Pro-Palestinian action group puts knife into painting of British minister “who was the basis of ethnic cleansing of Palestine” | Abroad

It is a painting by the early 20th century British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour. The woman claims that his 1917 statement is the reason the Palestinians lost their homeland to Israel. The text stated that London would “be sympathetic to the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine” and would work towards that goal – albeit without “violating the civil and religious interests of existing non-Jewish communities.” .

It was the first time a major power publicly expressed support for a Jewish homeland, boosting the growing global Zionist movement. The text also shaped the British Mandate of Palestine, through which the British governed Palestine after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. In addition to Palestine, the British also controlled Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), while the French controlled Lebanon and Syria.

British control of Palestine ended traumatically in 1947-48 with the war between Jews and Arabs, the declaration of the state of Israel and the exodus of some 750,000 Palestinians who were expelled or fled.

Palestinians have long demanded that Britain apologize for the 67-word statement. “The Balfour Declaration initiated the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by pledging the land away – which the British never had the right to do,” says Palestine Action.

The artwork was painted in 2014 by the Jewish-Hungarian artist Philip Alexius de László. The University of Cambridge’s Trinity College says it regrets the damage and that support is available for members of the university.

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