The text of the letter was short and precise, leaving no room for any misinterpretation in the “promise” made by Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour to a powerful representative of the Jewish community in Britain—Lord Rothschild—on a fateful day of 2 November 1917:
“I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet: His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
The spirit of that declaration altered the very destiny of the Palestinian people until this day. Thirty years after Balfour gave away Palestine—which was neither his to give, nor has it fallen under the control of the British Empire as of yet—a United Nations Partition Plan, as articulated in Resolution 181, recommended dividing Mandatory Palestine between Zionist Jews and Palestinian Arabs. Soon, Israel became a state, and the Palestinian people were denied every claim to their own land. In 1967, Israel moved in to occupy the rest of historic Palestine. The British promise became an unending Palestinian nightmare.
This is precisely why there can be no discussing of the recent British House of Commons’ vote of Monday, 13 October, on a Palestinian state without digging deeper into history. Regardless of the meaning of the non-binding motion, the parliamentary action cannot be brushed off as just another would-be country to recognize Palestine, as was the Swedish government decision on 3 October, for example.
Unlike Sweden, and most of the 130 plus countries to affectively recognize Palestine, Britain is a party in the Middle East’s most protracted conflict. If it were not for Britain, there would be no conflict, or even Israel, of which to speak.
The historic vote passed after a fascinating debate which signals a shift in the way Israel is perceived, not just by the British public – a decided shift has already been registered on that front for years – but also within the British ruling political classes. True, nearly half of the MPs were absent or abstained, but the outcome was undeniably clear. Only 12 MPs voted against, and 272 in favor. After intense pressure and endless lobbying, this is all the support Israel could muster among one of its strongest allies.
Non-binding, of course, but still the vote matters. It matters because the British government remains a member of the ever-shrinking club of Israel’s staunch supporters. Because the Israeli arsenal is rife with British armaments. Because the British government, despite strong protestation of its people, still behaves towards Israel as if the latter is a law-abiding state with a flawless human rights records. It matters despite the dubious language of the motion, linking the recognition of Palestine alongside Israel, to “securing a negotiated two-state solution.”
But there can be no two states in a land that is already inhabited by two nations, who, despite the grossness of the occupation, are in fact interconnected geographically, demographically and in other ways as well. Israel has created irreversible realities in Palestine, and the respected MPs of the British parliament should know this.
The members’ votes were motivated by different rationale and reasons. Some voted “yes” because they have been long-time supporters of Palestinians; others are simply fed up with Israel’s behavior. But if the vote largely reflected an attempt to breathe more life in the obsolete “two-state solution” to a conflict created by the British themselves, then, the terrible British legacy in will continue unabated.
Moreover, what is the use of a statehood that seems to grow symbolically with no change in the reality on the ground whatever to ensure its materialization? The list of “symbolic” Palestinian victories continues to grow almost at the same rapid speed in which the Palestinian landscape continues to shrivel.
And what is a state with no rights, neither for those who live within what is supposedly designated as future territories of that state, or the millions who live in what was once Palestine, now ‘Israel proper’. As for the millions of Palestinian refugees who continue to suffer the dire consequences of the Nakba (catastrophe of 1948) and every regional crisis since then, neither the British vote, nor all the other recognitions seem to remedy their terrible fate in anyway.
Needless to say, Britain’s moral responsibility towards the Palestinians can hardly be addressed in so inapt a gesture, especially as it arrived nearly one hundred years after the original meddling of Balfour and ‘His Majesty’s Government.’
It is inexplicable that one century after the British involvement in Palestine, the current British foreign policy is not far removed from the language and policies executed by the British Empire when Balfour gave Palestine away. In one of his letters at the time, Balfour so conceitedly wrote:
“For in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country … The four great powers are committed to Zionism, and Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long tradition, in present needs, in future hopes of far profounder import than the desire and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land. In my opinion that is right.
Sure, British diplomacy is presently much more savvy to use such abhorrent language, but has the policies been fundamentally altered reflect a measurable shift?
Encouraged by the overwhelming recent vote in favor of Palestine at the parliament one can hardly deny the signs that both the British public and many in the country’s political establishment are simply disenchanted by Israel’s continued war and occupation which are the main reason behind the destabilization of the region long before the Syria civil war and other upheavals began. Many British MPs are furious over Israel’s violent, expansionist and anti-peace conduct, including those who were once strong allies of Israel. That must not be denied.
But it is hardly enough. When the British government insists on maintaining its pro-Israeli policies, and when the general attitude of those who truly hold the reins of power in London remain committed to a farce vision of two-states, defending Israel and disempowering Palestinians at every turn, the Balfour vision of old will remain the real guidelines for British policy regarding Palestine.
