Category Archives: Mandate Period

The UN experience in Gaza

Posted on March 6, 2024 by Diana Safieh

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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Britain’s Policy of Deceit

Posted on October 21, 2023 by admin

By Peter Shambrook During WWI, successive British governments first promised Palestine to the Arabs; two years later the British cabinet promised the same region to the global Jewish community.  Post-WWI, British governments steadfastly denied that Palestine had been promised to … Continue reading →

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One on One: Britain, Palestine and a history of broken promises

Posted on September 28, 2023 by Diana Safieh

Video published by The Middle East Eye on 25 September 2023. The United Kingdom played a pivotal role in the dispossession of the Palestinian people and the Zionist takeover of historical Palestine, says Middle Eastern historian Peter Shambrook. Speaking with … Continue reading →

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The Report of the Haycraft Commission of Inquiry, 1921

Posted on August 16, 2023 by Diana Safieh

By Mike Scott-Baumann The Commission was appointed by Sir Herbert Samuel, the High Commissioner for Palestine, to inquire into, and report on, the “disturbances” in Jaffa and elsewhere in early May 1921. It was headed by Sir Thomas Haycraft, the Chief Justice … Continue reading →

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Britain, Israel and Jordan in the 1948 war

Posted on August 20, 2022 by Diana Safieh

Introduction by Avi Shlaim for the Balfour Project to his paper in The Journal of Palestine Studies By Avi Shlaim From 1920 to 1948 Britain held the mandate over Palestine. From the beginning, Britain pursued a pro-Zionist policy which facilitated … Continue reading →

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BALFOUR IN THE LEVANT, SPRING 1925. Orates in Jerusalem, Tours Palestine, Flees Syria

Posted on July 29, 2021 by Diana Safieh

By William M. Mathew. A. INTRODUCTION: A JEWISH ITINERARY B. NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS – PALESTINE STRIKE ON BALFOUR STARTS TOMORROW. CESSATION OF WORK TO BEGIN ON HIS ARRIVAL (24 March 1925) STRIKE AS BALFOUR REACHES PALESTINE. JERUSALEM SHOPS SHUT. … Continue reading →

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Lord Cope – Speech to British Palestine Police Association Centenary Dinner

Posted on July 9, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Speech given at Middle Temple Hall, 2 July 2021 It is great to be here to celebrate the centenary of the Palestine Police so energetically organised by Ralph Cairns.  I wish the BPPA many happy returns.  The Crusader Kingdom of … Continue reading →

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Eugene Rogan – Neither Pro-Zionist nor Pro-Arab but Pro-Empire: A Re-assessment of British Policy in the Palestine Mandate

Posted on June 3, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Eugene Rogan is Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at Oxford University, where he has taught since 1991, a Fellow of St Antony’s College and Director of the Middle East Centre. He took his B.A. in economics from Columbia, and … Continue reading →

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Promises and Betrayals Britain and the Struggle for the Holy Land

Posted on April 1, 2021 by Diana Safieh

Uncovering shocking foreign office communications and using fascinating footage never seen on television before, this documentary shows how British double-dealing during the First World War ignited the conflict between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East. This is a story … Continue reading →

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Raja Shehadeh on Britain and Palestine, a family history

Posted on March 3, 2021 by Diana Safieh

A live online talk in March 2021. Raja Shehadeh is a lawyer and writer and the founder of the pioneering Palestinian human rights organisation Al Haq. Shehadeh is the author of several acclaimed books published by Profile Books including the … Continue reading →

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John McHugo on Why Britain has a Special Responsibility to the Palestinian People Today

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Diana Safieh

A talk given online on 30th June 2020. John McHugo is a trustee of the Balfour Project and a board member of CAABU, The Council for Arab British Understanding. This paper is the edited text of a Balfour Project talk … 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 →

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The best book on the Balfour Declaration is…

Posted on July 22, 2020 by admin

Book Review: Palestine the Reality by J.M.N. Jeffries By John McHugo  Many people trying to get to grips with the Israel/Palestine conflict begin with the First World War and the contradictory promises Britain made at that time. These were pledges … 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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The Hundred Years’ War On Palestine A history of settler colonial conquest and resistance

