Balfour Project: Beyond the Declaration: Recent Episodes
Diana Safieh
Peace, Justice and Equal Rights in Israel/Palestine
Our Mission: Acknowledging Britain’s historic and continuing responsibilities to uphold equal rights for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples through popular education and advocacy. To persuade the British Government to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.
Dr Phyllis Starkey (Vice Chair, BalfourProject ), Chris Doyle (Director, CAABU), Yasmine Ahmed (UK Director,HRW), Nour Odeh, chaired by Sir Vincent Fean (Trustee, Balfour Project),followed by Q&A
Closing Statement -Dr Phyllis Starkey
Part of our Peace with Justice – how to get thereconference on 6 June 2024 at Bush House, London.
How young people bring about change—The BalfourProject Peace Advocacy Fellowship Programme Presentation
chaired by MatanRosenstrauch (Fellowship Programme Coordinator)
Part of our Peace with Justice – how to get thereconference on 6 June 2024 at Bush House, London.
Keynote Speaker – The UN, Human Rights and Gaza Dr AgnèsCallamard (General Secretary, Amnesty International), followed by Q & A
Part of our Peace with Justice – how to get thereconference on 6 June 2024 at Bush House, London.
The Gaza War: A Humanitarian Disaster withMohammed Ghalayini (Gazan scientist, Amplify Gaza Stories)
Part of our Peace with Justice – how to get thereconference on 6 June 2024 at Bush House, London.
The challenges ahead
Daniel Levy (President, US/MEP) & Nour Odeh (National Democratic Assembly,Palestine) & followed by Q&A
Part of our Peace with Justice – how to get thereconference on 6 June 2024 at Bush House, London.
Welcome from Adam Sutcliffe (Professor inEuropean History, King's College London) & Andrew Whitley (Chair, BalfourProject)
Part of our Peace with Justice – how to get thereconference on 6 June 2024 at Bush House, London.
Andrea De Domenico brings more than twenty years of experience in humanitarian assistance and emergency relief both in the field and in headquarters.
Between 1998 and 2005 he has worked in Albania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kosovo and Pakistan with various NGOs managing humanitarian and relief programs and operations in different sectors.
Andrea joined OCHA in 2005 in DRC where he initially worked on planning and then moved to humanitarian financing, managing one of the first common humanitarian funds established by OCHA. In 2011 he joined the Funding Coordination Section in OCHA New York. In 2015 he became the head of the Country Based Pooled Fund Section in OCHA New York consolidating the growth of the humanitarian funds. In 2019 Andrea moved to OCHA oPt Office as deputy and since 2022 he is the Head of the OCHA Office in the oPt.
Andrea has a BA in International Law, an MA in Political Science and an MA in International Relations. He is an Italian national and is married and has three children.
Sir Vincent Fean is a retired member of the British Diplomatic Service (DS) 1975-2014. His last post was as Consul-General, Jerusalem (2010-14). Before Jerusalem, he was Ambassador to Libya, and previously High Commissioner to Malta.
Vincent advocates equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians, and British Government recognition of the state of Palestine alongside Israel on pre-June 1967 lines. He is a Trustee of the Balfour Project.
Rula Salameh is a veteran journalist, community organiser, and the Education and Outreach Director in Palestine for Just Vision, an organisation that fills a media gap in Israel-Palestine through independent storytelling and strategic audience engagement.
She produced three of Just Vision’s films - Budrus (2009), My Neighbourhood (2012), and Naila and the Uprising (2017) - and has led the team’s public engagement efforts across Palestinian society for over 15 years.
Since 2019, she has contributed a weekly column to Ma'an News covering Palestinian social issues from the perspective of grassroots communities. In addition to her work with Just Vision, Rula is the host of Falasteen al-Khair (“Philanthropy in Palestine”), one of the most popular TV shows in Palestine, and the General Director of the NGO Falasteen al-Khair.
Rula was one of the founders of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation in 1993 following the Oslo Accords. She has served as the Middle East Liaison for the organisation Peace X Peace, as the Project Coordinator for Middle East Nonviolence and Democracy (MEND), and established a computer lab and children's library in the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem through her work with Refugee Trust International. Rula holds an international diploma in Computers in Business and Management from Cambridge International College and attended Birzeit University in Ramallah. She is a member of the International Federation of Journalists.
Nadav Tamir is the Executive Director of J Street Israel and an Advisor for International and Governmental Affairs at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation.
Nadav served as the Senior Policy Adviser to the President of Israel during the last 3 years of the presidency of Shimon Peres.
Nadav returned to Israel in 2010 after serving as the Consul General of Israel to New England at the Consulate General of Israel in Boston for four years. He then served at the Policy Planning unit of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs until July 2011 when he joined the President’s Office.
Nadav joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993 and the following year began to serve as the Policy Assistant to the Foreign Minister. Nadav had the privilege to serve as a policy assistant under three Foreign Ministers – Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, and David Levy. He was then promoted to the position of Political Officer at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. in 1997. In 2001, Nadav was granted the position of Advisor to the Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem.
Nadav was the chairperson of the Wexner – Israel Alumni Association. He was chosen as a Wexner Israel Fellow and earned his Master’s in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2004. Nadav is on the steering committee of the Geneva Initiative and on the board of the Mitvim think tank for regional foreign policy.
Prior to joining the Ministry, Nadav served as a security officer at the Residence of the President of the State of Israel, while simultaneously earning his B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, from which he graduated Magna Cum Laude.
Nadav was born and raised on Kibbutz Manara in northern Israel. He began his career in public service in 1980 in the IDF, where he eventually served as a company commander and retired with the rank of Major. He is married to Dr. Ronit Tamir, a dance educator, and is the father of Maya, Ido, and Naama.
with Claire Nicholl (Save the Children), Tareq Shrourou (Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights) and Jude Lanchin (solicitor).All links to reports can be found here www.balfourproject.org/injustice
Claire Nicholl is Save the Children’s Regional Humanitarian Policy & Advocacy Lead for the Middle East. She has been working with the agency’s team in the occupied Palestinian territory for many years, and is the author of several reports on the treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention. This work has been underpinned by her time spent with former detainees and other children and young people in the oPt, including supporting the Gaza children’s council.