Sixty-six years after ending its “mandate” in Palestine, Britain remains a party in a bloody conflict where Israel is still carrying out the same policies of colonial expansion, using western – including British – funds, arms and political support. Only when Britain fully and completely ends its support of Israel and financing of its occupation, and works diligently and actively towards correcting the injustice it had imposed on the Palestinians a century ago, one could consider that a real change in British policies is finally taking hold.
With my great grandmothers authority, I’d like to give away, absolutely free, the entire land area called Wales to all the poor and homeless people in the world.
Don’t worry about the indigenous tribes there, they won’t care.
The voice of trout:
–
“Recognize the Israeli Jewish state and declare end of conflict.””
2 simple sentences the Arabs refused in 1947 and refuse today.
1:Arabs could have their 22 state already in 1948.
Israel accepted an Arab state already in 1947.
But the Arabs choose was to attack the nesting Israel with 7 armies.
2: Arabs had the opportunity to form a Palestinian state but they preferred not to!
Between 1948 o 1967:
-Egypt ruled Gaza and Jordan the West bank.
They didn’t create the Palestinian state.
-The Arabs in Palestine didn’t demand the Palestine creation?
*Why?
“”There was never A “Palestinian People””
“”While the reality of the Jewish people is a known fact, the idea of the Palestinian people is something that was created recently for political reasons.””
Said by Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Head of the Muslim community in Italy:
Refer to youtube watch?v=KHnmj74IEt8
3:The truth is said in Arabic and not in English lying to the infidels.
Palestinian telling in Arabic their destroy Israel tactic:
**”If we say that we want to wipe Israel out its too difficult.
It’s not acceptable policy to say so.
Don’t say these things to the world. Keep it to yourself.
Everybody knows that the greater goal cannot be accomplished in one go””
Abstract for an Al Jazeera interview.
the jewish existence in palastine is an occupation, they were gathered frome russia and other europian countries and came to palastine by force, they robed the country in the name of god under the eyes of britans and other the world, what’s that? it is the bloody attack in the history.
Yes, how stubborn of the Palestinians to persist in their rights.
How silly of the majority population of Palestine to have refused in 1947 to accept their political disinfranchisement and to have their land being taken away from them and handed over to the Jewish community, who by the end of the Mandate in 1948 owned less than 7% of the land, for the furtherance of their racist project to create a “Jewish state”.
How ridiculous of the Arabs to insist that the independence of Palestine be recognized, as it had been with every other Mandated territory, and a democratic government elected under a constitution guaranteeing the rights of the minority Jewish population.
Well, you know those Palestinians — never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity, and all that.
What news this must be to the Palestinian people.
You challenged me with the land ownership/
It took me some time to collect the real data:
Reality:
1:According to British government statistics, prior to the establishment of the State of Israel, 8.6% of the land area now known as Israel was owned by Jews; 3.3% by Arabs who remained there; 16.5% by Arabs who left the country. More than 70% of the land was owned by the British Government. Under international law, ownership passed to Israel in 1948. The public lands included most of the Negev Desert – half of Palestine’s post-1922 total area.Source: Survey of Palestine, 1946, British Mandate Government
2:the term “Palestinian” in 1946 referred, generally speaking, to the Jews who lived in Palestine, not the Arabs, but because there was no Palestine in 1946
(nor was there an Israel.)
There was only the British Mandate. Jews lived throughout the territory then occupied by the British, including on land that
today constitutes the West Bank.
3: Curiosity:
Arabs are referring to Palestinian people- but Arabs that are not well trained in English cannot pronounce Palestine-
they can pronounce Balestine.
Funny- a land for the people they cannot pronounce the name!
The facts of land ownership are as I’ve stated them. Again, at the time of the end of the Mandate, the Jewish community owned less than 7% of the land in Palestine.
Britain had no “ownership” of 70% of the land in Palestine. It was an occupying power. The acquisition of land by war is inadmissible under international law (hence UNSC Resolution 242 calling on Israel to withdraw to the pre-June boundaries following the 1967 war).
