NEW YORK (VINnews) — A Daily Mail article reveals that British leader Keir Starmer’s recent recognition of Palestine may prove very costly to the United Kingdom, due to alleged human rights abuses during what is known as the British Mandate.
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Britain ruled the territory of Palestine from 1917 until 1947, and struggled without success to hold the ring between Arabs and a growing number of Jewish immigrants. The British government initially proposed a two-state solution and then changed its mind in favour of a single state. Eventually, unable to broker any permanent solution, the British returned the mandate to the United Nations.
During the mandate, Britain was intermittently at odds with both Palestinians and Jews. In the late 1930s, Arab extremists were responsible for the deaths of about 130 British servicemen, and a similar number were killed later by Jewish terrorists in the dying days of the mandate.
It is undeniable that the British authorities acted harshly towards some Palestinian militants in the so-called Arab Revolt between 1936 to 1939, though they had of course been provoked. But not even the most deluded anti-colonialist or ignorant human rights lawyer could justly claim that Britain profited from its mandate.
History is now being rewritten to suit an anti-imperialist narrative. President Mahmoud Abbas, who has ledthe Palestinian Authority since 2005, has demanded ‘reparations in accordance with international law’ from Britain, partly for land lost by Palestinians.
Abbas has previously threatened to sue Britain if it doesn’t apologise for the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which set out its intention to create a ‘national home for the Jewish people’ in Palestine as long as ‘the civil and religious rights’ of Arabs weren’t prejudiced.
One could certainly argue that the British failed to protect the rights of Palestinians. But it is absurd to present the Balfour Declaration as an historical crime that necessitates the kind of compensation Abbas has been demanding at the UN.
Abbas won’t be short of human rights lawyers in the UK to help him. A group called Britain Owes Palestine is calling for an apology for alleged war crimes committed during the mandate, and of course for accompanying payments.
A week ago, it published a 400-page document drafted by senior human rights barristers detailing ‘incontrovertible evidence’ of what is described as the UK’s unlawful occupation of Palestine and its ‘systematic abuse’ of the Palestinian people.
Ben Emmerson, KC, who is a former UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter terrorism, has spoken of ‘the extent of British responsibility for the terrible suffering in Palestine’ and of Britain’s ‘international obligations to make amends’.
How much money might be involved? No figure has yet been specified, but according to some legal experts the bill for having ruled Palestine could be as much as £2 trillion, which is getting on for double the entire UK public spending for one year.
This is what you get for trying to appease the Palestinians! Go ahead. Get kicked. Well deserved.
The British gave the arabs everything they wanted.
The human rights of the Jews were violated and Israel should sue.
And sue for at least 5 trillion.
See UK? You made a mistake! Now rescind your support for the so-called palestinian state.
Why is VIN posting pali propaganda, the original mandate included TransJordon, the Brits betrayed the Jews and gave a majority of it away to the Arabs specifically the Hashemite family, and then decided that the Jews have to split the rest with the Arabs, the Jews accepted and the Arabs didn’t and invaded and lost. The only reparations the Brits should be paying is reparations for giving so much land to the Arabs.
This is somewhat similar to an Egyptian that was going to sue “The Jews” for what they took when leaving Egypt during the exodus.
They were told to drop it as claiming these Jews are the descendants of the Jews that left Egypt makes a strong case for Israel’s right to the land.
‘Arab extremists and Jewish terrorists were responsible for the deaths of about 130 British servicemen.’ The bias in the change of adjectives is glaring.
Ironically, the only inhabitants during the British rule that identified as “Palestinian” were the Jews.
UK, France, EU- perish.
Biased author ,
Calls the Arabs “militants’ while calling the Jews “terrorists” .
Why not? A wonderful golden handshake for Abbas’s early retirement.Pay for slay mommsa! May he rot in hell!
Surely Israel – as the successor to the previous Palestine, should be the ones to be the beneficiary of any British reparations. And in fact, the Turks for the Ottomans should provide reparations, and the Greeks, and the Italians for the Romans… there is no end to the the reparations that Jews could get.
Is this writer even jewish????
The case of a So-called Palestinian people is the biggest lye ever made. There were never such people as Palestinian people. They were 100% Arabs who worked there for the Jewish people ; the English people and the Ottoman empire and Palestina was the name of the land which was named as such by the Roman Empire instead of the Land of Israel. There was never a population being Palestinian.
They are all lies!!!!! They cannot prove anything in writing or historically that they were Palestinian people. They might show you a Palestinian passport according to the name of Palestine but so did all the Jewish people in Palestine!!!!! One of the first Prime Ministers of the State of Israel
had a Palestinian Passport. Moreover the the Arabs living in Palestina could not prononce Palestina but called it : Balestina
I am sorry to tell you but these Arabs who were living in Palestina and are using the
their name being a Palestinian are using this name in order to extort trillions of Ponds based on the biggest lies ever!!!
THERE WAS NEVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD A PALESTINIAN PEOPLE.
IT WAS MADE UP BY ARAFAT, A MASS MURDERER FROM EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT IN 1964 , INSTEAD OF ARABS.