Category Archives: Current Positions

By Omer Bartov 24 Nov Like many other people in Israel and across the world, my first reaction to the attack on 7 Oct was of shock and horror. But that initial reaction was accompanied by rage, not only at … Continue reading →

The leaders who oversaw Israel’s Gaza policy for 15 years are incapable of abandoning the erroneous ideas that collapsed on 7 Oct. By Menachem Klein, 26 Oct, 2023 (0riginally published in 972mag.com) In 1991, American neoconservatives — many of whom … Continue reading →

A personal view by a Palestinian from Gaza who grew up in the era of the resistance group’s rise to power. The author writes: Journalism and its practitioners will always carry an inherent point of view no matter how objective we … Continue reading →

Read the open letter on The Elders’ website Download the open letter  

The Palestinian-American lawyer, activist and academic Noura Erekat gave an address entitled “In This Moment” on 1 Nov 2023 to the Palestinian Festival of Literature in New York City. The Balfour Project is running this excerpt of her “address to … Continue reading →

UN leaders speak reason in the midst of madness By Andrew Whitley, Balfour Project Chair of Trustees In the midst of so much madness, misrepresentation and moral equivocation, it can be hard to find voices of sanity and reason. One … Continue reading →

By Daniel Levy, 13 Sept 2023 September 13, 2023, marks the 30-year anniversary of the signing of the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles (DOP) on the White House South Lawn. What seemed like an auspicious moment in the history of the … Continue reading →

By Peter Oborne From Middle East Eye The anti-BDS Bill trashes the UK’s global reputation, yet Sunak’s morally broken government is pushing it through without serious scrutiny. On 11 and 12 Sept, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly received a hero’s … Continue reading →

Open letter calls on Jewish leaders to speak out against ‘ultimate purpose’ of PM’s judicial reforms – upholding ‘regime of apartheid’ By Chris McGreal, published in The Guardian on 15 August 2023. Hundreds of Israeli and American public figures have … Continue reading →

By Sir Vincent Fean The Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill was heavily mauled in debate in the House of Commons on 3 July, particularly in this excellent speech by Conservative MP Alicia Kearns (Chair of the influential … Continue reading →

Report by Francesca Albanese Sir Vincent Fean, Balfour Project trustee, writes: Francesca Albanese is the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). She studies developments and reports regularly to the UN Human Rights Council, of … Continue reading →

Sir Vincent Fean writes: Last year the UN General Assembly voted to request that the International Court of Justice should deliver an advisory opinion which would consider the question of the legality of the Israeli military occupation of East Jerusalem, … Continue reading →

While the government can rely on national-religious identity to mobilise supporters, the opposition’s counternarrative suffers a serious weakness By Menachem Klein  on 24 July 2023. This article originally appeared in the Israeli +972 magazine The brewing “civil war” we are witnessing … Continue reading →

Sir Vincent Fean writes: The Balfour Project commends a new report by Save the Children on the plight of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention. Please click here to read the report. The report results from sustained, careful research. It … Continue reading →

By Andrew Whitley Often it requires taking a break away from a situation to be able to observe more distinctly dramatic changes taking place; changes that might otherwise pass unnoticed to a day-to-day observer. That was the case for The … Continue reading →

By Ian Portman, 22 June, 2023 In May this year, Palestinians were preparing for their 75th commemoration events marking the Nakba (disaster) which overcome their land before and during the 1948 war. Starting in the autumn of 1947, colonial settler … Continue reading →

Following their visit to Israel and and Palestine, Mary Robinson and Ban Ki-moon warn that a ‘one-state reality’ is now rapidly extinguishing the prospect of a two-state solution. The Chair and Deputy Chair of The Elders today warned that a ‘one-state reality’ is now rapidly extinguishing the … Continue reading →

The European Legal Support Centre (ELSC) has launched (June 6. 2023) its new report “Suppressing Palestinian Rights Advocacy through the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism – Violating the Rights to Freedom of Expression and Assembly in the European Union and … Continue reading →

By Richard Burden, Trustee This week, the UK Government has published a Bill that will both jettison Britain’s respect for international laws that ban the acquisition of territory by conquest and ignore UN rules signed by the UK over a … Continue reading →

…for the Palestinians! How the World Cup put Palestine in the international spotlight. Palestine: The Unexpected Star of the 2022 World Cup Joy, faith and Palestine: How Morocco’s team united the Arab world Israel scores own goal with World Cup … Continue reading →

The United Nations General Assembly Fourth Committee (on Decolonisation) has voted 98-17 on a resolution to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on whether Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal on the grounds that its … Continue reading →

Andrew Whitley, Chair of the Balfour Project, writes: A brand-new report from a UN Commission of Inquiry into grave breaches of human rights and international humanitarian law in Palestine and Israel will present a moral (and legal) dilemma for the … Continue reading →

14 October 2022, Financial Times The Financial Times, with its long record of incisive Middle East reporting and careful editorial judgment, has added its voice to those urging the British Prime Minister to reconsider her stated inclination to review the … Continue reading →

The Balfour Project was established by Roger and Monica Spooner following a visit to Jordan in 2008. They visited an exhibition of the McMahon-Hussein correspondence in Aqaba and learned that in 1915 Britain had promised the Arabs a state which would … Continue reading →

I would like to thank the Council and the Chinese presidency in particular for allowing me to share some thoughts with you today. The events of earlier this month covered in detail by Special Envoy Wennesland are as concerning as … Continue reading →

By Susie Becher in The Times of Israel, published on 29 August 2022 Click here to read this article.