Most of the rest of the land was owned by Arabs. A relevant excerpt from my forthcoming book:
[BEGIN EXCERPT]
An UNSCOP survey of land ownership cited 1943 statistics showing that of Palestine’s total land area (26,320,505 dunams), Arabs and other non-Jews owned nearly 94 percent (24,670,455 dunams). By contrast, the Jews owned only 5.8 percent (1,514,247 dunams).[1] Land ownership statistics for 1945 likewise showed that Arabs owned more land than Jews in every single district in Palestine. The district with the highest percentage of Jewish ownership was Jaffa, where 39 percent of the land was owned by Jews, compared to 47 percent owned by Arabs. Jews owned less than 5 percent of the land in eight out of the sixteen districts.[2] Even by the end of the Mandate in 1948, according to the Jewish National Fund (a quasi-governmental organization founded in 1901 to purchase land for Jewish settlement), the Jewish community had acquired only about 6.9 percent (1,820,000 dunams) of the total land area of Palestine.[3]
As the UNSCOP report noted, “The Arab population, despite the strenuous efforts of Jews to acquire land in Palestine, at present remains in possession of approximately 85 percent of the land.”[4] And as the subcommittee report observed, “The bulk of the land in the Arab State, as well as in the proposed Jewish State, is owned and possessed by Arabs” (emphasis added).[5]
[END EXCERPT]
[BEGIN NOTES]
[1] A Survey of Palestine: Prepared in December 1945 and January 1946 for the information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry (Washington, DC: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1991), 566. The entire three-volume Survey of Palestine is available for purchase at http://www.palestine-studies.org and can also be viewed online at http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Books/Story831.html. A dunam is 1,000 square meters, or about a quarter acre.
[2] Report of Sub-Committee 2, 43-44; Appendix 5: “Palestine Land Ownership by Sub-Districts (1945).” A higher quality image of the map is available at http://domino.un.org/maps/m0094.jpg. Statistics were as follows (Arab/Jewish land ownership in percentages): Safad: 68/18; Acre: 87/3; Tiberias: 51/38; Haifa: 42/35; Nazareth: 52/28; Beisan: 44/34; Jenin: 84/1, Tulkarm: 78/17; Nablus: 87/1; Jaffa: 47/39; Ramle: 77/14; Ramallah: 99/less than 1; Jerusalem: 84/2; Gaza: 75/4; Hebron: 96/less than 1; Beersheeba: 15/less than 1.
[3] Walid Khalidi, “Revisiting the UNGA Partition Resolution,” Journal of Palestine Studies, Volume XXVII, No. 1 (Autumn 1997). Khalidi writes that “Jewish-owned land on the eve of the partition resolution amounted, according to Jewish sources, to 1,820,000 dunams, or less than 7 percent of the total land area of the country” (13). This would be 6.9 percent, although Khalidi puts the total area of Palestine at the higher figure of 27 million dunams, which would put it at about 6.7 percent. His source cited is: Jewish National Fund, “Jewish Settlements in Palestine” (Jewish National Fund, Jerusalem, March 1948, Mimeographed), p. ii. See also Edward W. Said, The Question of Palestine (New York: Vintage Books Edition, 1992), 98. Said writes that, by the end of 1947, the Jewish community had legally acquired 1,734,000 dunams, or about 6.6 percent of the territory of Palestine. He cites a slightly different number of 26,323,000 dunams for the total land area of Palestine, which still rounds to 6.6 percent. Said also notes, “After 1940, when the mandatory authority restricted Jewish land ownership to specific zones inside Palestine, there continued to be illegal buying (and selling) within the 65 percent of the total area restricted to Arabs.” According to Abraham Granott, “The total area of land in Jewish possession at the end of June 1947 amounted to 1,850,000 dunams….” See: Abraham Granott, The Land System in Palestine (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode 1952), 278. This number would put the amount of land in Jewish possession at 7 percent. Israeli historian Ilan Pappe puts the figure lower, writing, “By the end of the Mandate in 1948, the Jewish community owned around 5.8% of the land in Palestine.” See: Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2006), Kindle Edition, Location 655. However, this is evidently an error; Pappe seems to have cited the statistic from 1943, which was no longer accurate by the end of the Mandate.
[4] UNSCOP Report.
[5] Report of Sub-Committee 2, 43.
[END NOTES]
Nonsense. The term “Palestinian” referred to any resident of Palestine. Hence Jewish Palestinians and Arab Palestinians. To the Zionists, however, “Palestinian” referred specifically to the Arabs. Hence we can find David Ben-Gurion describing the Arab revolt of 1936 as “an active resistance by the Palestinians to what they regard as a usurpation of their homeland by the Jews” (emphasis added).
Yet they were the minority and owned only 7% of the land, as already discussed.
Pls, stop following the known Ara/Iranian doctrine named Takiyya- laying to infidels.
