BZU Hosts Lecture on the Balfour Declaration

The Department of Political Sciences at Birzeit University, in cooperation with the Political Sciences Student Club, held the “100 Years on the Balfour Declaration – a Reading into the Future,” led by the Professor of Political Sciences, Dr. Saleh Abed El-Jawad on November 31, 2017, on the university campus.

The lecture discussed the Balfour Declaration and detailed its historical causes and its real-life effects on the Palestinian people and their homeland. The lecture also traced the history of the declaration, beginning with the colonial nations’ attempts at dismantling the pan-Arabian aspirations of Muhammad Ali Pasha, to the covert negotiations between the British Empire and the Zionist movement on one side, and between the British Empire, France, and the United States on the other.

Dr. Abed El-Jawad also brought into attention the Palestinian demand of a British apology. He said, “How can an apology matter now after all the killings and the oppression that the British Empire has done? The British Empire played its role masterfully as a realtor of land. The only issue is that it was a realtor of a land it didn’t own”

Dr. Abed El-Jawad answered questions from students and faculty members at the end of the lecture. The questions ranged from queries on the legality of the declaration to inquiries on how we can as Palestinian improve our political situation.