Tareq Shrourou is Director & Principal Lawyer of the UK legal charity, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights. Before becoming LPHR’s first director, he worked as a solicitor specialising in asylum and human rights law, and co-managed the public legal advice service of the UK human rights organisation, Liberty. He holds an LLM in Public International Law from King’s College London.
Jude Lanchin qualified as a solicitor in 1994, after a career in community-based work. She is an associate at Bindmans. She has maintained a strong interest in the rights of the child in the oPt and was a key part of a delegation of British jurists which visited Israel and Palestine in 2011 in a mission funded by the Foreign Office. The delegation was tasked with investigating the situation of Palestinian children in Israeli detention. They produced a report, which is available here. Today, Jude will discuss this report and developments since 2011.
Professor Nick Maynard trained at Oxford University, Guy’s Hospital, London, and Melbourne, Australia. He is a Consultant Upper GI Surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Associate Professor of Surgery at Oxford University. He set up the Oxford Oesophagogastric Cancer Centre in 1997 and is the Senior Surgeon and Clinical Lead. From 2021 to 2023 he was President of the Association of Upper GI Surgery for Great Britain and Ireland (AUGIS), demitting in September 2023.
Nick first visited Palestine in 2008, and since 2010 he has been visiting Gaza regularly. Each October he leads a group of Oxford Consultants specialising in surgery, medicine, paediatrics, and obstetrics to Gaza to teach medical students from the Islamic University of Gaza and Al Azhar University. Nick also works with Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP UK) as part of their surgical team to travel into Gaza to carry out and teach advanced upper gastrointestinal surgery for cancer and benign diseases. In December 2023 with MAP Nick led the first UK medical mission into Gaza during the current conflict and worked at Al Aqsa Hospital for 2 weeks. He will be returning to Gaza shortly.
Nick joined the Board of Trustees of IMET2000 (International Medical Education Trust) in 2016 and has been Chairman of the Board of Trustees from 2018.
In conversation with Andrew Whitley, Balfour Project Chair.
From 2010 to November 2018 Charles Bird, OBE, was a Teaching Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV), University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK, and was Course Tutor for the Certificate and Advanced Certificate in Terrorism Studies.
Between 1986 and 2010 he was a member of HM Diplomatic Service, specialising in the Middle East, conflict, post-conflict, terrorism and counter-terrorism issues. Postings included to the UAE (1988–92) with involvement in Desert Storm, Belgrade (1992–93) during the war in former Yugoslavia, Macedonia (1999) for the Kosovo crisis, Greece and Nigeria.
During tours in the UK, his jobs included Deputy Head of Middle East Department, Head of South Asia Department, and leading the project that resulted in the formation of the interdepartmental (FCO, MoD, DfID) Stabilisation Unit, which co-ordinates the UK Government’s post conflict reconstruction work in, amongst other places, Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2003 he was seconded back to the military and was on the staff of the General Officer Commanding Ist (UK) Armoured Division in Iraq, both during and for several months after the invasion.
Between 2004–2008 he was on secondment to the MoD working on issues related to counter-terrorism.
Daniel (Danny) Seidemann has lived in Jerusalem since 1973. He has been a member of the Israeli Bar Association since 1987. Since 1991, he has specialized in the geopolitics of contemporary Jerusalem, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the city.
Danny and his colleagues founded, Terrestrial Jerusalem, and are frequently consulted by senior decision-makers and governmental bodies on matters pertaining to both unfolding developments in Jerusalem and the broader issues relating to a permanent status agreement. He has also been conducting ongoing discussions on Jerusalem issues within the Arab world, and with Christian faith communities and diaspora Jewish communities. He has participated in numerous Jerusalem-related projects, colloquia and track-two deliberations.
In 2010, Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the title of honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his work in Jerusalem.
The Balfour Project and Sadaka, the Ireland Palestine Alliance, jointly presented this timely webinar.
While the world’s attention is on the Gaza war, very bad things are happening fast in the West Bank. Susan Power, Head of Legal Research and Advocacy at Al-Haq in Ramallah, analysed the Israeli lockdown of the West Bank and the licence given to settler violence and forced displacement of Palestinians from their lands.
Mr Owda Hathaleen gave an eye witness account of the pressures being brought to bear on the villagers of Masafer Yatta to abandon their homes and livelihoods.
They recommended actions to safeguard lives and people’s futures.
Owda Hathaleen, from Umm Al-Khair village, Masafer Yatta, a human rights activist, writer and an English teacher.
Dr. Susan Power is Head of Legal Research and Advocacy at Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man.
Avi Shlaim is an Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the British Academy. His books include Collusion across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement, and the Partition of Palestine (1988); War and Peace in the Middle East: A Concise History (1995); The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (2000, updated edition 2014); Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace (2007); Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations (2009); and Three Worlds: Memoir of an Arab-Jew (2023).
Nicolas Pelham is Middle East correspondent at The Economist, Author of Holy Lands, Journalist of the Year 2021 nominee.
Online webinar hosted on 21 November 2023
In Search of the River Jordan is the new book by award-winning writer and journalist James Fergusson. Travelling through Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, Fergusson describes how historic water resources such as the Jordan River and the Dead Sea have been diverted or depleted, and how the unequal competition for remaining water resources dominates the lives of Palestinians in the occupied territories.
This webinar addressed broader contexts, including the war in Israel-Gaza and the COP28 Climate Change summit in Dubai (which will starts a few days after this webinar) and the issue of long-term environmental degradation and the loss of biodiversity that is being caused by water poverty in the West Bank and Gaza.
James Fergusson is a British journalist and foreign correspondent who has written for publications such as The Economist, The Times and the Daily Mail, and has published seven books, including A Million Bullets about the British army’s involvement in Afghanistan.
The 29th of September marks the centenary of when the League of Nations ‘Mandate Agreement’ for Palestine entered into force in international law. This legal instrument purported to put the commitment to establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine made by Arthur Balfour in the eponymous Declaration of 1917—then merely a non-legally-effective statement—on a sound international legal footing. It paved the way for how the UK administered the Mandate. The Agreement purported to bypass the legal obligation in Article 22 of the League Covenant to provisionally recognize statehood of and for the inhabitants of the Mandate—people who were overwhelmingly Arab Palestinians—at the time the Mandate commenced. And it purported to permit the UK to maintain its administration, for what turned out to be a quarter of a century, so as to enable Jewish migration to, and Jewish institutions of self-government to be established in, what could then be proclaimed the state of Israel, as happened, covering part of the territory of the Mandate, in 1948. In international law, then, the key date for the supposed legal basis for all that happened in that period is 1923, not 1917.
