9 mar 2017
Britain’s royal family might accept an official invitation to visit Israel to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, in a first visit of its kind since establishment of Israel, the Times reported, according to Al Ray.
Reuven Rivlin, the Israeli president, extended the invitation during a meeting with Boris Johnson in Jerusalem on Wednesday, noting that 2017 marked the centenary of the Balfour Declaration backing the establishment of a Jewish homeland.
“This is a very important year in the history of the relations between Israel and the United Kingdom,” Rivlin said. “We will mark 100 years since the Balfour Declaration and I am greatly honoured to extend an official invitation to the royal family to visit Israel to mark this event.
According to the paper, it is expected that the royal family wiil accept the invitation, this time. Such visits are usually done upon recommendations of Britain’s foreign ministry.
On November 2, 1917, Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour writes a letter to Britain’s most illustrious Jewish citizen, Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild, expressing the British government’s support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Reuven Rivlin, the Israeli president, extended the invitation during a meeting with Boris Johnson in Jerusalem on Wednesday, noting that 2017 marked the centenary of the Balfour Declaration backing the establishment of a Jewish homeland.
“This is a very important year in the history of the relations between Israel and the United Kingdom,” Rivlin said. “We will mark 100 years since the Balfour Declaration and I am greatly honoured to extend an official invitation to the royal family to visit Israel to mark this event.
According to the paper, it is expected that the royal family wiil accept the invitation, this time. Such visits are usually done upon recommendations of Britain’s foreign ministry.
On November 2, 1917, Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour writes a letter to Britain’s most illustrious Jewish citizen, Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild, expressing the British government’s support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
19 feb 2017
After 100 years, Britain seems to be at the same moral stage as it was when UK Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote to a leader of the British Jewish community, Baron Rothschild, promising the establishment of a “national home” for the Jewish people in Palestine.
Instead of making redress and creating historical transformations, social developments and repairs to the Palestinians, the British prime minister is inviting the Israeli prime minister to a celebration to mark the centile anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. This celebration is triggering the historical trauma that has left significant scars on Palestinian collective memory over a century of displacement and military domination that has deprived Palestinians politically and culturally and treated them as problematic and inferior beings.
Britain is also responsible for imposing massive Jewish immigration in Palestine and allowing them to have arms and tanks, while crushing the Palestinians who were aspiring for their independence after 30 years of mandate. The violence and defeat that was brought upon the Palestinian people, was facilitated and arranged by Britain. The effects of which didn’t only harm the immediate people of that generation who were killed or displaced and whose property was stolen; but all members of our society, and multiple generations that followed shoulder the burden of the historical trauma of stealing Palestinian land that changed Palestinians’ past and future.
Now, with the US’ unprecedented financial and political support and world’s powers’ silence or collusion with the occupation and the international acclaim for its criminals (the funeral of Shimon Peres as an example), Palestinians realise that we live in a world where bullying prevails over reason, and hegemony over ethics. Israel is imposing its discourse with power and steps over Palestinians’ bodies, feelings and social organisation with arms.
Racist Laws
Last year, Israel issued five racist laws: the “Expulsion Law”, which stipulates that a Member of Knesset can be expelled from the parliament through a majority vote of 90 legislators, a law that is aimed at the minority Arab Knesset members.
Another about “incitement” which incriminates political views and aims to confiscate the right to expression and the vote for the Knesset for those who utter opposition against the occupation, or oppose the character of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; the third is “the NGO’s bill” which targets human rights organisations and mandates special reporting requirements for nongovernmental organisations that get most of their funding from foreign governments; the fourth, and probably the worst, is the “Regulation Law” which will eventually allow for the annexation of 60 per cent of the West Bank land to Israeli settlers , and just recently, the “Muezzin law” which muffles the Muslim character of our land by banning the use of speakers to make the call for prayer (calling it “pollution”) in the mosques of Jerusalem and Arab towns of 1948.
