Author Archives: Diana Safieh

Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International

Transcript from our ‘Peace with Justice – how to get there’ Conference in London on 6th June 2024. Since October we have been plunged back to a future we don’t want, one we were all promised would never recur. The 1948 Universal … Continue reading

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Middle East Peace

The Times of London has published this letter from John Bond, a founding member of the Balfour Project and a member of the Balfour Project Advisory Forum. Sir, I disagree with the assertion in your leading article that any democratic government … Continue reading

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The challenges ahead, with Daniel Levy and Nour Odeh

Transcript from our ‘Peace with Justice – how to get there’ Conference in London on 6th June 2024. Daniel Levy Confusion reigns since President Biden gave his ceasefire speech on 31 May. The White House then issued a statement signed … Continue reading

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Gaza war ‘may be a curtain call’ for international order, Amnesty chief warns

Israel’s war on Gaza may be “a curtain call” for the post-World War Tw0 international rules-based order, Amnesty International secretary general Agnes Callamard said on Thursday. “The gravity of the violations being committed, the fact that we are witnessing them … Continue reading

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Urge your candidate to commit for British recognition of Palestine NOW

Britain must recognise Palestine. It is a step towards upholding the Palestinian right of self-determination – a fundamental right under international law. Most UN member states have already recognised Palestine. Recognition cannot be dependent on negotiations, as the British Government … Continue reading

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CONFERENCE: Peace with Justice – how to get there

6 June 2024 at Bush House KCL and online Bush House, 30 Aldwych, London WC2B 4BG Download Conference Photographs Conference Summary Report Conference Action Plan Email Your MP on Recognition of Palestine Conference Highlights Reel Scroll to the bottom of … Continue reading

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Education

What We Offer KS3-5 Source Analysis Masterclass

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KS5 Source Analysis Masterclass

‘Colonial Practices and Resistance in Mandatory Palestine 1922-1948’ This KS5 source analysis masterclass empowers students with the tools – critical source analysis training – and informed historical knowledge, to decipher and interrogate historical narratives and representations of Palestine and Israel. … Continue reading

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What We Offer

BP Education Aims Develop students’ critical thinking skills and knowledge of 20th and 21st century Palestine and Israel including Britain’s historic and continuing responsibility. Encourage and support the formal teaching of the history of Palestine and Israel in schools. Find … Continue reading

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An expose of Israel’s covert war on the ICC

Top Israeli Government and security officials have overseen a nine-year surveillance operation targeting the International Criminal Court and Palestinian rights groups to try to thwart a war crimes probe, reveals a joint investigation by +972, Local Call and The Guardian … Continue reading

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Like Ireland and more than 140 other countries, it is time the UK recognised the state of Palestine

Article in The Independent, 27 May 2024 For more than a century, Britain has shown scant respect for Palestinian rights, says our former envoy in Jerusalem, Sir Vincent Fean – we must now play our part in creating a framework … Continue reading

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Escaping Rafah: a Palestinian on the run

Sami abu Salem, fleeing south down Gaza with his family, pursued by the Israeli war machine—bombs, drones, rockets, snipers—finds himself in Rafah. He reports here to Mike Joseph, who is chronicling Sami’s plight for the Balfour Project.

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Balfour Project Action Points for UK Government

Peace with Justice – how to get there Email your MP on Recognition of Palestine 6 June Conference Tickets & Info Balfour Project Action Points for UK Government The Hamas attack of 7th October 2023 and the on-going Israeli destruction … Continue reading

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Balfour Project calls on Britain to back the International Criminal Court

The announcement by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan KC, that he has applied for arrest warrants against the Israeli Prime Minister and Defence Minister as well as three Hamas leaders over the events of 7 October … Continue reading

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Email your MP to push for British recognition of Palestine NOW

Palestinian self-determination is key to the wellbeing of Palestinians – and of Israelis. The British Government has wasted 10 years and more, waiting for “the right time” to recognise the State of Palestine. Now is the time to recognise Palestine, … Continue reading

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Queen Rania of Jordan: ‘What’s happening in Gaza today… is a war crime’

Special guest Queen Rania of Jordan discusses the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the Israel-Hamas war in this exclusive one-on-one with The ReidOut on MSNBC. “What’s happening in Gaza today… is a war crime,” Queen Rania tells Joy Reid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDxe9JFsfzc&ab_channel=MSNBC

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Getting aid into Gaza with Mr Andrea De Domenico, Head of OCHA in the OPT

1st May 2024 Watch webinar Listen to audio/podcast Andrea De Domenico brings more than twenty years of experience in humanitarian assistance and emergency relief both in the field and in headquarters. Between 1998 and 2005 he has worked in Albania, … Continue reading

