It is widely known that Israel is considered to be an enemy to the Arab people, especially Palestinians, who lost their homes in that creation of Israel, but we do not often hear about the role Britain played in this chaos or about the ways in which they continue to oppress the Palestinian people to this day.

History tells us that Britain promised Palestine to Lord Rothschild a leader of the Zionist movement in the Balfour Declaration all the way back in 1917. Of course this decision was made without the consent of the Palestinian population and years before Britain came to govern the region through the League of Nations after World War I. This is not surprising since, at the time, Britain was a major colonizer and colonizers do not usually have any respect for non-Western countries. According to some sources, the Jews were only offered Palestine because Lord Balfour did not want Jew migrating to Britain not even out of a true belief that Palestine was the original Jewish Homeland. In this since, Jews were also victims. They were not accepted and safe in the European countries that they were born in and they desperately needed a home.

To add insult to injury, Britain had previously promised to help Palestine gain independence from the Ottoman Empire, so you can imagine the shock when Britain turned on the Palestinians and crush their nationalist movement and denied them any political rights. They even helped expel the Palestinians from their homes when the Zionists arrived in Palestine.

Even today, Britain opposes the attempts of the Palestinians to get recognition from the United Nations by applying for “observer state” status in the UN General Assembly.

After I learned about the history between Britain, Israel, and Palestine, I was confused. Why do we not hear more negativity or blame towards Britain?

Yes, I know that America is also guilty in the oppression of the Palestinians, mostly through the support of Israel. While most of the research I did shows that Britain is simply choosing not to vote, the U.S. flat out opposes recognition of Palestine. I understand that this move is on behalf of our ally, Israel, but it is not right. We claim that we are all about freedom and independence and then we deny a whole country of people these exact principles, saying that they are at the mercy of Israel. I will say though, that there is plenty of hatred displayed for the U.S. (flag burning, etc.) .

Both Britain and the United States helped create the mess that exists between the Palestinians and the Israelis today. The Israelis did not ask to be expelled from their homes by the Europeans and the Palestinians did not do anything to deserve losing their country. After the way that the Palestinians have been treated, the least the U.S. and Britain can do is stay out of the Palestinians way of UN recognition. Palestine was supported by many countries including Russia, China, Brazil, India, Lebanon and South Africa last year when it applied for statehood. Many countries are likely to support Palestine again this year, but they need a majority vote to succeed.