‘Trauma is the Disaster of Helplessness’
While Israel creates a fait accompli and is spreading geographically and demographically at the expense of Palestinians, Palestinian leaders are making empty condemnations; in fact the Palestinian leadership is coexisting with the settlements in reality, and rivals them only in media. When Palestinian leaders complain of settlements but stay remain gatekeepers of settlements and passive recipients of colonial domination of the occupation, supposed friends of Palestine can only think “you deserve what you get”.
Blaming the Victim
Victim-blaming makes it harder for the abused to protest and remind the world of the trauma. The world blames the occupied Palestinians for their ill fate and for disturbing the peace of the occupation whenever we make any efforts to stand up to Israel. They reinforce the occupation’s narrative that it is the Palestinian’s fault that the occupation is happening, absolving the occupation of its responsibility or accountability for its actions, and allowing Israel to repeat and replicate the atrocities it perpetrated to displace Palestinians from their homes and towns.
But, like a cunning abuser, Israel uses tactics to maintain a good public appearance; recently, for example, it announced accepting 100 Syrian orphans to reside in occupied Palestine, while denying Palestinians the right to return and making hundreds of Palestinians orphans. In the outpost of “Amona”, Israel broadcast dramatic scenes to the world, showing Israel as a state of law, which expels settlers out of private Palestinian land only to hide the law that allows the theft of private Palestinian lands that was issued a few days later.
Even Arab powers of today blame the occupied Palestinians for confronting the occupation; but that is an impotent strategy to distance themselves from a potential fate like that of the Palestinians, this gives a false feeling that if they ally with the perpetrators, occupation will never happen to them; but look at Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen to see the failure of such a strategy. The arbitrary propaganda that “Palestinians sold Palestine to Israel” which is gaining popularity in Egyptian media is an evidence of blaming the victim attitude and siding with the perpetrators. Labelling and accusing the Palestinians, these powers hopelessly try to make Arab people see us different from themselves.
Denial is an Obstacle to Peace
When the historical trauma of the Palestinians is utterly nullified, it makes it impossible to be discussed and mourned and expressed symbolically, thus, preventing repair and increasing its potential to be acted out.
The Balfour celebration represents a denial of the harm done to Palestinians and fails to acknowledge the existence of trauma and human suffering or take moral responsibility for it; Britain has no shame for its imperialist history that included undermining Palestinians. It continues to behave in a hegemonic way considering the Israelis as culturally and racially superior to Palestinians. If the very existence of traumatic occupation is denied, responsibility remorse and solidarity are repudiated, full immunity for Israel’s violations continue to be granted, the suffering of Palestinians can hardly be acknowledged, let alone healed.
The occupation always hoped to break Palestinian collective consciousness through massacres and wars and maintaining the pain which is fresh in our memory. Nowadays, General Yoav Galant, the minister of housing, and the former commander of the southern region, who ran the war in 2008 speaks of “a fourth war next spring”.
On Israeli radio, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that if the government decided to fight a new war, this confrontation must end with a great Israeli victory and crush the Palestinian resistance in Gaza forever. But, in fact, it is not the resistance’s preparations that Israel should fear the most, but the desensitisation and the declining levels of fear among the citizens as a result of repeated strikes and shocks and losses that affected most people there.
Acknowledgment, rather than denial, is capable of humanising all those involved, cultivating empathy, trust and paving the way for healing history and reconciling and building peace. Urging Israel to stop its colonial policies, rather than celebrating the theft of Palestinians’ land, is an important domain of trauma intervention and peace making.
The history will not be written by the powerful alone no matter how irresistible Israel and its allies seem to be; a few Palestinians will not be silenced in front of the dreadful occupation of Palestine. We will voice our historical testimony and tell our narrative to make sense of the senseless grievances of colonialism; anti-oppression activism is our remedy against political trauma and; it will heal us as individuals and help us to heal the injured history of our homeland.
