An immediate retraction, correction and apology must be made by the UN Secretariat

United Nations rewrites Balfour Declaration parliamentary debate records

An official United Nations document published by the Division for Palestinian Rights of the United Nations Secretariat contains a deliberately altered record of a 1922 parliamentary House of Lords debate on the Balfour Declaration. The Balfour Declaration—dated 2 November 1917 - called for the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people—it being clearly understood that nothing would be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

Bitter opponent of the Balfour Declaration—Lord Sydenham All four articles contained the following quote purportedly made in 1922 by a bitter opponent of the Balfour Declaration—Lord Sydenham: “The harm done by dumping down an alien population upon an Arab country… may never be remedied… What we have done is, by concessions, not to the Jewish people but to a Zionist extreme section, to start a running sore in the East, and no one can tell how far that sore will extend.” My research eventually led to a United Nations Study titled “The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1988” - the Foreword stating: “This study has been prepared by the Division for Palestinian Rights of the United Nations Secretariat for, and under the guidance of, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in pursuance of General Assembly resolution 32/40 B of 2 December 1977.” This UN Study claimed Lord Sydenham had said: ”... the harm done by dumping down an alien population upon an Arab country - Arab all around in the hinterland - may never be remedied ... what we have done is, by concessions, not to the Jewish people but to a Zionist extreme section, to start a running sore in the East, and no one can tell how far that sore will extend.” Sourcing this quote to British Hansard - the official record of parliamentary debates.

Deliberately rewriting Hansard However Hansard records Lord Sydenham actually saying on 21 June 1922: “What we have done is, by concessions, not to the Jewish people but to a Zionist extreme section, to start a running sore in the East, and no one can tell how far that sore will extend. Zionism will fail, the experiment to which the noble Earl referred will fail, but the harm done by dumping down an alien population upon an Arab country—Arab all round in the hinterland—may never be remedied.” Deliberately rewriting Hansard raises the distinct possibility there may be other similar such instances in this UN Study. A full investigation by the United Nations Secretariat to discover the reason is urgently required. An immediate retraction, correction and apology must be made by the UN Secretariat.



David Singer -- Bio and Archives David Singer is an Australian Lawyer, a Foundation Member of the International Analyst Network and Convenor of Jordan is Palestine International—an organization calling for sovereignty of the West Bank and Gaza to be allocated between Israel and Jordan as the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine. Previous articles written by him can be found at: jordanispalestine.blogspot.com

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