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- WEBINAR: Getting aid into Gaza with Mr Andrea De Domenico, Head of OCHA in the OPT
- Israel’s Government is eliminating the Green Line – with money
- Gaza A Story Of Love And War – with Mike Joseph and Sami Abu Salem
- The true story behind the ethnic cleansing of the Nakba
- Violent Israeli settler purges of Palestinians in South Hebron Hills under Gaza war cover
- Open Letter to Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron
- For the love of God, this war must stop… and it must stop now
- ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
- Netanyahu is not the only one interested in prolonging the war
- UK should stop sending arms to Israel
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Category Archives: Current Positions
UK charities call for immediate end to closure of Gaza after 15 years of collective punishment and imposed fragmentation
Caabu is among 16 organisations to have signed onto this statement, calling for an immediate end to the closure of Gaza after 15 years of collective punishment and imposed fragmentation. 20th July 2022 Since June 2007, consecutive Israeli governments have … Continue reading
The follies of Biden’s Middle East trip
The president’s July visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia picked up where his predecessor’s regional policies left off. By Daniel Levy, published on Responsible Statecraft on 12 July 2022. President Biden’s trip to the Middle East is in danger of … Continue reading
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Children in Gaza need hope
“Gaza is hell on earth for children.” Those are the words of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres. This report from Save the Children explains why.In Gaza, as elsewhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the abnormal has … Continue reading
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Human Rights Watch: torture of Palestinians by Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza
Here is a disquieting report by Human Rights Watch and Lawyers for Justice. It examines breaches of Palestinian human rights by Palestinians – those in authority in the West Bank and Gaza. Like all Human Rights Watch reports, it is … Continue reading
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Is Anti-Zionism a Form of Anti- Semitism?
Anti-Zionism as a Jewish Phenomenon Azmi Bishara General Director and Member of the Board of Directors of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. Dr. Bishara is a researcher and writer with numerous books and publications on political thought, … Continue reading
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Report of the UN’s Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Situation of Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel
Announcing Britain’s candidacy for a three-year term on the UN’s Human Rights Council in 2020, the then Minister of State for Human Rights, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, rightly said that respect for human rights sits at the heart of the … Continue reading
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Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is a fundamental barrier to peace
By Bambos Charalambous, Shadow Minister for the Middle East When it comes to the question of achieving peace in the Middle East, Labour is clear: in government, we would immediately recognise the state of Palestine. We want to see a … Continue reading
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Culture x Conflict Series
All views and resources are those of the Fellows and speakers alone and not necessarily representative of the Balfour Project. Culture x Conflict: Palestinian Cuisine as Anticolonial ResistanceThurs 24th November Culture x Conflict: 100 years of Palestinian Architecture
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From Balfour to Biden: universal values and international law versus national interests
By Sir Vincent Fean, Balfour Project Vice-Chair I was invited on 5 June to contribute virtually to a conference in Palestine to mark the 55th anniversary of the Six- Day War of 1967, leading to the occupation by Israel of … Continue reading
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Cycle of violence moves us further away from a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians
UK Government at UN Security Council Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki at the UN Security Council briefing on the situation in the Middle East (delivered on May 26, 2022) Sadly, the world’s attention has been drawn repeatedly to the fragile … Continue reading
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Jerusalem: a Jewish city, a Christian city, a Muslim city
Holy Land Coordination 2022 Final Communiqué ‘If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand wither’Psalm 137:5 Recalling the Balfour Project statement: “Israel/Palestine: Equal Rights for lasting Peace” at our 2020 conference “Jerusalem: from past divisions to a shared future?”, … Continue reading
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Britain’s duty to advance equal rights in Palestine/Israel
BALFOUR PROJECT STATEMENT 18 MAY 2022 Whatever our assessment of Britain’s past role as an imperial power, since the Second World War the United Kingdom has played an important role in establishing a new rules-based order in international affairs, and … Continue reading
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Save Masafer Yatta Letter Writing Campaign
Dear [MP Name], I write to express my deep concern over the impending eviction and demolition of Masafer Yatta, a Palestinian community in the West Bank. On March 15th, Israel’s Supreme Court held a hearing to determine the future of … Continue reading
This is the biggest myth about Israel and the Nakba
Opinion: from the Israeli daily Haaretz It is one of the most enduring myths surrounding the 1948 war: The epic battle between a fearsome Arab Goliath and a new-born Israel to liberate Palestine. And it’s a fable that continues to … Continue reading
UK calls on all parties to take urgent steps to reduce tensions and avoid further escalation in Jerusalem
Statement by British Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East The UK shares the concerns expressed around this [Security Council] table about the fragile situation in Jerusalem. It is crucial that … Continue reading
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UK trade deal with Israel sends a clear message: apartheid is rewarded