– Samah Jabr is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist in Jerusalem, who cares about the wellbeing of her community, beyond issues of mental illness. She writes regularly on mental health in occupied Palestine. She contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. (This article was first published in MEMO.)
Instead of making redress and creating historical transformations, social developments and repairs to the Palestinians, the British prime minister is inviting the Israeli prime minister to a celebration to mark the centile anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. This celebration is triggering the historical trauma that has left significant scars on Palestinian collective memory over a century of displacement and military domination that has deprived Palestinians politically and culturally and treated them as problematic and inferior beings.
Britain is also responsible for imposing massive Jewish immigration in Palestine and allowing them to have arms and tanks, while crushing the Palestinians who were aspiring for their independence after 30 years of mandate. The violence and defeat that was brought upon the Palestinian people, was facilitated and arranged by Britain. The effects of which didn’t only harm the immediate people of that generation who were killed or displaced and whose property was stolen; but all members of our society, and multiple generations that followed shoulder the burden of the historical trauma of stealing Palestinian land that changed Palestinians’ past and future.
Now, with the US’ unprecedented financial and political support and world’s powers’ silence or collusion with the occupation and the international acclaim for its criminals (the funeral of Shimon Peres as an example), Palestinians realise that we live in a world where bullying prevails over reason, and hegemony over ethics. Israel is imposing its discourse with power and steps over Palestinians’ bodies, feelings and social organisation with arms.
Racist Laws
Last year, Israel issued five racist laws: the “Expulsion Law”, which stipulates that a Member of Knesset can be expelled from the parliament through a majority vote of 90 legislators, a law that is aimed at the minority Arab Knesset members.
Another about “incitement” which incriminates political views and aims to confiscate the right to expression and the vote for the Knesset for those who utter opposition against the occupation, or oppose the character of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; the third is “the NGO’s bill” which targets human rights organisations and mandates special reporting requirements for nongovernmental organisations that get most of their funding from foreign governments; the fourth, and probably the worst, is the “Regulation Law” which will eventually allow for the annexation of 60 per cent of the West Bank land to Israeli settlers , and just recently, the “Muezzin law” which muffles the Muslim character of our land by banning the use of speakers to make the call for prayer (calling it “pollution”) in the mosques of Jerusalem and Arab towns of 1948.
‘Trauma is the Disaster of Helplessness’
While Israel creates a fait accompli and is spreading geographically and demographically at the expense of Palestinians, Palestinian leaders are making empty condemnations; in fact the Palestinian leadership is coexisting with the settlements in reality, and rivals them only in media. When Palestinian leaders complain of settlements but stay remain gatekeepers of settlements and passive recipients of colonial domination of the occupation, supposed friends of Palestine can only think “you deserve what you get”.
Blaming the Victim
Victim-blaming makes it harder for the abused to protest and remind the world of the trauma. The world blames the occupied Palestinians for their ill fate and for disturbing the peace of the occupation whenever we make any efforts to stand up to Israel. They reinforce the occupation’s narrative that it is the Palestinian’s fault that the occupation is happening, absolving the occupation of its responsibility or accountability for its actions, and allowing Israel to repeat and replicate the atrocities it perpetrated to displace Palestinians from their homes and towns.
But, like a cunning abuser, Israel uses tactics to maintain a good public appearance; recently, for example, it announced accepting 100 Syrian orphans to reside in occupied Palestine, while denying Palestinians the right to return and making hundreds of Palestinians orphans. In the outpost of “Amona”, Israel broadcast dramatic scenes to the world, showing Israel as a state of law, which expels settlers out of private Palestinian land only to hide the law that allows the theft of private Palestinian lands that was issued a few days later.
Even Arab powers of today blame the occupied Palestinians for confronting the occupation; but that is an impotent strategy to distance themselves from a potential fate like that of the Palestinians, this gives a false feeling that if they ally with the perpetrators, occupation will never happen to them; but look at Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen to see the failure of such a strategy. The arbitrary propaganda that “Palestinians sold Palestine to Israel” which is gaining popularity in Egyptian media is an evidence of blaming the victim attitude and siding with the perpetrators. Labelling and accusing the Palestinians, these powers hopelessly try to make Arab people see us different from themselves.
