It is time for a British Government to publicly acknowledge and take responsibility for what previous British administrations have done in Britain's name in Palestine and in the process contribute greatly to reconciliation between the peoples in Palestine and to justice for the Palestinians.

British policymakers have not publicly acknowledged Britain's responsibility for

the creation of an existential conflict between two peoples that has led to half of the Palestinians being expelled from their homes, communities and homeland in 1948 and the remainder occupied (1967 to now) , persecuted and robbed of their land.

its failure to prevent the ethnic cleansing (the Nakba) of the Palestinians the root of todays conflict.

the demonisation of the Palestinian population about what happened in 1948 and the deligitimisation of their rights that followed and persist to this day.

This British Government therefore will publicly acknowledge that previous administrations :

played a fundamental role in the origins of the conflict in Palestine, in the forceful denial of Palestinian sovereignty over their own people and land and in the creation of a situation of conflict between two peoples that continues to this day.

failed to prevent the brutal 'ethnic cleansing' of the Palestinian population from their homeland in 1948 , the root of today’s conflict.

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Avi Schlaim is an Israeli historian and professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and a fellow of the British Academy and is author of 'The Iron Wall'.

For the real roots of Britain's failure in Palestine one has to go back to the Balfour declaration of 1917, which promised a "national home" to the Jewish people on land that belonged to another people. This promise was plainly immoral given that the Jews constituted less than 10% of the population of Palestine at that time. It was also one of the most colossal blunders of British imperial history: the conflict it provoked between the Jewish and Palestinian national movements remains unresolved to this day.

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Ilan Pappé is an Israeli historian and professor of History at the University of Exeter . He is author of 'The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine'

Briain allowed the cleansing to take place , in front of the eyes of its soldiers and officials . It even prevented an organised UN outfit from being present on the ground which might have saved a number of Palestinians. Instead of preventing the expulsions it declared in April 1948 that it was no longer responsible for law and order. Indeed the British had avoided any serious intervention though they still had 75,000 troops there. These were dedicated solely to safeguard British soldiers, officers and officials.

The British sometimes assisted in other more direct ways in the ethnic cleansing by providing the Zionist leadership with ownership deeds and other vital data which they had photocopied before destroying them as was quite common in their decolonization process. . Military force and a brutal one at that is the first requirement for expulsion and occupation but bureaucracy is no less important for efficiently carrying out a huge cleansing operation that entails not only dispossession of the people but also the possession of the spoils .

"Imagine that not so long ago, in any given country you are familiar with, half of the entire country had been forcibly expelled within a year, half of its villages and towns wiped out, leaving behind only rubble and stone. Imagine now the possibility that somehow this act will never make it into the history books and that all diplomatic efforts to solve the conflict will totally sideline , if not ignore, this catastrophic event."


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Natasha Gill is a research associate at Columbia University and co-author of the forthcoming book The Struggle for Palestine in the 1930s. She teaches courses on genocide, human rights, and intractable conflict. Her current research focuses on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict working with Israeli and Palestinian scholars. (info@track-4.com<info@track-4.com>;)

"A frank recognition of its past in the Middle East can give Britain a unique role in the peace process.

Of all the western powers it is Britain that has a unique responsibility to Israelis and Palestinians, and something unique to offer both parties.

Britain having made promises to each side during the first world war, enshrined its incompatible "dual obligations" in the Balfour declaration of 1917, and implemented contradictory policies for some 30 years, it shared responsibility for the conflict's shape and evolution.

A decision to openly address Britain's role could have an impact on the most unbridgeable gap between Palestinians and Israelis: the question of ultimate responsibility for the conflict.

The responsibility issue – and its twin, recognition – has only become more intractable in recent years. The Palestinians insist that Israel acknowledge its responsibility for the 1948 nakba and the refugee problem. For Israelis this is unacceptable because they believe it corners them into confessing to "original sin" and ultimately delegitimises Zionism and Israel. They have thus upped the ante recently by requiring that Palestinians recognise Israel "as a Jewish state", which the Palestinians consider as tantamount to putting a stamp of approval on the loss of their homeland.
This is a circle that seemingly cannot be squared. So what could Britain possibly do about it? Without validating the tactics of blame and breast-beating (or inviting a renewed debate about the nature of its wartime promises), Britain might consider making an important public speech that would address the problems of recognition and accountability directly.

Acknowledging its own role in the origins of the conflict might afford Britain the opportunity to speak to the parties from a position of humility and even complicity: not as an outsider trying to impose its will, but as a former party to the conflict, one that has a moral and historical stake in its resolution, in a way that even the US can never have.

Full Guardian Article March 2010

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Ed Husain is Co-Founder and Quilliam ambassador and is the celebrated author of ‘The Islamist’, shortlisted for the George Orwell Prize for best political writing. He is currently a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC.

Our (British) rushed withdrawal in 1948 is partly to blame for the crisis in the Middle East, so now we must help create a new Palestine. At schools across the Arab world children are taught about the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916. Here in Britain, we might want to forget this imperial past, but ask any Arab and they will reel off these dates and confirm Britain's involvement in creating Israel. As a country, we have a moral duty to right our historical wrongs. We helped create Israel. We must now help create a Palestine.

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Edward Mortimer, Financial Times speaking about Nur Masalha's book 'A Land without People' :

Nur Masalha is a Palestinian writer and academic. He is Professor of Religion and Politics and Director of the Centre for Religion and History and the Holy Land Research Project at St. Mary's University College, University of Surrey.

”(Dr. Masalha) shows using documents from the Israeli archives, that the flight of the Arab population from what became Israel in 1948 — which Israel's first president, Chaim Weizmann hailed as 'a miraculous clearing of the land' - was in fact 'less than a miracle than the culmination of over a half century of effort, plans and (in the end) brute force.”

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Ilan Pappe and Karma Nabulsi
Karma Nabulsi is Palestinian and a Fellow in Politics at St. Edmund Hall and University Lecturer in International Relations at Oxford University.

What would be the structure of a real peace between Israel and Palestine?

Karma Nabulsi and Ilan Pappé The Guardian, Thursday 19 September 2002

First, the refugee issue needs to be placed at the centre of the process from where it has mysteriously disappeared. Next, all those involved in resolving the conflict must have the public courage to confront the Israeli denial of the expulsion and ethnic cleansing at the heart of the Palestinian refugee question. This remains the single largest stumbling block towards a lasting peace between both people

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Ilan Pappé is an Israeli historian and professor of History at the University of Exeter . He is author of 'The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine'

"However I am a great believer that in order to further the chances of reconciliation, you have to have a kind of link, an association between the ability of the Israelis to stop denying the Nakbah ( the catastrophe visited on the Palestinians in 1948) , and the Palestinians accepting that the Holocaust plays a role in the life of Jews in Israel, and the life of Jews everywhere.”