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Israel’s Government is eliminating the Green Line – with money

Budget by budget, law by law: from forcing mobile phone companies to expand coverage in the occupied territories to laws that facilitate the transfer of public funds to settlements, Netanyahu’s far-right government is working towards de facto annexation By Tali … Continue reading

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Gaza A Story Of Love And War – with Mike Joseph and Sami Abu Salem

https://youtu.be/uApMOQxAJGc GAZA A Story of Love and War is on cinema release from August 14 2024 [Certificate 12A] In 2023, Balfour Project hosted the first season of Mike Joseph’s audio series, KEYS A Troubled Inheritance. Balfour Project now supports the … Continue reading

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The true story behind the ethnic cleansing of the Nakba

War was the Zionists’ choice in 1948, writes Balfour Project Trustee and historian John McHugo. And Israel must acknowledge its responsibility towards the Palestinians who were turned into refugees…more than 70 per cent of Palestine’s population at the time. Click here to … Continue reading

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Violent Israeli settler purges of Palestinians in South Hebron Hills under Gaza war cover

‘It is hard to describe it as anything but ethnic cleansing’ By Donald Macintyre If you wanted someone to illustrate the Palestinian concept of sumud you could have done a lot worse than Halima Jaber Nawaja sitting  in front of her house … Continue reading

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Open Letter to Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron

Sign our letter Dear Trade Secretary and Foreign Secretary, Together we are urging you to immediately halt arms licences and exports to the Government of Israel. This is just one crucial step towards helping to secure a permanent and immediate ceasefire for all … Continue reading

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For the love of God, this war must stop… and it must stop now

The killing of aid workers in Gaza was a wake-up call for those countries still arming Israel. But by steadfastly refusing to suspend its weapons sales, the British Government has brought shame upon us all, writes the Bishop of Southwark … Continue reading

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‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza

The Israeli army has marked tens of thousands of Gazans as suspects for assassination, using an AI targeting system with little human oversight and a permissive policy for casualties, the Israeli magazine +972 and Hebrew-language news site Local Call reveal. … Continue reading

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Netanyahu is not the only one interested in prolonging the war

A broad coalition of political forces, from Israel’s far right to the Zionist left, have differing motivations for turning the war into the new normal By Menachem Klein 9 April, 2024 For most Israelis, the war has become routine. They … Continue reading

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UK should stop sending arms to Israel

By Peter Ricketts in The New Statesman, 9 April 2024. On 28 August 1995 five shells landed in the marketplace in Sarajevo killing 43 civilians. The Bosnian civil war had dragged on for more than three years, but this incident … Continue reading

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Life, violence and destruction under Israel’s settlers: Masafer Yatta tells its story

Visit to UK by the Mayor of Masafer Yatt Nidal and Owde with Ambassador Husam Zumlot from the Palestinian Mission. 25 February – 2 March 2024 Sponsored by the Balfour Project By Lara Bird-Leakey Setting the scene In February, 2024, … Continue reading

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An end to the killing in Gaza: global Christian leaders’ letter

As Christians enter into Holy Week, Church leaders from around the world have signed a letter calling for an end to the killing in Gaza. The Balfour Project, which brings together people from all faiths and none, has asked one … Continue reading

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Belated UN ceasefire call over Gaza – a start, but insufficient

26 March 2024 Andrew Whitley, Chair of the Balfour Project The Balfour Project warmly welcomes UN Security Council resolution 2728 demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the lifting of all restrictions on the urgent provision of humanitarian aid, at … Continue reading

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What price the two-state solution? with Sir Vincent Fean

16th April 2024 Sir Vincent Fean is a retired member of the British Diplomatic Service (DS) 1975-2014. His last post was as Consul-General, Jerusalem (2010-14). Before Jerusalem, he was Ambassador to Libya, and previously High Commissioner to Malta.  Vincent advocates … Continue reading

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Middle East Studies Association speaks out against cultural genocide

Published by Jewish Voice for Labour on Sat 16 Mar 2024 MESA Board Joint Statement with CAF regarding the ongoing genocidal violence against the Palestinian people and their cultural heritage in Gaza The Board of Directors of the Middle East … Continue reading

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Resist! Palestinian women and non-violent resistance to occupation with Rula Salameh

21st March 2024 Watch Video Listen to Audio/Podcast Rula Salameh is a veteran journalist, community organiser, and the Education and Outreach Director in Palestine for Just Vision, an organisation that fills a media gap in Israel-Palestine through independent storytelling and … Continue reading

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Nidal Younis Exposes Israel’s Silent Ethnic Cleansing of the West Bank

Nidal Younis is the mayor of Masafer Yatta and head of the Masafer Yatta village council. He has been active in attempts to save his community since the 1990s. Interview recorded February 29 2024. Masafer Yatta is a Palestinian hamlet … Continue reading