Denial is an Obstacle to Peace
When the historical trauma of the Palestinians is utterly nullified, it makes it impossible to be discussed and mourned and expressed symbolically, thus, preventing repair and increasing its potential to be acted out.
The Balfour celebration represents a denial of the harm done to Palestinians and fails to acknowledge the existence of trauma and human suffering or take moral responsibility for it; Britain has no shame for its imperialist history that included undermining Palestinians. It continues to behave in a hegemonic way considering the Israelis as culturally and racially superior to Palestinians. If the very existence of traumatic occupation is denied, responsibility remorse and solidarity are repudiated, full immunity for Israel’s violations continue to be granted, the suffering of Palestinians can hardly be acknowledged, let alone healed.
The occupation always hoped to break Palestinian collective consciousness through massacres and wars and maintaining the pain which is fresh in our memory. Nowadays, General Yoav Galant, the minister of housing, and the former commander of the southern region, who ran the war in 2008 speaks of “a fourth war next spring”.
On Israeli radio, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that if the government decided to fight a new war, this confrontation must end with a great Israeli victory and crush the Palestinian resistance in Gaza forever. But, in fact, it is not the resistance’s preparations that Israel should fear the most, but the desensitisation and the declining levels of fear among the citizens as a result of repeated strikes and shocks and losses that affected most people there.
Acknowledgment, rather than denial, is capable of humanising all those involved, cultivating empathy, trust and paving the way for healing history and reconciling and building peace. Urging Israel to stop its colonial policies, rather than celebrating the theft of Palestinians’ land, is an important domain of trauma intervention and peace making.
The history will not be written by the powerful alone no matter how irresistible Israel and its allies seem to be; a few Palestinians will not be silenced in front of the dreadful occupation of Palestine. We will voice our historical testimony and tell our narrative to make sense of the senseless grievances of colonialism; anti-oppression activism is our remedy against political trauma and; it will heal us as individuals and help us to heal the injured history of our homeland.
– Samah Jabr is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist in Jerusalem, who cares about the wellbeing of her community, beyond issues of mental illness. She writes regularly on mental health in occupied Palestine. She contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. (This article was first published in MEMO.)
8 feb 2017
By Christof Lehmann (nsnbc)
Nabil Abu Rodeina said Britain is responsible for the disaster that befell the Palestinian people a hundred years ago. “Instead of correcting the historic mistake and recognizing the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, it is preparing to celebrate an incident considered by the Arab world and the international community as a tragic reason that the Palestinian people and the Arab region is paying for,” he added.
Abu Rodeina urged the British government to “correct this mistake” in order to maintain security and stability in the region.
On Monday, British Prime Minister Theresa May informed her Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu that Britain and Israel will jointly celebrate the centennial of the Balfour Declaration. May added, however, the Britain is committed to a two-state-solution.
The Balfour Declaration (November, 02, 1917) is one of the most controversial historic documents pertaining the Middle East. The Balfour Declaration confirmed the British support for the establishment of a “national home” for the Jewish people in Palestine.
It was signed after three years of negotiations between the British government, leading members of Britain’s Jewish minority community and the World Zionist Organization before it was signed by Arthur Balfour.
The letter was presented to then U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who approved its content before publishing it. It was also approved by France and Italy officially in 1918, then publicly adopted by Wilson in 1919. In 1920, it was adopted by the San Remo Conference that was held in the aftermath of World War I and the declaration was incorporated in the British Mandate.
The Balfour Declaration was negotiated within the context of World War I, parallel to agreements with Arab leaders who were promised “national independence” from the Ottoman Empire if they joined the war against the axis powers.
