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Liverpool conference on Palestine
LIVERPOOL Friends of Palestine are
holding a major day conference Britain and Palestine, 100 Years of Broken
Promises, at the Friends Meeting House, Liverpool, on Saturday, 21 October 2017.
The conference will be chaired by Nicholas Frayling, Dean Emeritus of Chichester
who was Rector of Liverpool Parish Church, from 1987 to 2002.
The main speakers will be:-
► Ben Jamal, Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (British born of
Palestinian Heritage)
► David Cronin, journalist, Deputy Editor of Electronic Intifada and the author of
the recently published Balfour's Shadow; a Century of Support for Zionism and
Israel
► Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, Emeritus Professor at the London
School of
Economics, who was brought up in a strongly Zionist family in Liverpool.
The conference is held to mark the centenary of the 'Balfour declaration.'
On 2 November 1917, the British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour sent a letter
to Lord Rothschild saying that:- "His Majesty's Government view with favour
the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will
use their best endeavours 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 the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the
rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
Speakers will talk about the Declaration, the period of the British Mandate in
Palestine and the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, which led to the
flight of Palestinians, many of whom still live in refugee camps. Speakers will
also address subsequent events, including the aftermath of the 1967 war and the
continued Israeli occupation of Palestine, including the unequal treatment of
Palestinians within present day Israel.
The conference will be of interest to all who want to know more about this
period of Britain's colonial history and who are concerned to bring about a just
solution to the contemporary problems. There will be group discussions in the
second half of the day to share ideas.
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