London - 2 November 2016 – Today marks the 99th anniversary since the signing of the infamous Balfour Declaration. The British government failed to protect the Palestinian people, which was a breach of its obligations under the Mandate.

Britain’s failure led to communal strife, violence and mass displacement of more than half of the Palestinian population before expiration of its Mandate. The Balfour declaration of 1917 clearly prejudiced the rights of Palestinian people and sealed their fate, leading to untold suffering. Since then, seven million Palestinian refugees, more than half the Palestinian population have had to endure this historic injustice, a blatant denial of their human rights.

We are very concerned that the British Government is planning to mark the centenary of Balfour Declaration. The centre therefore calls on the Government to help ending the plight of Palestinians instead of supporting the political agenda of Israel.

The constant bias of the conservative government towards Israel is dangerous and will only damage the reputation of Great Britain worldwide especially the Middle East.

The British government support of the right-wing Israeli government will only contribute to more human rights violations in occupied Palestine. Such official British support is against the very British values. 

Balfour Apology Campaign

To raise awareness about the importance to appropriately remember the Balfour Declaration and its damning consequence we have decided to launch the Balfour Apology Campaign (BAC). Our mission is to seek an official apology from the British government for issuing the Balfour Declaration. We believe that the British government’s recognition of its destructive colonial past is a necessary step towards achieving peace, justice and reconciliation.

Our Campaign supports a just resolution of the conflict based on the principles of international law where Palestinian refugees living in the Diaspora can enjoy there right of return and obtain their rights. This campaign is aimed at the British government to openly recognise its colonial past in Palestine and act accordingly.

A clear British recognition of the colonial history of Britain would contribute to finding a just and peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The British Government should acknowledge its obligation to apologise to the Palestinian people for failing to meet its obligations and to uphold Palestinian rights.

Thorough this Balfour Apology Campaign we also seek to inform the British public about the importance of the British government’s recognition of its mistakes and call on the British people to support us in bringing peace and justice to Palestine, thus bringing an end to a century of suffering.

We will be organizing many events throughout the UK in the coming year leading up to November 2017.  We will also have petition to urge the British Government to debate recognition in Parliament. We aim to impact all sections of society through working with politicians, MPs, media, NGOs, charities, students and members of the public to raise the profile of the campaign.

Check out the campaign's website for more info http://balfourcampaign.com/

For media enquiries contact us at: +44 (0) 2084530919 or info@prc.org.uk