Posted on March 29, 2020 by admin

By Rashid Khalidi Profile Books £25.00 Book review Review by Tim Llewellyn In the midst of Jerusalem’s Old City, on the cusp of the Muslim and Jewish quarters, reposes the Khalidi family library, an archive of scriptures, literature and letters … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Balfour Declaration – Empire, the Mandate and Resistance in Palestine by Bernard Regan

Posted on November 11, 2019 by admin

by John McHugo In The Balfour Declaration: Empire, The Mandate and Resistance in Palestine, Bernard Regan shows us what Britain did (and what Britain thought it was doing) by issuing the Balfour Declaration, by incorporating it into the League of … Continue reading →

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Britain in Palestine Exhibition

Posted on November 5, 2019 by admin

We have PDF copies of these panels at A1 size. We also have printed copies mounted on polystyrene and suitable for use in an exhibition. If you would like to set up an exhibition and hire these mounted panels or … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Legacy of Empire – Britain, Zionism and the Creation of Israel by Gardner Thompson

Posted on October 12, 2019 by admin

By Tim Llewellyn, Oct 10th 2019 “…[T]he Mandate has proved to be unworkable in practice…[and] the obligations undertaken by the two communities in Palestine have been shown to be irreconcilable.” (Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary, in the House of Commons … Continue reading →

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Impressions of Palestine, 1 April 1946: Pessimist Perspectives

Posted on July 13, 2019 by admin

Edit Post Private Memo by Evan M. Wilson (U.S. State Department) William M. Mathew Evan M. Wilson (1910-84), graduate of Haverford College and Oxford University, was in the employ of the U.S. State Department between 1937 and 1961, serving as … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Britain’s Pacification of Palestine – The British Army, the Colonial State, and the Arab Revolt, 1936–9 by Matthew Hughes

Posted on June 12, 2019 by admin

by Ian Black The 1936–9 Arab Revolt against British rule in Palestine, and its suppression by the British army, was a precursor to the devastating war against the nascent Israeli state that the Palestinians lost a decade later. Matthew Hughes‘s extensively researched new study … Continue reading →

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Britain’s historic responsibility to the people of Palestine, Gaza and Israel

Posted on June 12, 2019 by admin

John McHugo Edited text of speech for the Balfour Project event The Tragedy of Gaza in Edinburgh 17 March 2018 My role is to explain why Britain carries a historic responsibility to the people of Palestine generally, to the people … Continue reading →

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U.S. Recognition of Israel, 14 May 1948. Part III: ‘A Near-Run Thing’

Posted on May 4, 2019 by admin

William M. Mathew See also Part I and Part II A. GEORGE MARSHALL: ‘A NEAR-RUN THING’. Truman’s fundamental position was straightforward – at least retrospectively. As President, he was in charge. In ‘differences of opinion between the White House and … Continue reading →

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U.S. Recognition of Israel, 14 May 1948. Part II: Truman’s Belated Support

Posted on May 4, 2019 by admin

William M. Mathew Part I: U.S. Recognition of Israel, 14 May 1948: Roosevelt, Truman, Marshall: A Sequence of Contingencies Part III:  U.S. Recognition of Israel, 14 May 1948: ‘A Near-Run Thing’ The obvious question presents itself: given the near-universal presidential … Continue reading →

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U.S. Recognition of Israel, 14 May 1948. Part I: Roosevelt, Truman, Marshall: A Sequence of Contingencies

Posted on April 25, 2019 by admin

Part I: Uncertainties See also Part II: U.S. Recognition of Israel, 14 May 1948: Truman’s Belated Support Part III:  U.S. Recognition of Israel, 14 May 1948: ‘A Near-Run Thing’ William M. Mathew Abstract Zionism`s two most notable international successes in … Continue reading →

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Conferences in Glasgow and Edinburgh

Posted on February 8, 2019 by admin

 March 14th and 17th 2019 On March 14th at  300 people at Glasgow University heard former British and Israeli diplomats and distinguished journalists speak on ‘The news from Gaza: dispelling myths and telling the truth’.  The following Sunday at Edinburgh University … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Arab Awakening by George Antonius