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Statement of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, to the General Assembly

4 March 2024, New York I am here today because UNRWA, the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees, is at a breaking point. Seventy-five years after its creation by this Assembly as a temporary UN entity, pending a just political … Continue reading

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Britain must fight back now against Israel’s political onslaught on UNRWA

By Andrew Whitley, Chair of Balfour Project Trustees Often an old piece of furniture is so familiar that it’s only when it is no longer there that one realises how invaluable it was – and how much it will be … Continue reading

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The UN experience in Gaza

By Hamilton Fish Armstrong, Editor of Foreign Affairs Published on July 1, 1957 It would be wrong to call the United Nations experiment in administering the Gaza Strip a failure; the experiment was never made. Some preparations for it were … Continue reading

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A symbolic vote

With grateful thanks to Arab Digest, we reproduce below its newsletter of 23 Feb 2024 on the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza and chaos in the Commons.  Arab Digest is a UK media company producing a daily newsletter … Continue reading

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The Boycott Bill: ‘another pernicious piece of legislation’—Lord Hain

26 February 2024 By Tim Llewellyn Two Balfour Project patrons, Lord Hain and the Lord Bishop of Southwark, the Right Reverend Christopher Chessun, spoke in the Lords on Tuesday 20 Feb, in opposition to the so-called Gove Boycott Bill, which … Continue reading

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We must work with the US to stop a massacre in Rafah

By Sir Vincent Fean, Balfour Project Trustee The Independent, 18 February 2024 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his military to plan the “evacuation” of Palestinian civilians from the Gazan city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt’s Sinai … Continue reading

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After 7 Oct: Israel’s search for victory: a personal statement on the war

By Menachem Klein This article originally appeared in Logos I am not neutral. As a citizen of Israel, I hurt and cry with my fellow Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs, victims of Hamas’ barbaric attack. Struggle for national liberation does … Continue reading

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The Hamas narrative of 7 Oct, and the impossibility of ignoring it

By Menachem Klein 2 Feb 2024 Hamas’s attack on 7 Oct and Israel’s retaliation against Hamas and Gaza Strip residents are unprecedented shocking events in their severity, repercussions and impact on both peoples’ collective memory. Only a few of those … Continue reading

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How to turn the tragedy into a strategic opportunity with Nadav Tamir, Executive Director of J Street Israel

4th March 2024 Watch Video Listen to Audio/Podcast Nadav Tamir is the Executive Director of J Street Israel and an Advisor for International and Governmental Affairs at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation. Nadav served as the Senior Policy … Continue reading

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Destruction of Gaza’s health system: need to restore hope with Dr Nick Maynard

13th February 2024 Watch Recording Listen to Audio/Podcast Professor Nick Maynard trained at Oxford University, Guy’s Hospital, London, and Melbourne, Australia. He is a Consultant Upper GI Surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Associate Professor of Surgery at … Continue reading

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Injustice to the defenceless: the plight of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention.

20th February 2024 with Claire Nicholl (Save the Children), Tareq Shrourou (Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights) and Jude Lanchin (solicitor). Save the Children Injustice Report Save the Children Defenceless Report Children in Military Custody Report Military Court Watch Report Save … Continue reading

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The West is siding with Israel in its long war against the UN refugee agency

By Jonathan Cook 30 Jan 2024 Israel has long plotted the downfall of UNRWA, aware that it is one of the biggest obstacles to eradicating the Palestinians as a people There is an important background to the decision by the … Continue reading

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BBC News – UK considering recognising Palestine state, Lord Cameron says

By James LandaleDiplomatic correspondent  Britain is ready to bring forward the moment when it formally recognises a Palestinian state, the foreign secretary has suggested. Lord Cameron said Palestinians had to be given a political horizon to encourage peace in the … Continue reading

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Helen Clark urges UNRWA donors to immediately resume funding

Media release: Helen Clark, member of The Elders and former Prime Minister of New Zealand and head of the UN Development Programme, issued the following comment urging UNRWA donors to immediately resume funding so that humanitarian assistance continues to reach Gazans … Continue reading

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British Government suspension of future funding for UNRWA

Our Government is wrong, says the Balfour Project Our Government has suspended future UK funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is by far the most important and effective provider of humanitarian and development assistance to Palestinian … Continue reading

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The Elders call for immediate compliance by Israel with ICJ provisional measures

Statement: The Elders call for Israel to comply immediately with the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to protect Palestinians in Gaza from acts of genocide. The Elders also call for Israel’s allies to publicly affirm their … Continue reading

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Sir Vincent Fean on The World Tonight – BBC Sounds

30 January 2024

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