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Apologizing for the Balfour Declaration Won't Achieve a Two-State Solution

(Newsweek-Europe) Alona Ferber - The call for Britain to apologize for the Balfour Declaration of 1917 contributes little to advancing the Palestinian cause, building bridges between Israelis and Palestinians, or securing an independent and viable Palestinian state. Criticism of the declaration assumes that Britain's treatment of the Jews was somehow better than its treatment of the Arabs under the Mandate, and that the Jewish community did not suffer between 1917 and 1948. In fact, the Jewish Yishuv, or community, was often at odds with Britain over its Palestine policy, which as the decades ground on put less and less stock in supporting the Zionists. The logical conclusion of a British apology for Balfour is that Israel should never have existed. The problem is that it does exist, and the millions of Israelis who call it home have nowhere to go. By looking to overturn a nearly century-old endorsement of a Jewish national home in Palestine, the apology campaigners offer no solutions or practical suggestions, only counterproductive rhetoric. What Israelis and Palestinians need are opportunities to look forward, not to the past. The writer is deputy managing editor of the Centre on Religion & Geopolitics, Tony Blair's counter-extremism think tank.
2016-11-03 00:00:00
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