Posted on December 9, 2018 by admin

The Balfour Project is most grateful to the Times Literary Supplement for allowing us to reprint this review of The Arab Awakening, by George Antonius, the review by Harry Pirie-Gordon being published on November 26, 1938. Readers might also like … Continue reading →

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Palestine 1948: Britain Surrenders to Terror

Posted on November 24, 2018 by admin

Peter Shambrook Being British, the 500-year-old British Empire story fills me with a mixture of pride – and pain and shame.  Regarding the events of 1948, locating truth is extremely challenging, given the irreconcilable national narratives.  So I come at … Continue reading →

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Palestine and Britain: forgotten legacy of World War I that devastated the Middle East

Posted on November 12, 2018 by admin

By James Rodgers Rare photograph of the formal transfer of Jerusalem to British rule. For those of us of an age to have known only peace in Western Europe,the centenary of the end of World War I is a an … Continue reading →

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Britain Palestine Israel – 70 years on

Posted on March 21, 2018 by admin

Donate A  20-page booklet is now available containing the speeches at the conference of the Balfour Project in partnership with King’s College London (see below). The booklet also includes the Balfour Centenary Declaration, which has now been signed by 141 … Continue reading →

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Evangelicals, the Balfour Declaration and Zionism

Posted on December 19, 2017 by admin

By Roger Spooner When talking about the Balfour Declaration with a pastor from Bethlehem, he commented,’ the problems for the Palestinians didn’t start in 1917, they started in 1840′. Literal reading of the Bible which had developed in the 17th … Continue reading →

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Prophet of Doom: E.T. Richmond, Palestine 1920-1924

Posted on December 8, 2017 by admin

John Richmond Ernest Richmond ETR was a an architect who spent many years in the Arab World and was invited in 1920 by Sir Herbert Samuel to join the Palestine administration. His son has written about some of his writings … Continue reading →

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Palestine 1917-2017: Reflections on a refugee’s story, my great-grandfather’s war diary and the legacy of Britain’s actions in Palestine.

Posted on September 1, 2017 by admin

Omah Amarah is 84 years old. From the amount of energy which sparks up as he gets started on his story you can sense his tale comes from the heart; this is no dry text book account of history we … Continue reading →

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The 1929 Palestine Riots – A Conflicted Jewish Historiography by William M Mathew

Posted on July 21, 2017 by admin

Mathew compares the work of two Jewish historians on the long-term effects of the inter-communal violence and harsh response by British forces which rocked Palestine in 1929. Where their accounts overlap Mathew explores their markedly different approaches.Violence in Palestine in … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Part II The 1929 Palestine Riots – A Conflicted Jewish Historiography by William M Mathew

Posted on July 21, 2017 by admin

IV: Commissions & Reports; White Paper & Letter These, 1929-31 – from Shaw and Hope Simpson to Passfield and MacDonald – have been cited in the opening paragraph above. Hillel Cohen`s approach is merely to list them, largely without comment. … Continue reading →

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Palestine and Britain 1917-1948: Competing Policies, Creative Commemoration

Posted on November 8, 2016 by admin

This talk was given at  the Balfour Project  conference in Southwark Cathedral  on 5th November 2016  entitled: ‘How will we mark the Centenary of the Balfour Declaration’ By Dr Peter Shambrook Context: it is only in the context of the … Continue reading →

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The Mandate years: colonialism and the creation of Israel

Posted on September 8, 2016 by admin

Charles Glass, writing in the London Review of Books in 2001, reviewed two books looking at the period of the British Mandate in Palestine. Although written 22 years ago it touches on topics that are very little known in the … Continue reading →

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Dec 11th 1917, General Allenby shows how a ‘moral man’ conquers Jerusalem

Posted on December 11, 2014 by admin

On this day he entered Jerusalem, modestly on foot, two days after the Turks surrendered it, after several attempts. By David B. Green | Dec. 11, 2014 | 3:46 AM  from Haaretz In December 11, 1917, General Edmund Allenby, commander … Continue reading →

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Britain’s Secret Re-Assessment of the Balfour Declaration. The Perfidy of Albion, by John Quigley

Posted on December 12, 2013 by admin

John Quigley* President’s Club Professor in Law, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America From the Journal of the History of International Law Revue d’histoire du droit international Volume 13, Number 2, 2011 … Continue reading →

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