By Sara Husseini and Mazen Masri, from Middle East Eye Without conditionality on human rights or a mechanism for accountability, how can an enhanced trading relationship be understood by Israel as anything other than support for its violations and war … Continue reading
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Court overturns French ban on Palestine solidarity groups
Published by Ali Abunimah on Electronic Intifada, 2 May 2022. Emmanuel Macron’s war against campaigners for Palestinian rights suffered another big setback on Friday. The Conseil d’Etat, which acts as France’s supreme court ruling on government actions, suspended the president’s … Continue reading
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Is Israel’s rule in the occupied territories apartheid? Yes, finds report by the UN Human Rights Rapporteur
This is the full text of the report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, Michael Lynk, to the UN Human Rights Council on March 21, 2022. In it, he comes to the … Continue reading
UK call to prevent escalating tensions in Israel and occupied Palestinian territory as religious holidays approach
Statement by British Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council Delivered, March 22, 2022 Let me start by once again reinforcing the need to prevent a return to the violence we witnessed in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories … Continue reading
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World Council of Churches Jerusalem Easter Initiative
Recalling our Balfour Project conference on Jerusalem in October 2020… (You can read the Balfour Project Jerusalem statement here.) The World Council of Churches (WCC) has launched this Easter initiative: “The WCC Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Easter seeks … Continue reading
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Amnesty International Report: Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians
On 1 February Amnesty International published an important report on Israel/Palestine. Here is the link to the text of the report, and here the link to Amnesty’s response to questions. Here is a Haaretz commentary on Israeli Government handling of … Continue reading
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Apartheid: Israel’s inconvenient truth
By Chris McGreal (This article originally appeared in the February, 2022, edition of The Link, published by Americans for Middle East Understanding. In 2006, Jimmy Carter published his bestselling book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, to wide acclaim and a vicious campaign … Continue reading
Israel’s ‘Hysterical’ Response to Amnesty’s ‘Apartheid’ Report
By Anshell Pfeffer in Haaretz on 1Feb 2022. This is the third such report in a year to label Israel an apartheid state, but Jerusalem has only succeeded in generating greater interest in Amnesty’s accusations. We may have to wait … Continue reading
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The Guardian view on Amnesty’s Israel report: dominating the discourse
Editorial published in The Guardian on 6 February 2022. The continuing subjugation of Palestinians erodes the country’s stature internationally and damages its democracy Ehud Barak, Israel’s then defence minister and the country’s most decorated soldier, warned in 2010 that “as … Continue reading
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Palestinians Continue to Suffer in Lebanese Refugee Camps
By Elaine Pasquini, reprinted from the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January 2022. In 1948, some 110,000 Palestinians fled to Lebanon after being violently forced from their homes by Jewish militants seeking to create the State of Israel. With … Continue reading
Israel will never concede peace: It’s time for Britain to recognise Palestine
By Avi Shlaim. This article is reprinted from Middle East Eye, January, 2022. Boris Johnson once described the Balfour Declaration as ‘tragically incoherent’. With Israel now explicitly saying it will never negotiate peace, the UK must rethink its Palestine policy … Continue reading
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Mass Palestinian grave at popular Israeli beach, Veterans confess
Israeli fighters at the 1948 battle in Tantura, a coastal village, finally come clean about the mass killing of Arabs that took place after the Palestinians’ surrender. By Adam Raz (this article appeared in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz on … Continue reading
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Investigate Israeli veterans’ testimonies; commemorate mass Palestinian grave
This is a reprint of an editorial in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz from January 24, 2022. The renewed discussion of the capture of Tantura during the War of Independence is aimed at correcting a historic injustice for which the … Continue reading
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Unilateral actions risk undermining engagement between Israeli Government and Palestinian leadership
Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki at the Security Council briefing on the Middle East Peace Process – Published 19 January 2022 Thank you Madam President. Before I start I’d like to stress, as my Foreign Secretary has said, the United … Continue reading
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UN Refugee Agency Pleads for Funds for Palestinians in Crisis-hit Lebanon
The UNWRA appeal is asking for an additional $87.5 million for cash assistance, hospital expenses and other needs for Palestinian refugees amid Lebanon’s economic collapse. Click here to read the full article in Haaretz. Click here to register for our … Continue reading
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Israel’s ‘most moral army in the world’ can’t keep running from its past
Haaretz Editorial published on Dec. 12, 2021 Soldiers of the Israeli army committed war crimes during the War of Independence. Chief among them were massacres in Palestinian villages that were captured in the decisive battles in the lowland plain between … Continue reading
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When Desmond Tutu stood up for the rights of Palestinians, he could not be ignored
After their obituary on Archbishop Tutu which did not mention his fight for justice for Palestinians, and moderating out posts highlighting this, the Guardian then published When Desmond Tutu stood up for the rights of Palestinians, he could not be … Continue reading
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Desmond Tutu to Haaretz: This Is My Plea to the People of Israel
