Category Archives: News

Responses to the HRW report on Apartheid and Persecution of Palestinians

Posted on July 19, 2021 by Diana Safieh
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Ban Ki-moon: US should back a new approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Posted on July 13, 2021 by Diana Safieh

This is not a dispute between equals that can be resolved through bilateral negotiations The writer is a former secretary-general of the UN and deputy chair of The Elders It is time to acknowledge that the longstanding approach taken to … Continue reading →

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Call by 55 former European leaders: Protect the Independence of the ICC

Posted on June 3, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Written 31 May 2021′ We welcome the support that European leaders have expressed for the ICC and its unique mandate of advancing justice following war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Consistent support for the ICC and promotion of its … Continue reading →

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A message to the PM

Posted on June 3, 2021 by Diana Safieh

MPs send No.10 the Balfour Project call for the strict application of international law, including via the ICC, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

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Pearson caught in Middle East history textbook scandal

Posted on June 2, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Pro-Israel bias and misrepresentation of the Israel/Palestine situation has been a feature of much of mainstream media for some years. Now GCSE textbooks, published by Pearson and Hodder, have come under intense attention from pro-Israel advocates. As a result, Hodder … Continue reading →

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BBC sparks outrage after removing content following pressure from pro-Israel lobby

Posted on June 2, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Published in the Middle East Monitor on 2 June 2021. The BBC has removed a series of educational videos about Palestine and the origins of the ongoing Israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing, following pressure from a pro-Israel lobbyist organisation, UK Lawyers for … Continue reading →

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Why Israeli progressives have started to talk about ‘apartheid’

Posted on June 1, 2021 by Diana Safieh

By Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer, in The Guardian, 3 June 2021. Michael Sfard was a keynote speaker at our conference entitled ‘Israel/Palestine: in search of the rule of law’ in May 2021 and his talk can be … Continue reading →

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Briefing to the 8782nd session of the Security Council, May 27, 2021

Posted on June 1, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Posted May 31, 2021 by Rashid Khalidi in MR Online. The events of the last few weeks have provoked worldwide recognition of realities on the ground in Occupied Palestine, realities of systemic discrimination, of oppression, and of settler colonialism. People have responded to … Continue reading →

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Israel, Palestine, and Law

Posted on May 26, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Balfour Project statement, 26 May 2021 Equal rights under the law are the foundation stone of all democracies. Israel views itself as a democracy. But many in Israel and around the world, including in Britain, were dismayed by the Knesset’s … Continue reading →

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Essays on Equality, Rights and Responsibilities

Posted on May 22, 2021 by Diana Safieh
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Israel, Palestine and International Law

Posted on May 21, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Sir Vincent Fean, Chair of the Balfour Project Trustees and former Consul-General in Jerusalem, and Professor Adam Sutcliffe, Professor of European History at King’s College, London, and member of the steering group, Independent Jewish Voices, have issued the following statement … Continue reading →

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Israeli-Palestinian peace relies on this essential truth being grasped

Posted on May 18, 2021 by Diana Safieh

This piece, by John McHugo, a Balfour Project Trustee and head of its Fellowship Programme, was published by The Independent. As the dust settles on the latest Israel/Palestinian conflict, and the blood of innocents and perpetrators dries indifferently, the great fear is … Continue reading →

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Israel-Palestine: in search of the rule of law by Sir Vincent Fean in the Arab Digest

Posted on May 18, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Written by Sir Vincent Fean for the Arab Digest Just when you think it can’t get any worse – it does. Déjà vu, only worse.  It is the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, as I used to describe it in my time as … Continue reading →

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Bishop Christopher Chessun, Balfour Project Patron, in Jerusalem

Posted on May 17, 2021 by Diana Safieh
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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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