LONDON: As the centenary of the Balfour Declaration approaches, few people in the UK are aware of the implications of the 1917 document for Palestinians today, according to former BBC documentary maker Martin Buckley.
“There is a kind of unawareness in Britain,” said Buckley, at a London screening of the rough cut of a new documentary he directed.
He hopes it will help better inform the British public about the legacy of the 1917 declaration and how it paved the way for the creation of Israel in 1948.
The document — drawn up by the then-foreign secretary Arthur Balfour — declared the UK’s support for the Jewish people to be granted their own ‘national home’. It was welcome news to the growing Zionist movement in Europe.
“One of our inteviewees said that, didn’t she? That the average person on the street in England has no idea what Balfour is, but the average person in the street in the Middle East will have a strong opinion on Balfour,” he said.
He recounted a story about being sat on the tube in London chatting about this film with a colleague when the word ‘Balfour’ caught the attention of at least two Arabs sitting nearby who immediately joined in the debate. “It’s a powerful word for them,” he said.
One of those on the train — a student — was so interested in the event that he even turned up at the screening.
The inspiration for the documentary – which has the current working title of ‘From Balfour to Banksy’ — originally came from Miranda Pinch, a political activist and former social worker.
In the run up to the centenary of the Balfour Declaration on Nov. 2, Pinch saw an opportunity to tell the Palestinian side of the story on how the events that followed that 1917 declaration have affected their lives.
The film also demonstrates how the second part of the declaration, which said that that the rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine should be protected — has not been fulfilled.
Pinch met Buckley at an event earlier this year and within a couple of weeks the project was in motion.
The documentary was showcased to a small audience on Oct. 19 inevitably already well aware of the implications of Balfour.
Palestinian women; students; a filmmaker from Syria now living in France; a man in a free Gaza T-shirt and keen supporter of the London-based non-profit organization, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, all made it through the rain to watch the film in North London held in an art gallery displaying pop art from North African artists.
Buckley however wants to get the film’s message out to far more people than this relatively small test audience, not only in the UK but across the world. The final version of the film is expected to be released in early November. He aims to put a version online as well as screened at film festivals.
The film traces the Palestinian story from the declaration of 1917: The UK’s mandate over Palestine; the creation of Israel to the recently installed art installation and hotel created by the UK artist Banksy called the ‘Walled Off Hotel’ – which opened this year in Bethlehem. The hotel rooms feature Banksy art and satirizes British foreign policy and its impact in the Middle East.
Buckley — who presents the documentary — interviews Palestinians in Hebron and the West Bank — all of whom express their frustration with the current Israeli government’s policies and the Jewish settlements in the West Bank as well as the daily restrictions on their movement within the occupied territories.
A young Palestinian student interviewed who studies in the shadow of the huge wall first erected by Israel in 2000 to divide the West Bank from Israel said “we feel like dreams don’t exist anymore.”
Yet, the film aims to be far more than just a historical documentary. “What I wanted from this film is to spend some time with Palestinians and see how they feel about the consequences of the Balfour declaration – not a pompous lecture about the declaration,” he said.
He added that it was important to include the Israeli perspective.
“I interviewed Jewish Israelis who were so keen to say why they thought the Balfour declaration had been a bad thing, and that they felt the Israeli state had become some kind of monster — and if it is going to survive as a state and physically – and those are interlinked — it is going to have to stop saying the British gave us a license to do whatever we wanted in 1917.”
The film currently ends — pending its final edit — with Palestinians calling for people from across the world to come and visit Palestine to meet the people and to learn more about the legacy of Balfour.
One of the woman interviewed in the closing sequence said it was no longer about being pro-Palestine or pro-Israel, but ‘pro-justice’.
Filmmaker hopes to spread awareness of Balfour legacy in Britain
Filmmaker hopes to spread awareness of Balfour legacy in Britain
Republicans push back against Democrats' claims that Trump intelligence pick Gabbard is compromise
- Democrats have cast doubts on Gabbard for her comments supportive of Russia and secret meetings, as a congresswoman, with Syria’s president, a close ally of the Kremlin and Iran
- Gabbard, a former US ational Guard officer and a former Democrat, also has suggested that Russia had legitimate security concerns in deciding to invade Ukraine, given its desire to join NATO
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida: Republican senators pushed back on Sunday against criticism from Democrats that Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s pick to lead US intelligence services, is “compromised” by her comments supportive of Russia and secret meetings, as a congresswoman, with Syria’s president, a close ally of the Kremlin and Iran.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and veteran of combat missions in Iraq, said she had concerns about Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s choice to be director of national intelligence.
