Balfour Declaration
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
i Photo:The plaque in Balfour’s family church, Whittingehame, East Lothian. ii Balfour Declaration Dear Lord Rothschild, 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, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non- Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country” I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation. iii iv Palestine and the legacy of Balfour Edited by Hugh Humphries Scottish Friends of Palestine v Haddington Declaration We, who gathered here today in the home town of Arthur James Balfour and all those who accept this Declaration, Cognizant of the inherent injustice of the infamous Balfour Declaration of 2 November 1917 and its utter disregard for the fundamental rights of the indigenous national Palestinian majority in Palestine, Aware of the consequential tragedies of loss of life and property, destitution and dispersion of millions of people for over half a century in Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, Distressed particularly at the execution of the largest, longest ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from hundreds of towns and villages in their homeland which resulted in the long exile of 6 million Palestinian refugees until today, Mindful of the unforgivable failure of the British Mandate to fulfil its obligations towards the protection, welfare and self- government of the Palestinians and the territorial integrity of Palestine, Hereby declare that, The Balfour Declaration and its consequences are legally invalid and morally wrong and must be reversed, The suffering of the Palestinians till this day is an evil, the continuation of which must be stopped and amends be made, The restoration of Palestinian rights, particularly the Right of Return and Self-Determination and respect for human rights and international law must be implemented, this being the only basis for permanent peace, We further call upon, The British Government to atone for Balfour sins by adopting and implementing a clear and strong policy for the support of the vi Palestinians’ Inalienable Rights and by making reparations for the suffering and damages to the Palestinians, The European Union and the US to accept responsibility for the Palestinian catastrophe, support Palestinian rights, cease and desist from aiding Israel in all aspects and impose penalties on Israel as long as it continues in violation of international law The international community, particularly Human Rights NGO’s, to condemn Israel’s racist and Apartheid policies, boycott dealing with it and fully support the Palestinians rights, particularly the Right of Return, All human beings of free conscience to help end the century-long evil which befell the Palestinians, restore their rights in Palestine and establish in Palestine a free democratic country free from racism, Apartheid and discrimination on any grounds. Haddington, East Lothian 12, 13 November 2005 In the 88th year after Balfour Declaration vii Copyright: Scottish Friends of Palestine in association with the named speakers/contributors. Published by Scottish Friends of Palestine 2006 acknowledgement Scottish Friends of Palestine acknowledges, with thanks, the support of UNISON in the production and distribution of this conference book. ISBN 0 9521210 3 4 viii On the 12 & 13 November 2005 Scottish Friends of Palestine held its international conference at Haddington, East Lothian. The subject of the conference was Palestine and the legacy of Balfour, in this, the 88th anniversary year of the Balfour Declaration. The proximity of Whittingehame, the family home of the then Foreign Secretary, Arthur J. Balfour, to Haddington made the latter the ideal venue for the conference. Throughout the conference enthusiasm was expressed by many participants for the contributions from the various speakers to be put into print. This book represents an attempt to meet this request. At the outset, it has to be stressed that it does not do justice to some of the speakers and their contribution. Some spoke with no prepared paper. Others, because of time constraints, agreed to address the content of their paper through the question and answer session. In these cases alternatives have been used. The one exception to this is Ghada Karmi where reference to her book In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story (Verso Press 2002) is recommended. Leila Khaled was invited to speak but her request for a visa was turned down by the Home Office. She did provide a transcript of her contribution and this is included. This book was finalised just as Israel was withdrawing its army of aggression and terror from Southern Lebanon at the end of August 2006. It left in its wake a civilian