:The 242 resolution, written in the wake of the 1967 Six Day War, recognized that
—- Israel was the one that had been attacked
—-,and called on the Jewish state to give up some of the territories,
— not all of the territories
—, it had taken in the war for the sake of peace.
******************
Lord Caradon, Britain’s delegate to the UN in the 1960s and one of the authors of 242, stated after the fact,
“We didn’t say there should be a withdrawal to the ‘67 line;
we did not put the ‘the’ in, we did not say ‘all’ the territories deliberately.”
In fact, Lord Caradon said that it would be “insanity” for Israel to ever give up the entirety of what is commonly known as the “West Bank.”
In 1891, Ginzberg, a Jew, had made his first visit to the Jewish
> settlements in Palestine. It resulted in an important essay,
> The Truth from Palestine. What distinguished his report from
> the gushing accounts of other Jewish visitors was the sober
> realism with which he noted the many problems. High among
> them was the existence of an indigenous population. “We
> tend to believe abroad that Palestine is nowadays almost
> completely deserted, an uncultivated wilderness, and anyone
> can come there and buy as much land as his heart desires.
> But in reality this is not the case. It is difficult to find
> anywhere in the country Arab land which lies fallow.”
> He makes short work of the argument that lesser breeds can
> be duped about Zionist intentions and bought off with the
> benefits of colonialism. “The Arab, like all Semites,
> has a sharp mind and is full of cunning … [They]
> understand very well what we want and what we do in the
> country, but … at present they do not see any danger for
> themselves or their future in what we are doing and
> therefore are trying to turn to their advantage these new
> guests … But when the day will come in which the life of
> our people in the Land of Israel will develop to such a
> degree that they will push aside the local population by
> little or by much, then it will not easily give up its
> place.”
there was no Israel in 1946. whats your point, Einstein?
“At the beginning of the nineteenth century fewer than 300,000 people lived in Palestine, more than 90 percent of them Muslim and the balance mostly Christian. Jews numbered only 5,000. By 1914, on the eve of World War I, there were 700,000 inhabitants, including 70,000 Jews. By 1948, before the outbreak of war, Palestine’s population had reached 1.5 million, and the Jewish population had grown to 600,000.”
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/i/idinopulos-miracles.html
The central Zionist myth of uninterrupted but dispersed Jewish nationhood with consistent identity tracing to Biblical times and finally gathering in modern Israel is historically inaccurate.>David Benkof
Palestine denial – Heritage Florida Jewish News
Palestine denial – Heritage Florida Jewish NewsView on http://www.heritagefl.comPreview by Yahoo
Israel–A nation that for the last 100 generations prayed “the next year in Jerusalem and land of Zion””
——
I am blessed to be an Israeli.
I am 69 years old. I consider myself blest blessed because i am taking an
active part in an unprecedented period of history.
The rebuild of the independent Jewish state – Israel.
Such an event never occurred in human history!
I am a child of a 3500 years old nation keeping the same religion, following
the same moral values, speaking the old-new Hebrew language!
Except of China and India no other country and culture worldwide has such a
heritage– and i am part of this.
The culture with the traditional of searching freedom (let my people go), leading moral values (the 10 commands).
A nation of great philosophers, lawyers and scientists, but not great conquerors subjugating other nations.
A nation that demanded every single person to read, write and speak in public for more than 2000 years.
A nation that for the last 100 generations suffered unmatched persecutions,
expulsions, demonization, murders and mass Killing during the holocaust.
A nation that for the last 100 generations prayed “the next year in Jerusalem and land of Zion””
And here i am– the first generation of the free Israelis in the modern era!
Israel has many of achievement as well many problems.
I am proud of our achievements in every aspect of science, culture, values, medicine and society we share with the world.
I am proud of dealing with my own nation problems in the many aspects of life
and the quest of finding applicable solutions.
—-
Every morning before going to work I lessen listen to the news and most of the times I hear a new statement that we will be destroyed or eliminated and we should do this or else……..
Daily, by my work and my life routine i contribute a new small drop to the ever growing wonderful sweet lake named Israel
My mobile is always open for connections of my children and grandchildren in case of emergency call..
Sometime, in the evening I either dace-or sing- or attend a lecture- or exercise sport- or have an emotional political discussion with my friend.( few people, many ideas , everyone argues claiming that his solution is the best)
—
I am proud that despite the need to defend ourself from external and internal enemies all our governments and most of our people try to follow the values as stated in Israel independence declaration:
**will promote the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants.
**will be based on the precepts of liberty, justice and peace taught by the
Hebrew Prophets;
**will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of race, creed or sex;
** will guarantee full freedom of conscience, worship, education and culture;
** will safeguard the sanctity and inviolability of the shrines and Holy Places of all religions
—
Always hope that one day the Arabs will accept Israel the Jewish state and we will live peacefully.
