interior Ministry to publish guidelines for the scheme on Monday. … Continue reading →

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Time to recognise the state of Palestine

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Diana Safieh

By Richard Burden, October 20, 2020 This week marks six years since the House of Commons voted, by 274 to 12, for Britain to recognise the State of Palestine alongside Israel. It was the first time in decades that Parliament … Continue reading →

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Why Does Annexation Look Like a Problem and Not an Opportunity?

Posted on October 12, 2020 by Diana Safieh

By Ian S. Lustick from Logos, a journal of modern society and culture. For more than forty years experts and politicians have warned of Israel’s creeping de facto annexation of the West Bank. In 1982 Meron Benvenisti and Thomas Friedman … Continue reading →

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Illusions and Delusions about Peace in the Middle East

Posted on October 1, 2020 by Diana Safieh

A commentary by Andrew Whitley, with introduction by Sir Vincent Fean I commend to you Andrew Whitley’s thoughtful analysis, below, of current British Government policy on the Israel/Palestine conflict. Andrew asks if our Foreign Secretary’s recent visit signals sustained Government … Continue reading →

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Labour MP Stephen Kinnock initiated debate on the settlement and annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Posted on September 28, 2020 by Diana Safieh

Thursday 24 September 2020 Click here to view video. 3.13 pm Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) (Lab)I beg to move, That this House has considered settlement and annexation of the Occupied Palestinian territories. This country has a unique place in history and … Continue reading →

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Palestinian Christian leaders criticise Israel-UAE agreement

Posted on September 15, 2020 by Diana Safieh

“Real peace begins in Palestine” An Open Letter to The Most Reverend David Malloy, Bishop of Rockford, Illinois, ChairUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on International Justice and Peace They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, “Peace, peace,” … Continue reading →

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Palestinian clergy: ‘Annexation could be the final straw for a viable Christian presence in Palestine’

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Diana Safieh

Published by Mondoweiss on 20 August 2020 by Jeff Wright “Annexation could be the final straw when it comes to a viable Christian presence in Palestine,” declare pastors representing four of the Holy Land’s historic denominations. “For Palestine, Bethlehem and … Continue reading →

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Palestine: 1947 escape from British prison exposed as inside job

Posted on September 1, 2020 by Diana Safieh

Published in The Guardian, 30 Aug 2020 by Oliver Holmes, Jerusalem Correspondent Exclusive: architect leaked plans to Jewish militants leading to raid seen as signifying London’s declining control The family of a decorated British civil servant who built a notorious … Continue reading →

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The Forgotten History of the Jewish, Anti-Zionist Left

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Diana Safieh

An interview with Banjamin Balthaser, published on Jacobin The roots of modern Zionism are in colonialism. This was the foundation of the Jewish left’s opposition to Zionism in the 1930s and ’40s, on the grounds that it is a form … Continue reading →

Posted in Historical, Mandate Period, News, Zionism Debate | Comments Off

‘History will judge us’ — Have progressive UK rabbis reached end of the road on Israel?

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Diana Safieh

By Robert A. H. Cohen, published on Mondoweiss, 30 July 2020 Progressive rabbis in the UK have written to the Israeli embassy in London to express their concern over the Israeli government’s plans to annex parts of the West Bank. … Continue reading →

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MPs say no to annexation plans

Posted on July 25, 2020 by Tim Llewellyn

European MPs have come together to oppose the illegal plan of Israel’s Prime Minister to annex part of the Palestinian West Bank, under Israeli military occupation since 1967. Convened by Stephen Kinnock MP, Co Chair of the All Party Parliamentary … Continue reading →

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European countries need to recognise the Palestinian state before it’s too late

Posted on July 14, 2020 by Tim Llewellyn

By Sam Bahour, The Guardian, 12 July 2020 In January, when the Trump administration formally unveiled its long-awaited peace plan for the Israel-Palestine conflict – known as the “deal of the century” – not a Palestinian was in sight, nor … Continue reading →

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Over 40 British rabbis write to the UK Israeli embassy opposing annexation

Posted on July 9, 2020 by Diana Safieh

By Alleks Phillips, first published in The Jewish Chronicle, 9 July 2020 Over 40 British rabbis – including former Liberal senior rabbi Danny Rich and outgoing Reform senior rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner – have written to the Israeli embassy in London … Continue reading →

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A case for equality in Israel and Palestine

Posted on July 8, 2020 by Tim Llewellyn

One State? An alternative, authentic Jewish voice By Peter Beinart, Published in on Jewish Currents 7th July 2020. WHAT MAKES SOMEONE A JEW—not just a Jew in name, but a Jew in good standing—today? In Haredi circles, being a real … Continue reading →

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PM Johnson’s appeal to Israel over annexation

Posted on July 2, 2020 by Tim Llewellyn

By Andrew Whitley, Trustee and member of the Executive Committee of the Balfour Project Prime Minister Boris Johnson today published a last-minute appeal to Israel not to proceed with the Netanyahu government’s plans to annex parts of the occupied West … Continue reading →

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Joint letter by 1,080 parliamentarians from 25 European countries to European governments and leaders against Israeli annexation of West Bank

Posted on June 24, 2020 by Tim Llewellyn

23 June 2020 We, parliamentarians from across Europe committed to a rules-based globalorder, share serious concerns about President Trump’s plan for theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict and the imminent prospect of Israeli annexation ofWest Bank territory. We are deeply worried about the precedent … Continue reading →

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By recognising Palestine, Britain can help right the wrongs of the Balfour declaration

Posted on June 24, 2020 by Tim Llewellyn

By Avi Shlaim This is the full text of a truncated version of Avi Shlaim’s article in The Guardian. The Guardian had edited out the references to Winston Churchill and the Israeli Policy Working Group. The wave of anti-racist protest … Continue reading →

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Church leaders across the globe express deep concern over Israeli plan to annex parts of West Bank

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Tim Llewellyn

By World Council of Churches, 17 June 2020 Church leaders from across the world are expressing their grave concern over the government of Israel’s plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. Archbishop Justin Welby and Cardinal Vincent Nichols … Continue reading →

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Letter to The Telegraph opposing Israeli annexation, 13 June 2020

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Tim Llewellyn

Opposing the Israeli government’s land grab SIR – From July 1 Israel’s prime minister is set on annexing Palestinian West Bank territory to become part of “Greater Israel”. Annexing the Jordan Valley leaves an enclave around Jericho – a bantustan … Continue reading →

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