“I think she’s compromised,” Duckworth said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” citing Gabbard’s 2017 trip to Syria, where she held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Gabbard was a Democratic House member from Hawaii at the time.
“The US intelligence community has identified her as having troubling relationships with America’s foes. And so my worry is that she couldn’t pass a background check,” Duckworth said.
Gabbard, who said last month she is joining the Republican Party, has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades. She was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait and, according to the Hawaii National Guard, received a Combat Medical Badge in 2005 for “participation in combat operations under enemy hostile fire in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III.”
Duckworth’s comments drew immediate backlash from Republicans.
“For her to say ridiculous and outright dangerous words like that is wrong,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, said on CNN, challenging Duckworth to retract her words. “That’s the most dangerous thing she could say — is that a United States lieutenant colonel in the United States Army is compromised and is an asset of Russia.”
In recent days, other Democrats have accused Gabbard without evidence of being a “Russian asset.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, has claimed, without offering details, that Gabbard is in Russian President Vladimir “Putin’s pocket.”
Mullin and others say the criticism from Democrats is rooted in the fact that Gabbard left their party and has become a Trump ally. Democrats say they worry that Gabbard’s selection as national intelligence chief endangers ties with allies and gives Russia a win.
Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat just elected to the Senate, said he would not describe Gabbard as a Russian asset, but said she had “very questionable judgment.”
“The problem is if our foreign allies don’t trust the head of our intelligence agencies, they’ll stop sharing information with us,” Schiff said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Gabbard in 2022 endorsed one of Russia’s justifications for invading Ukraine: the existence of dozens of US-funded biolabs working on some of the world’s nastiest pathogens. The labs are part of an international effort to control outbreaks and stop bioweapons, but Moscow claimed Ukraine was using them to create deadly bioweapons. Gabbard said she just voiced concerns about protecting the labs.
Gabbard also has suggested that Russia had legitimate security concerns in deciding to invade Ukraine, given its desire to join NATO.
Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri said he thought it was “totally ridiculous” that Gabbard was being cast as a Russian asset for having different political views.
“It’s insulting. It’s a slur, quite frankly. There’s no evidence that she’s a asset of another country,” he said on NBC.
Sen. James Lankford, another Oklahoma Republican, acknowledged having “lots of questions” for Gabbard as the Senate considers her nomination to lead the intelligence services. Lankford said on NBC that he wants to ask Gabbard about her meeting with Assad and some of her past comments about Russia.
“We want to know what the purpose was and what the direction for that was. As a member of Congress, we want to get a chance to talk about past comments that she’s made and get them into full context,” Lankford said.
Uruguay’s center-left Orsi leads presidential runoff, exit polls say
MONTEVIDEO: Early exit polls in Uruguay’s presidential election indicated on Sunday that the center-left opposition candidate Yamandu Orsi is ahead of his conservative rival Alvaro Delgado in a closely fought second-round race that promises to be a photo finish.
Orsi had secured 49.5 percent of the vote, according to an exit poll from Cifra, followed by 45.9 percent for Delgado for the ruling coalition. Equipos Consultores also predicted an Orsi win with 49.0 percent of the vote and 46.6 percent for Delgado.
Romanian leftist PM and hard-right candidate in a tie after initial presidential election round, partial results show
- Romania’s staunchly pro-Ukraine stance at risk
- Hard-right Georgescu has questioned NATO commitment to collective defense
BUCHAREST: A Romanian hard-right NATO critic and leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu appeared in dead heat after the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, partial tallies showed, in a shock result threatening Romania’s staunchly pro-Ukraine stance.
After nearly 90 percent of votes were counted, Calin Georgescu, 62, was at 22 percent, while Ciolacu had 21.7 percent. However, ballots from the sizeable Romanian diaspora, which are not included in the main tally, showed a center-right politician, Elena Lasconi, 52, first with 33.4 percent and Georgescu second.
