[News] The Balfour Declaration Destroyed Palestine, Not the Palestinian People

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/12/the-balfour-declaration-destroyed-palestine-not-the-palestinian-people/ 



  The Balfour Declaration Destroyed Palestine, Not the Palestinian People

by Ramzy Baroud <https://www.counterpunch.org/author/cet6s/> - October 
12, 2017
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some promises are made and kept; others disavowed. But the ‘promise’ 
made by Arthur James Balfour in what became known as the ‘Balfour 
Declaration’ to the leaders of the Zionist Jewish community in Britain 
one hundred years ago, was only honored in part: it established a state 
for the Jews and attempted to destroy the Palestinian nation.

In fact, Balfour, the foreign Secretary of Britain at the time his 
declaration of 84 words was pronounced on November 2, 1917, was, like 
many of his peers, anti-Semitic. He cared little about the fate of 
Jewish communities. His commitment to establishing a Jewish state in a 
land that was already populated by a thriving and historically-rooted 
nation was only meant to enlist the support of wealthy Zionist leaders 
in Britain’s massive military buildup during World War I.

Whether Balfour knew it or not, the extent to which his short statement 
to the leader of the Jewish community in Britain, Walter Rothschild, 
would uproot a whole nation from their ancestral homes and continue to 
devastate several generations of Palestinians decades later, is moot. In 
fact, judging by the strong support his descendants 
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/balfour-declaration-was-a-humanitarian-gesture-descendant-says/> 
continue to exhibit towards Israel, one would guess that he, too, would 
have been ‘proud’ of Israel, oblivious to the tragic fate of the 
Palestinians.

This is what he penned down a century ago:

    “His Majesty’s government views with favor the establishment in
    Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use
    their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object,
    it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may
    prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish
    communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed
    by Jews in any other country. I should be grateful if you would
    bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.”

Speaking recently at New York University, Palestinian professor Rashid 
Khalidi described <http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/167039> the 
British commitment, then, as an event that “marked the beginning of a 
century-long colonial war in Palestine, supported by an array of outside 
powers which continues to this day.”

But oftentimes, generalized, academic language and refined political 
analysis, even if accurate, masks the true extent of tragedies as 
expressed in the lives of ordinary people.

As Balfour finished writing down his infamous words, he must have been 
consumed with how effective his political tactic would be in enlisting 
Zionists to join Britain’s military adventures, in exchange for a piece 
of land that was still under the control of the Ottoman Empire.

Yet, he clearly had no genuine regard for the millions of Palestinian 
Arabs – Muslims and Christians alike – who were to suffer the cruelty of 
war, ethnic cleansing, racism and humiliation over the course of a century.

The Balfour Declaration was equivalent to a decree calling for the 
annihilation of the Palestinian people. Not one Palestinian, anywhere, 
remained completely immune from the harm invited by Balfour and his 
government.

Tamam Nassar, now 75 years old, was one of millions of Palestinians 
whose life Balfour scarred forever. She was uprooted from her village of 
Joulis in southern Palestine, in 1948. She was only five.

Tamam, now lives with her children and grandchildren in the Nuseirat 
Refugee Camp in Gaza. Ailing under the weight of harsh years, and weary 
by a never-ending episode of war, siege and poverty, she holds on to a 
few hazy memories of a past that can never be redeemed.

Little does she know that a man by the name of Arthur James Balfour had 
sealed the fate of the Nassar family for many generations, condemning 
them to a life of perpetual desolation.

I spoke to Tamam, also known as Umm Marwan (mother of Marwan), as part 
of an attempt to document the Palestinian past through the personal 
memories of ordinary people.

By the time she was born, the British had already colonized Palestine 
for decades, starting only months after Balfour signed his declaration.

The few memories peeking through the naïveté of her innocence were 
largely about racing after British military convoys, pleading for candy.

Back then, Tamam did not encounter Jews or, perhaps, she did. But since 
many Palestinian Jews looked just like Palestinian Arabs, she could not 
tell the difference or even care to make the distinction. People were 
just people. Jews were their neighbors in Joulis, and that was all that 
mattered.

Although the Palestinian Jews lived behind walls, fences and trenches, 
for a while they walked freely among the fellahin (peasants), shopped in 
their markets and sought their help, for only the fellahin knew how to 
speak the language of the land and decode the signs of the seasons.

Tamam’s house was made of hardened mud, and had a small front yard, 
where the little girl and her brothers were often confined when the 
military convoys roamed their village. Soon, this would happen more and 
more frequently and the candy that once sweetened the lives of the 
children, was no longer offered.

Then, there was the war that changed everything. That was in 1948. The 
battle around Joulis crept up all too quickly and showed little mercy. 
Some of the fellahin, who ventured out beyond the borders of the 
village, were never seen again.

The battle of Joulis was short-lived. Poor peasants with kitchen knives 
and a few old rifles were no match for advanced armies. British soldiers 
pulled out from the outskirts of Joulis to allow Zionist militias to 
stage their attack, and the villagers were chased out after a brief but 
bloody battle.

Tamam, her brothers and parents were chased out of Joulis, as well, 
never to see their beloved village again. They moved about in refugee 
camps around Gaza, before settling permanently in Nuseirat. Their tent 
was eventually replaced by a mud house.

In Gaza, Tamam experienced many wars, bombing campaigns, sieges and 
every warfare tactic Israel could possibly muster. Her resolve is only 
weakened by the frailty of her aging body, and the entrenched sadness 
over the untimely deaths of her brother, Salim, and her young son, Kamal.

Salim was killed by the Israeli army as he attempted to escape Gaza 
following the war and brief Israeli invasion of the Strip in 1956, and 
Kamal died as a result of health complications resulting from torture in 
Israeli prisons.

If Balfour was keen to ensure “nothing shall be done which may prejudice 
the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in 
Palestine,” why is it, then, that the British government remains 
committed to Israel after all of these years?

Isn’t a century since that declaration was made, 70 years of Palestinian 
exile, 50 years of Israeli military occupation all sufficient proof that 
Israel has no respect for international law and Palestinian human, civil 
and religious rights?

As she grew older, Tamam began returning to Joulis in her mind, more 
often seeking a fleetingly happy memory, and a moment of solace. Life 
under siege in Gaza is too hard, especially for old people like her, 
struggling with multiple ailments and broken hearts.

The attitude of the current British government 
<http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/balfour-declaration-israel-palestine-theresa-may-government-centenary-arabs-jewish-settlements-a7607491.html>, 
which is gearing up for a massive celebration 
<http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-confirms-uk-visit-to-mark-balfour-centenary-celebrations/> 
to commemorate the centennial of the Balfour Declaration suggests that 
nothing has changed and that no lessons were ever learned in the 100 
years since Balfour made his ominous promise to establish a Jewish state 
at the expense of Palestinians.

But this also rings true for the Palestinian people. Their commitment to 
fight for freedom 
<https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/Comment/2017/9/18/100-years-of-murderous-injustice-Marking-Balfour-with-BDS>, 
also remains unchanged and, neither Balfour nor all of Britain’s foreign 
secretaries since then, have managed to break the will of the 
Palestinian nation.

That, too, is worth pondering upon.

/*Dr. Ramzy Baroud* has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 
years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media 
consultant, an author of several books and the founder of 
PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom 
Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press, London). His website is: 
ramzybaroud.net/

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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