The declaration is, in other words, a historic companion of the Sykes – Picot agreement and other “deals” that were made between allied powers, Jewish communities and Arab leaders.The Balfour Declaration “apportioned” a part of the “spoils of war” to Zionists. It is today widely recognized by historians that the declaration had two primary utilities. The Zionists would achieve British support for the establishment of a Jewish State in the Middle East. Britain, for its part, was assured that Zionists would join the war effort against the axis powers and draw the United States into the war.
Ironically, this historic context is widely omitted. Proponents say the declaration helped establish a “Jewish Home”. That said, even many of the Jews who were living within the boundaries of the British Mandate opposed the massive influx of new settlers from war-torn Europe. Local Arab Palestinians denounced the declaration but forgot to mention that “Palestinian Nationalism” previously was subdued by Ottoman Imperialism.
An objective historic and political assessment of the Balfour Declaration and its historic companion, the Sykes – Picot agreement would be that both are testament to the fact that people lacked and still lack the right to self-determination in the face of imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, the cold war and post-cold war world included. People and their sovereignty don’t count when major empires or alliances clash.
No atrocities are too horrendous, no bigotry is too embarrassing, no deviance from decency and moral norms is to gross and unpalatable, no double crossings are avoided, no blood is spared, no sanctity of life including that of children is to be taken into account, no cries are heard in any other form than the muffled and misrepresentative propaganda cries in flavors depending on allegiance, not on journalistic integrity, and people still die in the millions when “alliances” play geopolitics.
Nothing of that has changed over the last 100 years; and the few who are cognizant about this fact and take action to change the status quo are denounced as unpatriotic, anti-Semitic, radicals, dissidents, conspiracy theorists, conveyors of fake news, propagandists, revisionists, terrorists, mentally ill nut cases not to be taken serious; while the Orwellian machine continues to devour life and dignity to produce power for the few. That is the true legacy of the Balfour Declaration – Happy Birthday London.
Nabil Abu Rodeina said Britain is responsible for the disaster that befell the Palestinian people a hundred years ago. “Instead of correcting the historic mistake and recognizing the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, it is preparing to celebrate an incident considered by the Arab world and the international community as a tragic reason that the Palestinian people and the Arab region is paying for,” he added.
Abu Rodeina urged the British government to “correct this mistake” in order to maintain security and stability in the region.
On Monday, British Prime Minister Theresa May informed her Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu that Britain and Israel will jointly celebrate the centennial of the Balfour Declaration. May added, however, the Britain is committed to a two-state-solution.
The Balfour Declaration (November, 02, 1917) is one of the most controversial historic documents pertaining the Middle East. The Balfour Declaration confirmed the British support for the establishment of a “national home” for the Jewish people in Palestine.
It was signed after three years of negotiations between the British government, leading members of Britain’s Jewish minority community and the World Zionist Organization before it was signed by Arthur Balfour.
The letter was presented to then U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who approved its content before publishing it. It was also approved by France and Italy officially in 1918, then publicly adopted by Wilson in 1919. In 1920, it was adopted by the San Remo Conference that was held in the aftermath of World War I and the declaration was incorporated in the British Mandate.
The Balfour Declaration was negotiated within the context of World War I, parallel to agreements with Arab leaders who were promised “national independence” from the Ottoman Empire if they joined the war against the axis powers.
The declaration is, in other words, a historic companion of the Sykes – Picot agreement and other “deals” that were made between allied powers, Jewish communities and Arab leaders.The Balfour Declaration “apportioned” a part of the “spoils of war” to Zionists. It is today widely recognized by historians that the declaration had two primary utilities. The Zionists would achieve British support for the establishment of a Jewish State in the Middle East. Britain, for its part, was assured that Zionists would join the war effort against the axis powers and draw the United States into the war.
Ironically, this historic context is widely omitted. Proponents say the declaration helped establish a “Jewish Home”. That said, even many of the Jews who were living within the boundaries of the British Mandate opposed the massive influx of new settlers from war-torn Europe. Local Arab Palestinians denounced the declaration but forgot to mention that “Palestinian Nationalism” previously was subdued by Ottoman Imperialism.