On the eve of the centennial anniversary of that date, this lecture will present a new argument, challenging the received wisdom about the legal effectiveness of the Mandate Agreement. For the first time it will be explained that the body adopting the Agreement—the League Council—did not have the legal power to modify the obligations in the League Covenant, and, as such, the requirement to implement provisional statehood in Article 22 remained the operative legal obligation binding on the UK. Consequently, by failing to enable Palestinian statehood a century ago, the UK breached international law, and this can form the basis for a claim for reparations by the Palestinian people today.
The lecture is based on Dr Wilde’s article published in the Journal of the History of International Law, ‘Tears of the Olive Trees: Mandatory Palestine, the UK, and accountability for colonialism in international law’.
Ralph Wilde is a member of the Faculty of Laws at UCL, University of London. He is an expert in international law. His current writing focuses on extraterritorial human rights, migration and refugee protection, and international law and the Palestinian people. His previous work on the concept of trusteeship over people and territorial administration by international organizations includes his book International Territorial Administration: How Trusteeship and the Civilizing Mission Never Went Away(OUP), awarded the Certificate of Merit of the American Society of International Law. He previously served on the Executive bodies of the American and European Societies of International Law, and the International Law Association, and is the past recipient of the UK Philip Leverhulme Prize and the Peace Fellowship of the Åland Peace Institute. He also provides legal advice and representation to states, international organizations, and NGOs, and is currently acting as Senior Counsel and Advocate representing the 22 states of the League of Arab States in the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East JerusalemAdvisory Opinion case before the UN International Court of Justice.
An epic journey to uncover a Holocaust inheritance leads relentlessly to discovering a Nakba inheritance: two catastrophes that are very different, but very connected. Can they both be heard and understood? With personal testimony, letters and memories by those who survived and those who did not, this challenging audio series is dramatised and narrated by broadcaster Mike Joseph.
2023 CONFERENCE: Human Rights in Palestine: Responsibility and Accountability
Wednesday 17 May at Church House, London
2023 CONFERENCE: Human Rights in Palestine: Responsibility and Accountability
Wednesday 17 May at Church House, London
2023 CONFERENCE: Human Rights in Palestine: Responsibility and Accountability
Wednesday 17 May at Church House, London
Separate & Unequal—Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch
Access to Health—Melanie Ward, Medical Aid for Palestinians
Children’s Rights & Child Prisoners—Miranda Cleland, Defense for Children International—Palestine
Freedom of Movement, Expression and Assembly—Shawan Jabarin, Al-Haq
2023 CONFERENCE: Human Rights in Palestine: Responsibility and Accountability
Wednesday 17 May at Church House, London
2023 CONFERENCE: Human Rights in Palestine: Responsibility and Accountability
Wednesday 17 May at Church House, London
2023 CONFERENCE: Human Rights in Palestine: Responsibility and Accountability
Wednesday 17 May at Church House, London
Richard Falk is an American professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, and Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor's Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Falk has published extensively with multiple books written about international law and the United Nations.
John Dugard is a South African professor of international law. His main academic specialisations are in Roman-Dutch law, public international law, jurisprudence, human rights, criminal procedure and international criminal law. He has served on the International Law Commission, the primary UN institution for the development of international law, and has been active in reporting on human-rights violations by Israel in the Palestinian territories.
Michael Lynk is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, and was the United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur for the human rights situation in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967.
Matthew Teller’s “Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City” (Profile Books, 2022) was named a Book of the Year by the Daily Telegraph. Matthew writes for the BBC, Guardian, Independent, Times, Financial Times and other global media. He has produced and presented documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and World Service, and has reported for Radio 4’s ‘From Our Own Correspondent’ from around the Middle East and beyond. He is the author of several travel guides, including the Rough Guide to Jordan. His previous book was "Quite Alone: Journalism from the Middle East 2008–2019".
Ambassador (ret.) Ilan Baruch is chairperson of the Policy Working Group (PWG), an Israeli advocacy team focusing on policy issues pertaining to the achievement of peace between Israel and Palestine based on the two-state paradigm. PWG members are all volunteers and come from senior diplomatic, academic, political, media and human rights backgrounds.
On March 1st 2011, Baruch resigned from the Israeli Foreign Ministry on grounds of principle after a 36-year diplomatic career. In multiple media interviews, Baruch explained that his resignation came in the wake of Israel’s departure from its decade-long commitment to the two- state solution.
Baruch’s last posting overseas was Ambassador of Israel in South Africa (2005-2008) as well as in Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Ashraf Al-Ajrami is the Director of Damour Company for Community Development; head of the Damour Advocacy team, seeking to increase the resilience of deprived Palestinian communities and build a just peace. Born 1961.
He is the former Minister of Prisoners Affairs in the Palestinian Authority (PA), 2007-09, and former Director of Israeli Affairs, PA Information Ministry. Imprisoned in Israel, 1984-96. He is a member of the Committee for Interaction with Israeli Society and a peace activist.
Matthew Hughes is Chair in military history at Brunel University London. His most recent book Britain’s Pacification of Palestine: the British Army, the Colonial State and the Arab Revolt, 1936-39 came out with Cambridge University Press in 2019. He is currently working on a project examining British military force on Borneo at the end of empire, 1962-66.
Ray Dolphin worked in the West Bank and Gaza for over 30 years, most recently for the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), where he was Senior Analyst. In addition to numerous UN reports, his book ‘The West Bank Wall: Unmaking Palestine’ was published by Pluto Books in 2006 and he collaborated with Magnum photographer Joseph Koudelka for the photo-book, ‘Wall’, published by Aperture in 2013.