Romania’s president has a semi-executive role that gives him or her control over defense spending — likely to be a difficult issue as Bucharest comes under pressure to uphold NATO spending goals during Donald Trump’s second term as US president while trying to reduce a heavy fiscal deficit.
Lasconi told supporters after exit polls were released giving her a small lead over Georgescu, with Ciolacu in first place, that she was optimistic about making the runoff. “But as you can see, the results are very tight, let us wait until tomorrow’s results to rejoice.”
Campaigning focused largely on the soaring cost of living, with Romania having the EU’s biggest share of people at risk of poverty.
Georgescu is a former prominent member of the hard-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians party.
In 2021 he has called NATO’s ballistic missile defense shield in the Romanian town of Deveselu a “shame of diplomacy” and said the North Atlantic alliance will not protect any of its members should they be attacked by Russia.
Lasconi, a former journalist, joined the Save Romania Union (USR) in 2018 and became party head this year. She believes in raising defense spending and helping Ukraine, and surveys suggest she would beat Ciolacu in a runoff.
Romania shares a 650-km (400-mile) border with Ukraine and since Russia attacked Kyiv in 2022, it has enabled the export of millions of tons of grain through its Black Sea port of Constanta and provided military aid, including the donation of a Patriot air defense battery.
“It will be a tight run-off, with the Social Democrat leader more vulnerable to negative campaigning due to him being an incumbent PM,” said political commentator Radu Magdin.
Somalia says 24 people have died after 2 boats capsized in the Indian Ocean
- A delegation led by the Somali ambassador to Ethiopia is scheduled to travel to Madagascar on Monday to investigate the incident and coordinate efforts to help survivors
MOGADISHU, Somalia: Twenty-four people died after two boats capsized off the Madagascar coast in the Indian Ocean, Somalia’s government said Sunday.
Somalia’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Moalim Fiqi said 46 people were rescued.
“We are working tirelessly to ensure the survivors are brought back home safely and provided with the necessary care,” he said.
Most of the passengers were young Somalis, and their intended destination remains unclear. Many young Somalis embark every year on dangerous journeys in search of better opportunities abroad.
A delegation led by the Somali ambassador to Ethiopia is scheduled to travel to Madagascar on Monday to investigate the incident and coordinate efforts to help survivors.
Fiqi also said Sunday that Somalia’s ambassador to Morocco will look into a separate report of Somali youth stranded on Morocco’s coastline. It is not clear when the Morocco incident took place and Fiqi did not provide details.
The UN migration agency has in the past raised concern over rising cases of irregular migration from the Horn of Africa countries as people flee from conflict and drought.
In April, 38 migrants died and 22 others were rescued from a shipwreck off Djibouti on a popular route to Yemen. Most of those rescued were of Somali and Ethiopian nationalities.
‘It wasn’t just about me’: Imam honored for unity efforts after UK race riots
- Three children were killed, and 10 others — eight of whom were children — were injured in an attack in Southport
- In days following attack, crowds gathered to demonstrate outside Liverpool mosque
LONDON: A Muslim leader in the UK has been recognized for his efforts to foster unity after embracing protesters outside Liverpool’s Abdullah Quilliam Mosque in the wake of a knife attack in the northern English town of Southport in July.
Three children were killed, and 10 others — eight of whom were children — were injured in the attack.
Axel Rudakubana was detained and charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder, and possession of a bladed article.
In the days following the attack, crowds gathered to demonstrate outside the mosque in Liverpool after misinformation was spread online about the knife attack suspect.
Imam Adam Kelwick described how he approached protesters outside the mosque once tensions had eased, offering food, handshakes, and conversations.
Photographs of the peaceful exchanges, which included sharing food and even hugs, went viral, symbolizing a moment of reconciliation.
After receiving the Most Impactful Imam accolade at the British Beacon Mosque Awards, Kelwick said: “It wasn’t just about me. I’m dedicating this award to the people of Liverpool, who really came together during difficult times.”
He added: “Some of the most vocal protesters, after everyone else had gone, came inside the mosque for a little tour.”
The imam praised Liverpool’s residents for their unity.
“For those who knew better than to blame a whole religion for the evil actions of one person, for those who came to defend our mosque, and even for those who protested but later reflected and opened their hearts,” he said.
Kelwick, also a humanitarian aid worker and long-time volunteer, expressed gratitude for the award, which recognizes the contributions of mosques and leaders across the UK.
