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1905 Alien act an anti-semitic law : The antisemitic British Government under Premier Balfour limited the number of Jews coming to Britain. Jews were fleeing persecution from Eastern Europe.  For the next forty three years British  policymakers ,using the Alien Act , limited  the number of Jews emigrating to Britain . Instead between 1917 and 1939 they promoted Palestine as the place to which to flee.

Britain promised all Arabs an independent Arab state in 1915 ahead of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in WW1. It then betrayed that promise by  1) in 1916  agreeing colonisation plans with France for  the whole Arab area. and 2)   1917 The British Cabinet agreeing and Balfour  declaring Palestine the homeland of the Jews

At this time 95% of Palestine was Muslim & Christian and 5% Jewish and was governed by a local administration within the Ottoman empire.

This is the origin of a long lasting conflict  in Palestine and was entirely predictable. It set two peoples  in conflict with one another over the same land and one homeland.

Britain instead of providing a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution and death , denied refuge to them and told them to go Palestine instead where they would be sovereign over another people.

Britain instead of freeing Palestinians from occupation took by force the ownership and sovereignty of their country from the indigenous Palestinians and gave it to another people.

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1918-1949 : What followed and what were the consequences:

From 1918 on Britain occupied Palestine and continuously refused the pleas and demands from the indigenous Palestinians for freedom, independence and democracy . Meanwhile large scale emigration of Jews to Palestine took place.

In 1937 a British commission set out a proposal to partition Palestine which would include the forcible removal of Palestinians to make way for a Jewish state. This proposal was never adopted but Ben Gurion, Zionist leader wrote: "The compulsory transfer of the Arabs from the valleys of the proposed Jewish state could give us something which we have never had. This is a national consolidation in a free homeland..

In May 1939 the British Cabinet rejected the partition proposal of 1937 and it and Parliament agreed a plan for an independent Palestine by 1949 governed by Palestinian Arabs and Jews in proportion to their numbers in the population This was not fulfilled. The partition plan was favoured by the Jewish leaders and the unitary state by the Palestinians.

1939-1945 Jewish Holocaust Before and during the Holocaust British Goverments continued to limit Jewish access to a safe haven in Britain despite the desperate need of Jews to escape systematic annihilation.

In Feb 1947 British Policymakers wanted out of Palestine and  handed the issue over  to be resolved by the UN . In n Nov 1947 The UN General assembly adopted Resolution 181 on the partition of Palestine.  Though Jews owned 6% of the land in Palestine the Jewish state would be 55% of the area. It would  include 400 Palestinian villages. Palestinians would be 40% of the population within the Jewish state . The Zionist leadership accepted the proposal but Ben-Gurion its leader  said on Dec 3rd 1947   'only a state of 80% Jews is a viable and stable state' .  The Plalestinians wanted a unitary state - no partition.

Between Dec 1947- May 15th 1948 when the occupation ended, Britains policymakers opted out of responsibility about what was happening in Palestine. British forces with 75,000 personnel were  stood aside and did not protect the civilian populations over which Britain still ruled. Britain failed to  prevent Zionist forces expelling Palestinian populations from the proposed Jewish state. 

Before Britain had left Zionist forces had driven out  250,000 Palestinians and emptied  of their Palestinian populations 200 villages and the cities/ towns  of Haifa, Jaffa , Tiberias and Western Jerusalem.

The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians (what Palestinians called the Nakba-Catastrophe ) was nearly half way through by the time Britain had left. The ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians is the root cause of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict but as Ilan Pappe says it has been wiped off the history books and not mentioned as the context for what is happening today.

Britain is responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. It did everything that had led up to it and stood aside as it happened..

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Modern times:1973-2010 :

During these years Israel built an apartheid "matrix of control" (Israeli Committe on House Demolitions article) in the West Bank ( bantustans) and Gaza (an outright prison). The Israel state, starting in 1973 ,  day by day created settlements some small, some as large as cities and placed its own Jewish citizens there in a separate, privileged and dominant position.. Its army continuously robbed the Palestinian farmers and communities of their land. It created highways (for Jewish settlers only), infrastructure, walls , gates, military installations , watchtowers and armed checkpoints to separate and control the Palestinians. It has governed the Palestinians for over 40 years through hostile martial law and not civil law and not human rights law.. ( International Human Rights )

New Labour Government 1997-2010

New Labour policy makers like previous administrations

did not acknowledge Britains role in the origin of the conflict nor its failure to prevent the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians .

failed to correct a false version of events in 1948 created by Zionists then and still in vogue today. This blamed the refugees for their own plight because as the Zionists said they had planned to exterminate the Jews of Israel.

did not  enable the return of the refugees and their families to their home, lands and community life nor use their knowledge to make the case for the legitimacy of their claims.

did nothing effectively either alone , working with their allies or through the EU or UN to stop the Israeli military juggernaut building Bantustans in the West Bank and a full prison in Gaza. (George Bush Snr 1992 did stop the building of settlements by withholding loan guarantees for $10 billion dollars from Israel).

supported President Bush Jnr endorsement of  Israel’s ownership of even more land on the West Bank for the largest Jewish settlements.

co-ordinated the coup that broght down the unity government of  Hamas / Fatah   

failed to condemn the bombing blitz of Gaza in which 1400 Palestinians died.

put very little pressure on Israel for Palestinian rights but instead promoted the peace process , negotiating with Israel , as the only way forward for the Palestinians. (See below: Comment by John Dugard UN Special Rapporter)

More New Labour ........

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John Dugard, South African Law Professor ,UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel. August 2004

"The situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) is characterized by serious violations of general international law, of human rights law and of international humanitarian law. It is not helpful to suggest that a solution can be found to the conflict in the region by ignoring norms of international law. A sustainable peace in the region must take place within the framework of international law and relevant resolutions of the United Nations."

"The situation for Palestinians in the West Bank, with closed zones, demolitions and preference given to settlers on roads, with building rights and by the army, Can it seriously be denied that the purpose of such action is to establish and maintain domination by one racial group (Jews) over another racial group (Palestinians) and systematically oppress them?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/23/israelandthepalestinians.unitednations