Author Raja Shehadi in conversation with journalist Tim Llewellyn about his new book We Could Have Been Friends my Father and I
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 Orwell Prize-winning Palestinian Walks, as well as Strangers in the House; Occupation Diaries; Language of War, Language of Peace; A Rift in time; Where the Line is Drawn and his most recent book Going Home A Walk Through Fifty Years of Occupation. He lives in Ramallah Palestine.
Please join us for a 45 minute recording of our webinar with Layla Moran MP. Layla, our chair Andrew Whitley and trustee John McHugo will launch the Balfour Project booklet recording our 2022 conference “Abandoning Palestine: the end of the British Mandate and our continuing responsibility”. The booklet is available to download here. If you would like a hard copy posted to you, we would appreciate a donation to cover postage. Please email diana@balfourproject.org with the address you would like the booklet posted to.
Omar Karmi, a Palestinian-British journalist, and Tamir Sorek, an expert on football in Palestine-Israel, discuss the Palestinian phenomenon at the 2022 World Cup, the reactions worldwide, and the game and players in Israel-Palestine.
The world turns to Bethlehem during Christmas, but they have a fairytale image of the little town. However, this is a real community with real challenges. This webinar gives an insight into the reality and challenges of Palestinians and Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land.
Revd Dr Munther Isaac is a Palestinian Christian pastor and theologian. He now pastors the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. He is also the academic dean of Bethlehem Bible College, and is the director of the highly acclaimed and influential Christ at the Checkpoint conferences.
All views and resources are those of the Fellows and speakers alone and not necessarily representative of the Balfour Project.
Palestinian author and journalist Dr. Ramzy Baroud discusses the reasons behind Israel’s lack of accountability to international law. While many countries, especially in the Global South, are held accountable to United Nations resolutions and to international humanitarian laws, Israel remains untouched. The role of the UK, past and present. What will it take for the Palestinians to achieve justice?
Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is ‘Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak out’. His other books include ‘My Father was a Freedom Fighter’ and ‘The Last Earth’. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website iswww.ramzybaroud.net
Danielle Bett is Yachad’s Director of Communications. Prior to joining Yachad, Danielle worked as the Jewish Leadership Council’s Scotland Manager. She has worked on several interfaith and antiracism initiatives. She’s also worked closely with the Israeli community in Scotland, having founded the Scottish Israeli Cultural Association – a non-political non-religious initiative for Israelis living in Scotland. She has a degree in International Relations and Spanish from the University of St. Andrews. Danielle is Scottish-Israeli and grew up in Israel.
In anticipation of the failure of the Israeli-Palestinian talks convened by the US Secretary of State John Kerry in 2014, Sam Bahour and Dr Tony Klug called for a new international strategy to replace failed peace negotiations, based on a vision of the endgame and the principle of equality. In a co-authored article, they proposed that, after half a century, Israel should be required to choose between recognizing a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza within a brief deadline or granting full and equal citizenship rights to everyone within its jurisdiction until there is a solution. In this webinar, they will explain how they individually and collectively arrived at this proposal and what they believe its merits to be.
Please join us for the first in a series of three webinars hosted by some of our Peace Advocacy Fellows. This first webinar on Palestinian Architecture is hosted by Amber Khan, who is studying Law, Business & Management MSc and Legal Practice Course at the University of Law. She will be joined by Danna Masad - Architect and co-founder at Shamsard Design Studio Khaldun Bshara - Architect, restorer, anthropologist and director of The Riwaq Centre AbdalRahman Kittana - PDH Architecture lecturer and co founder of The Yalla Project
This was a three-hour FREE workshop being hosted by the Balfour Project on the morning of Saturday 25 June.
The workshop was primarily for secondary school history teachers but anyone interested in the teaching of Palestine – Israel is very welcome to join us. The sessions will include short presentations, discussions and Q & As.
Our objective is to persuade more schools to teach about Israel – Palestine, because of the importance of the subject in Britain’s past, present and future, and its continuing importance to international human rights, international law, peace, justice and equality.
The Balfour Project charity’s aims are educational. That is why we are holding a series of workshops involving secondary school teachers, with the help of the National Education Union and others. The aim is to encourage the balanced teaching of Israel/Palestine in more British secondary schools – no more, no less. The lesson content is entirely a matter for school decision. We seek to assist teachers by pointing to a diverse range of existing teaching materials.
The 25 June workshop was on a Saturday, rather than a school working day, on the advice of teacher associations. Our workshop was recorded and put on our website. We will gladly discuss its contents subsequently with any teacher unable to join the workshop on the day.
Anyone who has any questions is welcome to contact Mike Scott-Baumann, the organiser, after the event on info@balfourproject.org
Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that over 1,000 Palestinians can be forcibly evicted from their homes in Masafer Yatta, a community in the South Hebron Hills. Write to the Government to help stop this flagrant eviction of people from their home.
Enter your postcode and see the letter – send it to your MP in one click!
Becca Strober is a former soldier originally from Philadelphia. She is the Director of Education at Breaking the Silence
Visit www.balfourproject.org/abandoningpalestine to see all audio and visual recordings, as well as the conference guidebook.
Visit www.balfourproject.org/abandoningpalestine to see all audio and visual recordings, as well as the conference guidebook.
Visit www.balfourproject.org/abandoningpalestine to see all audio and visual recordings, as well as the conference guidebook.
Visit www.balfourproject.org/abandoningpalestine to see all audio and visual recordings, as well as the conference guidebook.
Visit www.balfourproject.org/abandoningpalestine to see all audio and visual recordings, as well as the conference guidebook.
Visit www.balfourproject.org/abandoningpalestine to see all audio and visual recordings, as well as the conference guidebook.
Visit www.balfourproject.org/abandoningpalestine to see all audio and visual recordings, as well as the conference guidebook.
Visit www.balfourproject.org/abandoningpalestine to see all audio and visual recordings, as well as the conference guidebook.
Visit www.balfourproject.org/abandoningpalestine to see all audio and visual recordings, as well as the conference guidebook.
Visit www.balfourproject.org/abandoningpalestine to see all audio and visual recordings, as well as the conference guidebook.
Visit www.balfourproject.org/abandoningpalestine to see all audio and visual recordings, as well as the conference guidebook.
Visit www.balfourproject.org/abandoningpalestine to see all audio and visual recordings, as well as the conference guidebook.