I personally do not consider taking an active part in a racist colonialist project to be something to boast about.
If Israel wished to live peacefully with the Palestinians, it would cease its crimes against them. It prefers land over peace.
it’ll never happen. go back to Europe.
Jews were cleaned from Arab countries.
Jewish refugees from Arab countries outweigh the losses
(in 1948) of Arab refugees.
**1 million Jews lost their homes in Arab counties-
More than the 750000 Arabs, the majority left voluntarily
** Jews owned land stolen from the Jews in Arab ounties=38650sq mls
·
***The poor, tiny infant Israel absorbed the Jewish refugees from Arab states, without UN help .
For many years they are an integrative part of the Israeli building society.
·
***The rich and prosperous Arab countries at that time, with a area 800 times larger and population 70 times higher compared to Israel kept the Arab refugees as a tool against Israel>
Palestinian received $ help more than any person in human history.
Over 4 times compared to Marshal plan for Europe after ww2.
It has been used for Terror and hate education and not to build a better life
—————————
What Arabs are saying?
** Azm, Syrian prime minister in his memoirs**
Arab governments called in 1948 to evacuate Israel.
WE MADE THEM LEAVE.
THEN WE EXPLOIDED THEM IN EXUCUTING CRIMES OF MURDER IN SERVICE OF POLITICAL PURPOSES.
**1:Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa
“”The refugees are the result of mistakes made
by countries where the refugees live. The worst happened
when Arab intelligence agencies used Palestinian to settle internal conflicts that have nothing to do with the Palestinians.
From 1948 up today ,the Arabs are following the same strategy, only updating tactic””
1.5 billion Muslims vs 14 million Jews (worldwide)? who are you fooling?
No, the core of Jewish identity for centuries has been the diaspora. This is what made Jews such a moral, enduring and exceptional people before the advent of Zionism. In the beginning, Zionism was even rejected by a majority of Jews in Europe, especially in Germany. It was rejected so strongly that Zionists even sought to work with the Nazis on a “solution to the Jewish question”. It was only after a number of progroms on Soviet territories that Zionism gained some traction and, of course and even understandably, after the horrors of the holocaust. In the meantime and especially after 1967 Zionism has managed to paint itself as representative to Judaism as such. But I think you’re making a mistake, if you’re making it your own identity. No system or ideology based on crimes against humanity (and both Israel and Zionism currently are) can or will endure indefinitely.
I honestly think that the Israeli people should overcome their usual groupthink notions. Often this is one of the most “patriotic” things to do.
The Jewish national identity is based on:
1:Monothrism- the mother and father of Christianity and Islam.
2: The 10 commands: the mother and father of modern low and mankind self government
3:By tradition for the last 2000 years every Jew on his wedding, bat mitzvah and other ceremonies are saying:
“”Next year in Zion and Jerusalem.””
I said it- my father,my grandfather, my grand grand father and going back for the last 100 generations.
No other culture except China has a similar tradition for the last 3000 years
—-
A good example of the worldwide recognition
that modern values are based on of the Jewish values is USA:
A: As you walk up the steps to the Capitol building which houses the
Supreme Court you can see near the top
of the building a raw of world’s law givers
and each one is facing one of the middle who is facing forward with a full frontal view- it is Moses and the Ten commandments!
B:James Madison , the forth president , known as “The father of our Constitution”” in his statement said: “We have staked the whole of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self government to control ourselves according to the Ten commandments
Yitzhak Ben Zvi and David Ben Gurion repeatedly said; “The Palestinians are the descendents of the original inhabitants of the ancient land of Judea”.
David Ben Gurion said; “Let us not delude ourselves, We are the aggressors, they (Palestinians) fight to defend THEIR land”
European immigrants to Palestine instigated terror and violence from the start of the British Mandate, with the support of Britain it succeeded in stealing land from the intrinsic population.
Since 1947 the US has provided unconditional support that has allowed Israel to continue violent and terror acts against the intrinsic population simply because they are Christians and Muslims.
The world is now realising that Israel is a apartheid State conducting a policy of Genocide.
All your Hasbara propaganda is now seen for what it always was, Comic book distortions, misinformation and downright lies. No matter how many Hasbara volunteers the Israeli Foreign Ministry manages to recruit, they are whistling in the wind.
Only a fundamentalist religious fanatic would persevere with such delusions.