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu wrote an exclusive article for Haaretz in 2014, in which he called for a global boycott of Israel and urged Israelis and Palestinians to look beyond their leaders for a sustainable solution to the crisis in … Continue reading
Classified Docs Reveal Massacres of Palestinians in ’48 – and What Israeli Leaders Knew
By Adam Raz in Haaretz on 9 December 2021. Testimonies continue to pile up, documents are revealed, and gradually a broader picture emerges of the acts of murder committed by Israeli troops during the War of Independence. Minutes recorded during … Continue reading
Hamas terror listing is yet another UK betrayal of the Palestinians
By Avi Shlaim, published in Middle East Eye on 30 November 2021. As long as its political opponents are labelled ‘terrorists’, Israel is absolved from the need to negotiate and gets a free pass from its allies to continue using … Continue reading
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Jerusalem: Lloyd George’s and his generals’ Christmas victory in 1917
By Colin Smith, December 10, 2021 (This article appears in the current issue of Prospect). On 11th December 1917, celebratory peals in London and the Vatican announced Britain’s first significant land victory in the First World War. But though the … Continue reading
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The label of ‘terrorist’: a bid to discredit and silence opponents
By John Dugard The apartheid regime of South Africa initially sought to discredit its political opponents by labelling them “communists”. When the international community realized that the term was abused the regime resorted to labelling its opponents “terrorists”. This proved … Continue reading
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Why the UK’s blacklisting of Hamas hurts its own peace policy
A motion to label the entire Hamas movement as ‘terrorists’ is an attempt to score political points at the cost of a peacemaking strategy for Israel-Palestine. By Hugh Lovatt on +972, November 25, 2021 Following a brief debate, the British House of … Continue reading
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UK ban on Hamas will have ‘terrible chilling effect’, warns former minister
Crispin Blunt said he did not think the measure would ‘draw away violence’. By Martina Bet. Published in the Evening Standard, 25 November 2021. A ban on the Palestinian group Hamas will have a “terrible chilling effect” in the Israeli … Continue reading
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Israel moves to silence the stalwarts of Palestinian civil society
By Zena Agha, writing for The New York Times On Oct. 19, the Israeli Ministry of Defence singled out six of the most prominent Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations, using secret, and thus far insufficient, evidence to accuse them of being … Continue reading
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The banning of human rights defenders: Israel and South Africa compared
By John Dugard, writing for Mondoweiss, Nov 16, 2021. Even the apartheid regime in South Africa never outlawed human rights defenders in the manner that Israel just did when it declared six Palestinian organizations to be “terrorist organizations. Israel has … Continue reading
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What does Israel fear from this ‘terrorist’?
By Raja Shehadeh, writing for the New York Review of Books December 2, 2021 issue. The Israeli government smears human rights organizations—like Al Haq, the one I founded—rather than attempting to end the violations they bring to light. In 1978 … Continue reading
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Israel’s designation as “terrorist” of six Palestinian civil society organisations: letter of protest to the Foreign Secretary
European Parliamentarians, including British MPs and Peers, have written to the Foreign Secretary calling for Government action to dissuade Israel from three “red line” actions:– designating six Palestinian civil society organisations as “terrorist”– evicting Palestinian families from their homes in … Continue reading
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The Balfour Declaration: Britain’s fatal mistake in Palestine by Eugene Rogan
Published on The Middle East Eye on 1 November 2021. This article is a condensed version of a talk that was given by Professor Eugene Rogan to the Balfour Project charity. The charity holds regular free webinars focused on Britain’s historic and continuing … Continue reading
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Gantz Declares Six Palestinian NGOs Terrorist Organizations
A joint statement by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called the decision ‘an alarming escalation,’ as the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ‘unequivocally condemned’ the move. Published in Haaretz on 22 Oct 2021 by Jonathan Lis. Israeli Defense Minister … Continue reading
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A message from B’Tselem
Last Friday, Israel’s new government crossed a line that no Israeli government has dared cross before, designating six Palestinian civil society organizations “terrorist organizations.” The shameful declaration says nothing about these organizations – but speaks volumes about the violence, brutality … Continue reading
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Israel ‘terrorist’ slur on Palestinian human rights groups
Statement by the Balfour Project On 22 October Israel’s Defence Minister designated six Palestinian human rights NGOs as ‘terrorist’. The aim appears to be to stem the flow of information about breaches of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. … Continue reading
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‘Unpleasant’ War Crimes: The Secret Docs Israel Insists on Censoring
The list of historical documents reveals suspicions that Haganah soldiers committed murder, torture, theft and looting during the War of Independence By Ofer Aderet, published in Haaretz on 18 October 2021 On the morning of April 9, 1948, some 130 … Continue reading
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New report warns unequal status quo in Israel and Palestine will lead to more violence
A new report from international development and humanitarian organisation Christian Aid has highlighted the deep inequalities which divide Palestinians and Israelis across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory and threaten a further escalation of violence and loss of life if … Continue reading
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