Visit www.balfourproject.org/abandoningpalestine to see all audio and visual recordings, as well as the conference guidebook.
with Lana Ramadan from Save the Children, Ramallah and lawyers Jude Lanchin and Tareq Shrourou
Lana Ramadan is the Advocacy and Campaigns Senior Office at Save the Children International oPt country office. Lana has extensive technical expertise and knowledge on the detention file in the oPt context. She worked for several Palestinian human rights organizations before joining SCI, including Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association as well as Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights. Lana has a Master’s Degree in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science, as well a BA in International Law and Human Rights from the Al-Quds Bard College.
Jude Lanchin qualified as a solicitor in 1994, after a career in community-based work. For a number of years, she worked with the young people on the North London Broadwater Farm Estate who were charged after the 1985 riot. She subsequently established and ran a community project in Islington for former prisoners.
Tareq Shrourou is Executive Director & Principal Lawyer of Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights (LPHR), a UK legal charity that works on legal projects to protect and promote Palestinian human rights. Before joining LPHR as its first executive director, Tareq worked as a solicitor specialising in asylum and human rights law, and co-managed the public legal advice service of the UK human rights organisation, Liberty. He holds an LLM in Public International Law from King’s College London.
Ali Awad is a 22 year-old activist from the village of Tuba in the South Hebron Hills.
Becca Strober is a former soldier originally from Philadelphia. She is the Director of Education at Breaking the Silence.
Online talk given in March2022.
Abbas Milhem is the current Executive Director (since 2014) of the Palestinian Farmers’ Union, providing technical guidance and full supervision on project development and implementation processes for the 14 branches of the Union across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Abbas previously worked with the Sudan Civil Society and Youth Participation (CSDY) Program as a Country Director for Sundan, the International Republican Institute (IRI) Sudan, Arab-Americare Foundation, Health, Development, Information, and Policy Institute (HDIP), Palestinian Center for Peace and Democracy (PCPD), and the Palestinian Child Cultural Center. Abbas has a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from Bethlehem University.
Online talk given in February 2022
Bashir Bashir is associate professor in the department of sociology, political science and communication at the Open University of Israel and a senior research fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. His primary research interests are nationalism and citizenship studies, liberalism, democratic theory, decolonization and the politics of reconciliation. Among other numerous publications, he is the co-editor of The Holocaust and Nakba: A New Grammar of Trauma and History (Columbia University Press, 2018); and The Arab and Jewish Questions: Geographies of Engagement in Palestine and Beyond (Columbia University Press, 2020). His writings have appeared in English, Hebrew, Arabic, Italian, and German.
Bashir's Publications:
Interrogating Modernity and Egalitarian Binationalism in Palestine/Israel
The Holocaust and the Nakba: A New Grammar of Trauma and History
The Arab and Jewish Questions: Geographies of Engagement in Palestine and Beyond
Online talk given in February 2022
Rula Jamal LLM - Head of Monitoring and Documentation at Al-Haq
Dr Susan Power - Head of Legal Research and Advocacy at Al-Haq
In 2021, the government of Israel designated al-Haq a 'terrorist' organisation, a decision condemned by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and B'tselem.
Wafa Dakwar - Programme Manager, Beirut, Medical Aid for Palestinians
Rohan Talbot - Advocacy and Campaigns Manager, London, Medical Aid for Palestinians
Dominic Grieve is a barrister and a visiting professor on Law, Politics and Human Rights at Goldsmiths, University of London. From 1997-2019 he was MP for Beaconsfield. He was Shadow Home Secretary from 2008-09 and Shadow Justice Secretary from 2008-10. He was Attorney General of England and Wales from 2010-14. From 2015-19 he was chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament.
Nada Kiswanson is a Swedish lawyer of Palestinian origin. She serves as counsel for hundreds of Palestinian victims before the International Criminal Court. Kiswanson has worked on the occupation of Palestine for over a decade, for and alongside human rights organisations. During that time she has explored numerous justice and accountability mechanisms for violations committed in Palestine.
Hagit Ofran works at the “Settlement Watch” project at the Israeli peace movement of “Peace Now”. Widely-recognised as one of Israel’s foremost experts on a full range of issues related to West Bank settlements and settlement-related developments in East Jerusalem, Hagit’s work includes traveling daily throughout the West Bank, examining aerial photos and browsing official Israeli documents. The “Settlement Watch” project serves as a resource for Israeli politicians, diplomats, international media organizations, and first and foremost – for the Israeli public.
Gideon Levy is an Israeli journalist, currently for Haaretz, and author. Levy has won prizes for his articles on human rights in the Israeli-occupied territories.
Levy was drafted into the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in 1974 and served as a reporter for Israel Army Radio. From 1978 to 1982, he worked as an aide to Shimon Peres, then the leader of the Israeli Labor Party. In 1982, he began to write for the Israeli daily Haaretz. In 1983–87, he was an assistant to the editor-in-chief.
He has written a column called "Twilight Zone" about the hardships of the Palestinians since 1988. In 2004, Levy published a compilation of articles entitled Twilight Zone – Life and Death under the Israeli Occupation.
Sarah Helm, former Middle East correspondent for The Independent, was a staff correspondent for The Sunday Times and foreign correspondent for The Independent. She is the author of two books on World War Two, most recently, If This is A Woman, about the Nazi concentration camp for women. Her play Loyalty, about the Iraq War, was staged at The Hampstead Theatre in London. She is now working on a book about Gaza.
On his wedding anniversary, Yusef and his young daughter set out in the West Bank to buy his wife a gift. Between soldiers, segregated roads and checkpoints, how easy is it to go shopping?
Farah Nabulsi is an Oscar nominated and BAFTA Award-Winning Palestinian British filmmaker, born, raised and educated in the UK. She left the corporate world in 2016 to start working in the film industry as a writer & producer of short fiction films, exploring topics that matter to her. This includes Today They Took My Son, endorsed by renowned British Director Ken Loach, screened at the United Nations and officially selected to top tier international film festivals.
In 2019, she directed her first film, The Present, which she also co-wrote. The film stars renowned actor, Saleh Bakri. It premiered at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2020 and won the coveted Audience Award for Best Film. It had its North American premiere at the Cleveland International Film Festival, where it won the Jury Award for Best Live Action Short, qualifying it for the 2021 Oscars.
