Britain has much to apologise for the Palestinians

By: IBRAHIM Jaafar

Britain’s colonial past has left its mark in many parts of the world. But most of the people it ruled gained their independence after Britain left - except for the Palestinians.

Instead, Britain promised Palestinian homeland to the Zionist movement through the 1917 Balfour Declaration, even before its occupation of historic Palestine. Britain did so without consulting them, indeed, against their will. But to this day, Britain refuses to apologise for its role in the ongoing predicament of Palestinians.

The declaration did not even recognise that at the time, “non-Jewish communities” made up around 90 percent of the population. Britain saw the indigenous Palestinians as unworthy of the same rights as Jews who had yet to arrive.

When Britain left Palestine in 1948, it was not the indigenous people of the land, Palestinian Arabs, who announced their independence, but rather foreigners who had taken the land through terror and the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians into neighbouring countries.

While Israel was created on far more of the land ( 78 percent) than even the overly generous UN Partition Plan allocated to Jews, it now controls the whole of historic Palestine after its occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza in 1967 and its expansionist policies. It controls all points of entry and exit, and has ushered in more than 700,000 settlers to the occupied territories, through what many believe are a series of war crimes.

Palestinians thought the centenary of the Balfour Declaration would be an opportunity for Britain to atone for its sin and apologise to Palestinians for promising their land away, while not helping them to attain their rights - but Britain was in no mood to apologise.

Speaking at a Conservative Friends of Israel luncheon prior to the centenary, British Prime Minster Theresa May said it was “an anniversary we will be marking with pride”.

Britain wants to see Israel thrive and will do what it can to protect it from accountability in international forums, including the UN Human Rights Council. The most it will do is criticise Israel’s policies, but take no meaningful action to pressure it, as seen through its statements on settlements.

Not only did Britain abandon Palestinians to face the terror of Zionism in 1948, it continues to befriend the state that oppresses them, which has declared itself an apartheid state through its policies and the passing of the nation-state law.

Britain has a lot to apologise for when it comes to the Palestinian people - but it is also time it acted to pressure its “friend and ally” into ending its criminal rule over Palestinians.