Today, Palestine Action have marked 107 years since the Balfour Declaration, by taking two sculptures of Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, from its display case at University of Manchester.
Arthur James Balfour, a known anti-semite, met leading Zionist, Chaim Weizmann, in Manchester, where they both then lived, in the first decade of the 20th century. Over several meetings, Weizmann who described Palestinians as “the rocks of Judea, obstacles that had to be cleared on a difficult path”, lobbied Balfour into assisting the Zionist colonisation of Palestine.
In 1917, a year after Balfour was appointed UK foreign secretary, he penned the Balfour Declaration, promising a ‘Jewish homeland in Palestine’. The public pledge by Britain came in the form of a letter dated 2nd November 1917 to Lord Rothschild, a close friend of Weizmann. On behalf of Britain, Balfour promised away the land of Palestine – which he never had the right to do.
After the declaration until the Nakba in 1948, British soldiers killed, arrested and raped Palestinians. During their colonial mandate, the British introduced home demolitions as collective punishment to repress Palestinian resistance and burnt down many indigenous villages. During this time, Weizmann was President of the World Zionist Organisation.
The Nakba (great catastrophe) saw British trained and armed Zionist militia force over 750,000 Palestinians into exile, destroy over 500 villages and occupied those who remained. As a result, Chaim Weizmann became the first President of ‘Israel’.
The ongoing Nakba has culminated in the genocide today. For over a year, Palestinians in Gaza have been subject to daily bombings, the slaughter of their families and destruction of their homes, hospitals, schools and civil infrastructure. Israel’s bombing campaign has extended to targeting densely populated areas of civilians in Lebanon. From the Balfour Declaration to today, the UK remains an active participant in the colonisation, genocide and occupation of Palestine
on November 2, 2024, 10:02 am