Gaza, under Israeli military occupation since 1967, is home to two
million Palestinians. Most are there because in 1948, when Britain
abandoned its Mandate for Palestine, Gaza gave refuge to Palestinians
forced to flee from the fighting which erupted. For the last 12 years
Israel has blockaded this strip of land. Much of its infrastructure has
been destroyed by Israeli bombing. The United Nations says that by 2020
Gaza will be uninhabitable. But the people will still be there. They are
locked in.
In March 2019 the Balfour Project held conferences at Edinburgh and
Glasgow Universities to examine Britain’s historical responsibility for
this tragedy, and to explore what our Government and civil society can
do now to advance equal rights for all who live between the
Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.
Edinburgh March 2019
Sir Vincent Fean, Chair of the Balfour Project, said, ‘On the issue
of Palestinian self-determination, Scotland is the conscience of the
United Kingdom. This is the place where our responsibility to act in
support of equal rights is most clearly felt and expressed. I commend
the Scottish Call to Action to advance those rights, including through
British Government recognition now of the independent state of Palestine
alongside the state of Israel. Gaza is an integral part of Palestine,
whose people are entitled to the very same rights as Israelis’.