An objective historic and political assessment of the Balfour Declaration and its historic companion, the Sykes – Picot agreement would be that both are testament to the fact that people lacked and still lack the right to self-determination in the face of imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, the cold war and post-cold war world included. People and their sovereignty don’t count when major empires or alliances clash.
No atrocities are too horrendous, no bigotry is too embarrassing, no deviance from decency and moral norms is to gross and unpalatable, no double crossings are avoided, no blood is spared, no sanctity of life including that of children is to be taken into account, no cries are heard in any other form than the muffled and misrepresentative propaganda cries in flavors depending on allegiance, not on journalistic integrity, and people still die in the millions when “alliances” play geopolitics.
Nothing of that has changed over the last 100 years; and the few who are cognizant about this fact and take action to change the status quo are denounced as unpatriotic, anti-Semitic, radicals, dissidents, conspiracy theorists, conveyors of fake news, propagandists, revisionists, terrorists, mentally ill nut cases not to be taken serious; while the Orwellian machine continues to devour life and dignity to produce power for the few. That is the true legacy of the Balfour Declaration – Happy Birthday London.
6 jan 2017
A number of pro-Palestinian Chilean MPs are preparing for an international campaign starting from the Chilean capital, Santiago that calls on the United Kingdom to apologize to the Palestinian people for the Balfour Declaration, which paved the way for the establishment of Israel on the land of Palestine in 1948.
Chilean deputies from the parliament affirmed that the vast majority of the political spectrum in Chile advocates the Palestinian cause.
The deputy of the Christian Democratic party, Fuad Shahin, said in an interview with the Quds Press news agency that half of the deputies of the Chilean parliament support the Palestinian issue and back the UN anti-settlement resolution. They also push to stop importing goods form the Israeli settlements, and expedite the approval of the two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 territories.
George Sbakh, MP of the Christian Democratic party, told the Quds Press that the supporters of Palestine are not only in the parliament, but also in all Chilean official institutions, and they don't face major challenges since supporting Palestine is common among Chilean people. Besides, pro-Israel activists in the Chilean parliament and government don't pose any danger, he added.
A number of pro-Palestinian Chilean MPs received on Thursday a delegate of Palestinian notables in Europe accompanied by Palestinian journalists. Their visit to Chile comes as a part of activities seeking to shed light on the Palestinians of Chile who make up the largest percentage of Palestinian refugees in Latin American countries.
A group of Chilean MPs are preparing to launch a campaign demanding Britain to apologize to the Palestinian people for the Balfour Declaration on its centennial anniversary. They are also working to unify the endeavors of the pro-Palestinian parliamentarians in Latin America.
Chilean deputies from the parliament affirmed that the vast majority of the political spectrum in Chile advocates the Palestinian cause.
The deputy of the Christian Democratic party, Fuad Shahin, said in an interview with the Quds Press news agency that half of the deputies of the Chilean parliament support the Palestinian issue and back the UN anti-settlement resolution. They also push to stop importing goods form the Israeli settlements, and expedite the approval of the two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 territories.
George Sbakh, MP of the Christian Democratic party, told the Quds Press that the supporters of Palestine are not only in the parliament, but also in all Chilean official institutions, and they don't face major challenges since supporting Palestine is common among Chilean people. Besides, pro-Israel activists in the Chilean parliament and government don't pose any danger, he added.
A number of pro-Palestinian Chilean MPs received on Thursday a delegate of Palestinian notables in Europe accompanied by Palestinian journalists. Their visit to Chile comes as a part of activities seeking to shed light on the Palestinians of Chile who make up the largest percentage of Palestinian refugees in Latin American countries.
A group of Chilean MPs are preparing to launch a campaign demanding Britain to apologize to the Palestinian people for the Balfour Declaration on its centennial anniversary. They are also working to unify the endeavors of the pro-Palestinian parliamentarians in Latin America.