While The Present continues to pick up numerous audience and jury awards as it continues with the film festival circuit around the world, it was nominated for The Academy Awards (OSCARS®) and won a BAFTA Award for Best British Short Film 2021. It has also been licensed internationally, including to Canal+ (France), Pacific Voice (Japan), Telefonica (Spain) and Netflix Worldwide.
Farah is currently in development of her debut feature length film, The Teacher.
In light of the Israeli Government decision to designate 6 Palestinian human rights organisations as “terrorist”, Jonathan Kuttab has kindly agreed to devote the first part of his talk on Thursday at 3 pm (U.K.) to this crisis. Jonathan co founded al-Haq, one of the 6 organisations targeted by Israel.
He will update us on the situation, and propose ways in which civil society – including the Churches - and Parliamentarians should work to oppose this decision.
Before taking questions, Jonathan will speak briefly on his original theme: Beyond the Two-State Solution.
Jonathan Kuttab is co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and Nonviolence International. He is also Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America.
A well-known international human rights attorney, Jonathan practices in the US, Palestine and Israel. He serves on the Board of Bethlehem Bible College and is President of the Board of Holy Land Trust. Jonathan was the head of the Legal Committee negotiating the Cairo Agreement of 1994 between Israel and the PLO. After graduating with his Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD) from Virginia Law School, and practicing a couple years on Wall Street, Jonathan returned home to Palestine. Jonathan was visiting scholar at Osgoode Law School at York University in Toronto in the Fall of 2017, and is a founding director of Just Peace Advocates Mouvement pour une Paix Juste, a Canadian based international law human rights not-for-profit organization. Jonathan is a resident of East Jerusalem, and is a partner of Kuttab, Khoury and Hanna Law Firm in East Jerusalem.
Hannah is the director and a founder of Yachad. Yachad works to mobilise British Jews in support of a political resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She previously chaired the Jewish Social Action Forum for two years, bringing together leading Jewish communal organisations to develop the community’s social action agenda and also worked as a consultant for the Pears Foundation.
Sir Vincent Fean is member of the British Diplomatic Service (DS) 1975-2014, his last post was as Consul-General, Jerusalem (2010-14). Before Jerusalem, he was Ambassador to Libya, and previously High Commissioner to Malta.
Vincent advocates equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians, and British Government recognition of the state of Palestine alongside Israel on pre-June 1967 lines.
What brings us together is a clear aim:
Peace, Justice and Equal Rights in Israel/Palestine.
Our mission is:
Acknowledging Britain’s continuing historic responsibilities, to uphold equal rights for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples through popular education and advocacy, and to convince the British Government to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.
Panel discussion with director of Tinderbox Gillian Mosely, Amos Trust trustee Robert Cohen and Balfour Project executive committee member Tim Llewellyn.
Click here to visit the official Tinderbox website for information about future screenings.
Sophie Bridger served as a Human Rights Monitor with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel in 2019. During her time in the West Bank, she observed numerous human rights violations, and witnessed the impact of ongoing occupation on children and local families. Since her return, she has talked about what she witnessed in the West Bank and advocated for a just peace in the region.
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 his M.A. and Ph.D. in Middle Eastern history from Harvard. In 2017 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. He is author of The Arabs: A History (2009, 2017), named a best book of 2009 by The Economist, The Financial Times, and The Atlantic Monthly. His new book, The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East (2015), was named a best book of 2015 by The Economist and The Wall Street Journal. His earlier works include Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire (Cambridge University Press, 1999), for which he received the Albert Hourani Book Award of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the Fuad Köprülü Prize of the Turkish Studies Association; and The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948 (Cambridge University Press, 2001, second edition 2007, with Avi Shlaim). His works are translated into 18 languages.
Day 2 of the Balfour Project's free online conference - Israel/Palestine: in search of the rule of law.
**Case studies introduced by Michael Lynk:
Gaza – Issam Younis
The settlement project – Hagit Ofran
Palestinian children in Israeli military detention – Sahar Francis
Accountability – Nada Kiswanson**
Followed by panel discussion and Q&A
Our Mission: Acknowledging Britain’s historic and continuing responsibilities to uphold equal rights for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples through popular education and advocacy. To persuade the British Government to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.
Day 2 of the Balfour Project's free online conference - Israel/Palestine: in search of the rule of law.
International Law: indispensable in the search for a just Middle East peace – Prof Michael Lynk
Our Mission: Acknowledging Britain’s historic and continuing responsibilities to uphold equal rights for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples through popular education and advocacy. To persuade the British Government to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.
Day 1 of the Balfour Project's free online conference - Israel/Palestine: in search of the rule of law.
Our Mission: Acknowledging Britain’s historic and continuing responsibilities to uphold equal rights for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples through popular education and advocacy. To persuade the British Government to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.
Day 2 of the Balfour Project's free online conference - Israel/Palestine: in search of the rule of law.
Can international law prevail in Israel/Palestine? The role of the UK – Rt Hon Jack Straw
Our Mission: Acknowledging Britain’s historic and continuing responsibilities to uphold equal rights for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples through popular education and advocacy. To persuade the British Government to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.
Day 2 of the Balfour Project's free online conference - Israel/Palestine: in search of the rule of law.
Our Mission: Acknowledging Britain’s historic and continuing responsibilities to uphold equal rights for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples through popular education and advocacy. To persuade the British Government to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.
Day 1 of the Balfour Project's free online conference - Israel/Palestine: in search of the rule of law.
Why a rights-based approach makes a just, lasting political solution more likely, and why now – Zaha Hassan The dual legal system in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and the role of the Supreme Court of Israel – Michael Sfard Discussion between Zaha Hassan and Michael Sfard, moderated by Dominic Grieve QC Remarks by Dominic Grieve QC Forward look to Day 2 with Sir Vincent Fean.
Our Mission: Acknowledging Britain’s historic and continuing responsibilities to uphold equal rights for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples through popular education and advocacy. To persuade the British Government to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.
Day 1 of the Balfour Project's free online conference - Israel/Palestine: in search of the rule of law.