population (and infrastructure) devastated by the firepower of the Israeli armed forces. However it did not leave a people cowed and humiliated by the destructive power of the Israeli state. Could Balfour’s legacy be entering a new phase? Or is it simply that an army which has honed its skills at checkpoints - forcing pregnant mothers to give birth in the open, forcing the old to wait in freezing cold, wet conditions, for hours on end and shooting at children – is now no match for a determined, motivated opponent? Hugh Humphries Secretary Scottish Friends of Palestine ix Speakers Dr Salman Abu Sitta Founder and President of the Palestine Land Society, General Coordinator of the Right of Return Congress, member of the PNC, Chair of Welfare/UNRWA Committee on Refugees Omar Barghouti Independent researcher Mike Berry Researcher at Glasgow University Media Group, co-author of Bad News from Israel Prof Claudine Dauphin 1st Class Hons (Near-Eastern Archaeology ) + Ph D at Univ. Of Edinburgh, Doctorat d’Etat es-Lettres (Sorbonne), Hon Prof of Theology and Archaeology at University of Wales Alan Hart Former ITN and BBC Panorama reporter, author of the two volume ZIONISM the real enemy of the Jews Dr Sahar Huneidi Independent researcher, graduate of American University of Beirut in Political Science, Ph D from Manchester University (Middle Eastern Studies), Dip. in History of Art (Christies) Dr Ghada Karmi Academic and writer, Research Fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (University of Exeter), Vice-Chair of CAABU, author of In search of Fatima Dr Noha Tadros Khalaf Graduate of University of Cairo (Econ. & Political Science) and American University of Beirut (Political Studies), Ph D Institut National des Langues et des Civilisations Orientales (Paris), Head of Political Dept. & Director of European Division - PLO Leila Khaled Member of the Palestinian National Council Professor Mushtaq Khan Reader in Economics at School of Oriental and African Studies (Univ. of London), Author of State Formation in Palestine x Dr Ilan Pappe Senior lecturer Political Science, Chair, Emil Touma Inst for Palestinian Stud. (Haifa Univ.) Professor John Quigley President’s Club Professor in Law at Ohio State University Terry Rempel Research Fellow and Ph D candidate at University of Exeter, researcher and founding member of BADIL – Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights John Rose Author of The Myths of Zionism xi xii Contents Barghouti, Omar ……………………………………..….1 Berry, Mike ……………………………………….19 Dauphin, Claudine ……………………………………….35 Hart, Alan ……………………………………….67 Huneidi, Sahar ……………………………………….73 Khalaf, Noha ……………………………………….87 Khaled, Leila ……………………………………….97 Khan, Mushtaq …………………………………..….101 Pappe, Ilan …………………………………..….119 Quigley, John ……………………………………...125 Rempel, Terry ……………………………………..159 Rose, John ……………………………………..191 Abu Sitta, Salman ……………………………………..205 xiii xiv A Secular, Democratic State in Historic Palestine Overturning Balfour’s Legacy of Relative Humanity Omar Barghouti There is a huge gap between us (Jews) and our enemies, not just in ability but in morality, culture, sanctity of life, and conscience. They are our neighbours here, but it seems as if at a distance of a few hundred metres away, there are people who do not belong to our continent, to our world, but actually belong to a different galaxy. Moshe Katsav, Israel’s President1 INTRODUCTION More than a century and a half ago Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Tell- Tale Heart,” in which a young man decides to kill a kind old man who “never wronged” him simply because “he had the eye of a vulture.” Whenever he looked at the eye, his “blood ran cold,” as it “chilled the very marrow” in his bones. But in order to kill the old man, he had to shine a ray of light on his “pale blue eye” alone in the otherwise complete darkness, so as not to see anything else “of the man’s face or person.” If he saw the human in him, he could not hurt him. When he was about to commit the murder, he heard “a low, dull, quick sound”; it was the “beating of the [terrified] old man’s heart.” It only increased his fury, “as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.” After suffocating the old man, he dismembered his corpse and carefully concealed the parts under the floor planks. The old man’s last shriek before dying, however, alarmed the neighbours, who called the police. Upon their arrival, the young man received them with confidence, even inviting them to search the old man’s room, bringing chairs for them, and “in the wild audacity of [his] perfect triumph, [he] placed [his] own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.” He began to hear a ringing sound, which grew in intensity despite all his attempts to speak louder to cover it up.