Calling For Any Apology Action on Balfour
Balfour Declaration is a day that will be written for ever in the history of Palestine and its people. In November the 2nd each year we remember this black day. This year is 93rd anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. We shall remember it with actions not only words.We shall not forget the suffering and pain resulting as a consequence in this tragic event. Balfour Declaration is an event that caused the dispossession and killing of Palestinians till now. Successive British governments have neither apologized nor pressured for a genuine solution for the Palestinian cause.
We, the Palestinian Return Centre, Palestinian Community in the UK and Palestinian Forum in Britain; started this petition initiative to push current British government to recognize its historical failure in Palestine.
It is also to urge the government to play a more active role in promoting justice and human rights. Additionally, we are calling for an apology and to defend the rights and properties of British Palestinians. Anyone over the age of sixteen and, is British of Palestinian origin is encouraged to complete the petition. In order to receive a written response from the Prime Minster we need at least 1000 signatures so please encourage your family and friends to sign the petition.
Letter to British Premier, David Cameron,
To the Right Honourable David Cameron MP
Dear Prime Minister,
We the undersigned British of Palestinian origin appeal to HM Government, in recognition of its historical role in the ongoing plight of Palestinians, to take historic steps in ending it.
November the 2nd will mark the 93rd anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. This declaration is the main symbol of Britain’s failed policy in Palestine. The turbulent effects of this failure still remain with us and Palestinians more than any other have been the victims. For decades Palestinians have suffered from endless wars, experienced massacres and were forced to flee from their land.
The real tragedy Mr. Cameron is not that Palestinians are suffering, it is that they have suffered for so long, even though the moral and legal weight have been on their side right from the beginning, and the international community have failed miserably to correct the historical injustice. The right of Palestinians to return to their lands is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, The International Convention on Civil and Political Rights. Right of return is guaranteed under Humanitarian and Human Rights Law and including countless UN resolutions.
Palestinian rights were further reinforced, In July 2004, by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), when the ICJ was tasked by the UN General Assembly to issue an advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences of Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This was an unprecedented moral and legal victory for the Palestinian cause. However, six years on, instead of finding a more chastened Israel we find a more hostile Israel, demonstrating impunity for international law and displaying yet more aggression against the Palestinians.
Mr. Cameron we are not calling on HM Government to side with the Palestinians but to side with the moral and legal positions that are unequivocally made by the highest judicial body in the world and countless human rights organisations. This is the least any citizen can demand from their government that is committed to law, justice and human rights.
We greatly appreciate your stance on Gaza and the Flotilla. And we were very encouraged by many of your MPs who also held a very strong moral and legal position following the attack on the flotilla. Your coalition partners, including the Deputy Prime Minster Nick Clegg, have written and voiced their concern over Israel’s deep hostility towards the Palestinians. Not only is it immoral and illegal it is also dangerous for the region, the international community and of course Britain.
We need a new politics for our foreign affairs, a new politics that leans towards greater justice and human rights. This coalition government has an opportunity to start that. Mr. Cameron the long arc of history may still judge the British position favourably; In Palestine our story could be a tale of redemption and reconciliation and not just as a flawed and duplicitous imperialist. The words you speak and the position you take from now can turn a new page in Britain’s role in Palestine. The next four years in office is an opportunity for you to remake this history and reposition Britain as a voice for justice, peace and human rights in the region.
History will judge Britain favourably in the region only when Britain plays a major part in ending the suffering of Palestinians. This can only begin when Britain apologises for its role in this affair and becomes visibly active in undoing the injustices of the past six decades. A courageous step will be made when our Prime Minster defends the rights and properties of British citizens who fled violence and persecution in Palestine. These citizens still hold deeds to their land in Palestine but still they have been denied their right to return to their land and reclaim their home from which they were expelled.
The petition prepared by:
The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC)
Palestinian Forum in Britain
Palestinian Community in the UK
In October 1914, The Ottoman Empire Initiated Hostilities Against The Allies, And When The Ottoman Empire Lost The War Their Territories In The Levant Were Mandated By The League Of Nations To Great Britain And France. Both Great Britain And France Ensured That All Religions In The Levant Would Have National Homelands. The Muslim Arabs Were Initially Given Iraq And What Is Today Called Syria, Then Transjordan Was Added, Which was Taken From The Jewish National Homeland As Originally Stipulated In The San Remo Conference, And Given To Saudi Hashemites (Not Indigenous 'Palestinians'). The Christians Were Given The Newly Created Lebanon, And The Jews Were Given What Is Today Israel, Jordan, Gaza And The West Bank. Months After The San Remo Conference Was Concluded, Eastern Palestine (Jordan) Was Taken From The Jews And Given To Hashemites From Saudi Arabia.
ReplyDeleteThe Term Palestine Is A Western Term Going Back To The Ancient Romans To Describe The Territory Consisting Of Today's Israel, West Bank, Gaza And Jordan. Palestine Translates To 'Land Of The Philistines'. The Ottoman Empire Took The Roman Name And Called The Territory Filistin. The Area Of Palestine Isn't Even An Administrative Entity Of The Ottoman Empire, For Palestine Overlapped Several Administrative Subdivisions of Ottoman Syria. A Good Example Of Another Non-Administrative Territorial Name That Overlaps Many Legal Boundaries Would Be That Of New England In The United States. Before And Immediately After World War I, A So-Called Palestinian Would Call Himself A Muslim, An Arab, A Jew, A Christian, A Druze, Or A Syrian. There Were No Persons Who Described Themselves As 'Palestinian'. As Such, The Mandate Powers Of Great Britain And France Created States For Jews (Israel), The Christians (Lebanon) And The Muslim Arabs (Jordan, Iraq And Syria). There Was No Need To Create A Palestinian State, Because There Was No Ethnic Palestinian Identity.
It Should Be Pointed Out That The Province Within Which The Levant Existed Under The Ottoman Empire Was Called Syria. Syria Today Is But A Small Portion Of The Syria That Existed Before The Fall Of The Ottoman Empire. Lebanon Was A Part Of Ottoman Syria (The Bottom Half Of Today's Lebanon Was Also A Part Of Ottoman Palestine, But No Palestinian Liberation Group Has Ever Claimed Southern Lebanon.), But There Are No Groups Demanding A Return Of Lebanon To Syria (Or A Return Of Jordan, Israel, And Portions Of Iraq And Iran Back To Syria For That Matter).
The Balfour Declaration is moot on the point of providing native Ottoman Syrian Jews a homeland in Ottoman Syria once the Ottoman Empire lost the war. The British and French provided national homelands for all native religions in Ottoman Syria, so why not native Jews?
For those of you who forgot, Turkey occupied northern Cyprus on 1974. I don’t see Muslims demonstrating over Turkey’s occupation of northern Cyprus.
The fact that the Progressive movement is silent on Cyprus, only caring to criticize Israel, is proof that the Progressive movement has allowed itself to be manipulated. Shame on Progressives!