Presentation by Philippe Sands, Followed by discussion and Q&A with Balfour Project Trustee John McHugo and Dominic Grieve QC
Our Mission: Acknowledging Britain’s historic and continuing responsibilities to uphold equal rights for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples through popular education and advocacy. To persuade the British Government to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.
Day 1 of the Balfour Project's free online conference - Israel/Palestine: in search of the rule of law.
Welcome with Sir Vincent Fean and Dominic Grieve QC and Baroness Brenda Hale on Why the rule of law matters.
Our Mission: Acknowledging Britain’s historic and continuing responsibilities to uphold equal rights for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples through popular education and advocacy. To persuade the British Government to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.
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 in East Jerusalem, their messages are recorded as having been sent – but do not reach their followers on Instagram. This is a worrying development, without explanation so far.
One way to register concern is to Report a Problem through your Instagram account.
Below is a suggested form of words, if you decide to do so.
***It has come to my attention that Instagram is actively censoring news about the eviction of Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem. Several Instagram users have noticed that their factual Instagram messages on this subject are recorded as being sent, but do not reach their followers.
Please explain why Instagram is preventing free speech and communication of facts in this way, and stop doing it at once.***
Please note, to make a complaint to Instagram in this way, you need to have an Instagram account and be logged into to it.
How to make a complaint on your phone or tablet:
- Tap on your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile.
- Tap in the top right, then tap Settings.
- Tap Help, then tap Report a Problem.
- Tap Report a Problem again.
- Type out your complaint, and tap Submit.
With all good wishes,
Vincent
Sir Vincent Fean
Chair of trustees, Balfour Project
Nadia Hijab is co-founder and President of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, the transnational Palestinian think tank. She is a writer, public speaker and media commentator. Her first book, Womanpower: The Arab debate on women at work was published by Cambridge University Press and she co-authored Citizens Apart: A Portrait of Palestinians in Israel (I. B. Tauris). She was Editor-in-Chief of the London-based Middle East magazine before serving as at the United Nations in New York. She is a co-founder and former co-chair of the US Campaign for Human Rights and now serves on its advisory board.
Northern Ireland & Israel/Palestine: what two differing paradigms can teach us about conflict resolution
John Lyndon is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP), the largest network of peacebuilding NGOs in Israel/Palestine. He brings with him over a decade of experience leading NGOs concerned with conflict resolution and international development, with a particular focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the pivotal role civil society can play in any lasting resolution.
A regular contributor and commentator on events in the Middle East, his writing has featured in numerous international publications, and he is a frequent analyst on the BBC, CNN, France 24 and Sky News. A former member of the Under 35 Steering Committee at the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, John is also a Visiting Fellow at King’s College London’s Department of Middle Eastern Studies.
Munther Isaac is a Palestinian Christian pastor and theologian. He now pastors the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. He is also the academic dean of Bethlehem Bible College, and is the director of the highly acclaimed and influential Christ at the Checkpoint conferences.
Munther is passionate about issues related to the Palestinian theology. He speaks locally and internationally and has published numerous articles on issues related to the theology of the land, Palestinian Christians and Palestinian theology, holistic mission and reconciliation. He is the author of “The Other Side of the Wall”, “From Land to Lands, from Eden to the Renewed Earth”, “An Introduction to Palestinian Theology” (in Arabic), and a commentary on the book of Daniel (in Arabic). He is also involved in many reconciliation and interfaith forums. He is also a Kairos Palestine board member.
Munther originally studied civil engineering in Birzeit University in Palestine. He then obtained a Master in Biblical Studies from Westminster Theological Seminary and then a PhD from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies.
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 Orwell Prize-winning Palestinian Walks, as well as Strangers in the House; Occupation Diaries; Language of War, Language of Peace; A Rift in time; Where the Line is Drawn and his most recent book Going Home A Walk Through Fifty Years of Occupation, won the Moore Prize 2020. He lives in Ramallah Palestine.
Dr. Ardi Imseis is an Assistant Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, Queen’s University. He is a Member of the Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen, a UN Human Rights Council commission of inquiry mandated to investigate violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in the civil war in Yemen. Between 2002 and 2014, he served in senior legal and policy capacities with the UN in the Middle East (UNRWA & UNHCR). He has provided expert testimony in his personal capacity before various high-level bodies, including the UN Security Council, and to members of the UK House of Lords and the French Senate. His scholarship has appeared in a wide array of international journals, including the American Journal of International Law, the European Journal of International Law, the Harvard International Law Journal, and the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. Professor Imseis is former Editor-in-Chief of the Palestine Yearbook of International Law (Brill; 2008-2019), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellow and Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Human Rights Fellow, Columbia Law School. He holds a Ph.D. (Cambridge), an LL.M. (Columbia), LL.B. (Dalhousie), and B.A. (Hons.) (Toronto).
Leila Sansour is a Palestinian/British filmmaker with more than 24 years of experience working in television as a producer, director and writer. She is best known for her two feature documentaries released across cinemas in the UK and internationally to a high critical acclaim- “Jeremy Hardy vs The Israeli Army” 2003 and “Open Bethlehem” 2014. Before moving into independent films, Leila worked as a producer on Al Jazeera’s leading documentary series “Encounter in Exile” and made several award winning shorts. She holds a masters degree in philosophy and fluently speaks Arabic, English, Russian and French.
She has worked as a consultant on a number of media projects with the UN and IFES and still freelances as a news producer with ITN news in the UK.
Balfour Project Chair, Sir Vincent Fean, will be giving his impressions on how the US election results will affect the situation in Palestine/Israel.
Sir Vincent Fean is member of the British Diplomatic Service (DS) 1975-2014, his last post was as Consul-General, Jerusalem (2010-14), responsible locally for British Government relations with the Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories – what Vincent calls Palestine. Before Jerusalem, he was Ambassador to Libya, and previously High Commissioner to Malta. He studied Arabic in the DS. Vincent advocates equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians, and British Government recognition of the state of Palestine alongside Israel on pre-June 1967 lines. He is also a trustee of British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, and a Patron of the Britain Palestine Friendship and Twinning Network. He is secretary of an informal Cross Party Group on Palestine/Israel at Westminster.
Closing Remarks and Statement
HE Khaled Al-Duwaisan -Kuwaiti Ambassador to the UK
Sir Vincent Fean
Jerusalem: from Past Divisions to a Shared Future? - Online Conference 27 October 2020
Session VI: Questions and Answers
Moderated by Ian Black
Panellists: Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Daniel Seidemann, Daniel Levy, Rula Salameh, Sir Vincent Fean
Jerusalem: from Past Divisions to a Shared Future? - Online Conference 27 October 2020
Session V: Britain’s Role in the Coming Years
Chair: Sir Vincent Fean
Keynote Speaker: Rt Hon Alistair Burt
Panellists: Julie Elliott MP (Labour), Tommy Sheppard MP (SNP), Rt Hon Baroness Lindsay Northover (LibDem)
Jerusalem: from Past Divisions to a Shared Future? - Online Conference 27 October 2020
Session IV: Contemporary Realities and Plans to Share the City
Chair: Dr Imad Karam (BP Trustee)
Keynote Speaker: Daniel Levy
Panellists: Ariel Caine, Rula Salameh, Yudith Oppenheimer
Jerusalem: from Past Divisions to a Shared Future? - Online Conference 27 October 2020
Session III: Religion and Holy Sites
Chair: Bishop Michael Doe (BP Executive Committee)
Keynote Speaker: Daniel Seidemann
Panellists: Imam Monawar Hussain, Bishop Christopher Chessun, Rabbi Jeremy Gordon
Jerusalem: from Past Divisions to a Shared Future? - Online Conference 27 October 2020
Session II: International Law and Human Rights
Chair: John McHugo (BP Trustee)
Keynote Speaker: Baroness Helena Kennedy QC
Panellists: Iain Scobbie, Daniel Seidemann & Victor Kattan
Jerusalem: from Past Divisions to a Shared Future? - Online Conference 27 October 2020
Introduction Welcome: Sir Vincent Fean (BP Chair of Trustees) Video Message from HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan
Session I: History Chair: Andrew Whitley (BP Trustee) Keynote Speaker: Avi Shlaim Panellists:Menachem Klein, Mick Dumper, Salim Tamari
From the early days of Zionist settlement in Ottoman Palestine it was clear that the project faced opposition from the native Arab majority. Hostility escalated with the start of British rule and the violence that engendered. Zionist leaders like David Ben-Gurion admitted privately that a national confrontation was under way but official public messaging was that Arabs would benefit from the Jewish economic development of the country. By the end of the Palestinian “great rebellion” of 1936-1939 that was exposed as an illusion.
Ian Black is a visiting senior fellow at the Middle East Centre, LSE. He was Middle East editor, European editor, diplomatic editor and Middle East correspondent of the Guardian. He is the author of several books, including Enemies and Neighbours: Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel, 1917-2017 (Allen Lane, Penguin, 2017).
If you found this interesting, please consider donating to our work. https://www.peoplesfundraising.com/donation/balfour-project
Former Israeli diplomat who served as:
*Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and of the Ministry of Economy and Planning.
*Ambassador of Israel to South Africa 1992-1994 (Non Resident Ambassador to Mozambique and Zimbabwe)
*Consul General of Israel to South Eastern United States (based in Atlanta, Georgia)
*Foreign Ministry Spokesman
*Charge D ‘affairs (head of mission) of Israel in Turkey
*Vice Consul of Israel to the Mid-Western United States (based in Chicago. Illinois)
Please consider a donation to the Balfour Project.
Click here for transcript and video recording.
Sarah Helm, former Middle East correspondent for The Independent, asks how far the roots of today’s tragedy in Palestine and Israel lie in the arrogance and racism of British imperialism.
Could Balfour’s experiment - at any point during the British mandate - have been reversed?
Please consider a donation to the Balfour Project.
Click here for transcript and video recording.
Andrew Whitley is founder and executive director of Geo-Political Advisory Services (GPAS), a UK-based consultancy that works on the alleviation of armed conflict in the Middle East and Asia. He was previously Policy Director and interim Chief Executive of The Elders, the organisation of global figures founded by Nelson Mandela. Before joining The Elders in London, in January 2011, Andrew worked for four decades around the world, first as a journalist with the BBC and Financial Times and later, from 1995 to 2010, with the United Nations. From 1990 to 1994 he was the founding director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, then known as Middle East Watch. At the UN, Andrew successively held senior posts at UNCTAD (the UN Conference on Trade and Development), the Department of Peace-Keeping Operations – in UN-administered East Timor and Kosovo – and at UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. A specialist in the Middle East, he has lived twice in Iran and twice in Israel and Palestine. The current work of GPAS is focused on Yemen as well as relations between Iran and its western neighbours. Andrew holds Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees in History from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.
Click here for full transcript.
John McHugo is a trustee of the Balfour Project and a board member of CAABU, the Council for Arab British Understanding. He has an academic background in both International Law and Islamic studies. He is the author of three books on the history of the Middle East. In reverse order of publication, these are A Concise History of Sunnis and Shi’is, Syria: A Recent History, and A Concise History of the Arabs. His talk today is an expansion of what he says about the Palestine Mandate in A Concise History of the Arabs.
Click here for transcript.
Welcome to the Balfour Project podcast. Today we are very glad to have Vincent Fean, who is the chair of the Balfour Project. He will be speaking on the topics of the illegal settlements and UNRWA.
Click here to read full transcript.
References mentioned in podcast episode:
- Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel;
- Meet the Balfour Project Peace Advocacy Fellows;
- Balfour Project.
Welcome to the new Balfour Project podcast. Today we are very glad to have Vincent Fean, who is the chair of the Balfour Project. We are going to be answering questions on annexation, recognition, we're going to touch on the topic of lobbying and peace, how to help the region of Palestine during the coronavirus, and several other issues.
Click here to read full transcript.
References mentioned in podcast episode:
- Medical Aid for Palestinians;
- IMET 2000;
- Friends of the Holy Land;
- MP template;
- A Fresh Look at the Palestine Mandate and Britain's Historic Responsibilities - John McHugo - Tues 30th June;
- Meet the Balfour Project Peace Advocacy Fellows;
- Balfour Project.
A talk by Sir Vincent Fean - Chair of the Balfour Project & former British-Consul General, Jerusalem, followed by Q&A.
View transcript here.