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State of Terror & Balfour and Me

Why has the so-called ‘conflict’ in Palestine endured for over a century, with no resolution in sight? Tapping a trove of source documents heretofore poorly explored, Suárez challenges the prevailing narrative of a clash between Arabs and Jews as depicted by the mass media, demonstrating what to many informed observers is obvious from the present reality: that the entire tragic history is at its root the violent takeover of Palestine by a European settler movement that couched its goals in pretenses of messianic entitlement—Zionism.

Suárez details a shocking campaign of Zionist terrorism in the 1940s and 1950s that targeted anyone in the way of its political goals, whether the British government, the indigenous Palestinians, or Jews. Indeed, Suárez challenges Zionism’s self-proclaimed raison d’être—safe Haven for Jews—by exposing the racial-nationalist movement’s exploitation of Jews and Jewish persecution.

The historical evidence demonstrates that Zionism pursued its goals at the expense of, not for the benefit of, persecuted Jews, yet continues to wield the smear of anti-Semitism to silence its opponents. Today’s seemingly intractable quagmire is Zionism’s unfinished business, an Israeli state driven by unrequited territorial designs and the dream of ethnic ‘purity’. As such, the ‘conflict’ is neither complicated nor unsolvable, but ending it will require stripping Zionism of its false narrative. Suárez addresses this by laying bare the historical record.

Arthur Balfour was born in 1848 on the family’s Scottish Estate in East Lothian. In 1916, he was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

I am Fatima, a 35-year old asylum seeker living in Scotland. I was born a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon. In 2001, I came to the UK to seek refuge and rebuild my life. Why am I here? Who was Arthur Balfour and what relates him to me? Arthur Balfour & Me is a visual and emotional journey through history and present time, an untold story about how a politician’s action has to this day affected my life as a young woman from the Middle East.

In exile since I was born, I dream to see the day when I will be able to return to my homeland. The land of my parents and grandparents was Haifa, now an Israeli city. Two weeks before the official creation of the state of Israel in May 1948, my parents fled their village El-Yajour, in the north East of Haifa in the hope they would be able to come back within a matter of weeks or possibly months according to UN officials.

But what began as a short-term refugee status for my family turned into a lifetime in the refugee camp in Lebanon. I have never experienced a proper home. I have lost so many relatives, some I have never met and others I have not seen since I was a small child.

The film will also appeal to a general audience, both nationally and internationally. I have also asked my Jewish friend Henry Maitles, a
University lecturer and antiZionist, to accompany me on the journey. As a Jew, the Declaration has also affected him. While I am not allowed to go back to the land where I come from, the Balfour Declaration gave Jewish Henry Maitles the right to go and live in the newly created state. The only Jewish people I ever knew while in Lebanon were Israeli soldiers. Henry was the first Jewish person that I met after arriving in Scotland. I was shocked when I found that a Jew could be supportive of Palestinian Rights. By telling you my story, and by showing the impact of a letter “one political act”, I hope to convey to you, the audience a more intimate picture of a global issue, one where the human side is often omitted because of its political nature.

Set in Scotland, the film looks at a little known aspect of Scotland’s political history, which will be of great interest to the Scottish viewer

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Rally against Mark Regev Israeli Ambassador visiting Birmingham Feb 8th 2017 9:30 am Victoria Square

Unwelcome Israeli Ambassador mark Regev 

‘ israel refuses to meet the most minimal bench marks of international behavior’  

The Israeli ambassador, Mark Regev is visiting Birmingham, at the Council House on Wednesday, 8th February to meet the Councillors.  We are asking the Councillors to boycotting the ambassador and show solidarity with Palestinians and the majority of Birmingham residents outraged about Israel’s inhumane treatment of Palestinians and the continued building of illegal Israeli settlements which are contrary to the values of a multi-ethnic and multicultural Birmingham and an obstacle to peace.

In response to his visit, we are in a rally outside the Council House starting at 9:30 am on 8th February to oppose Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and illegal occupation and breaches of international law.

The increasing international outrage and condemnation of the occupation of Palestine, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the degrading inhumane conditions that Palestinians, are forced, daily, to endure. Last year, over 684 Palestinian houses were demolished in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and 35 Palestinian children had been killed by Israeli soldiers, police and armed settlers  In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Palestinians have no freedom of movement and schoolchildren are forced to endure checkpoints or to walk several miles to circumvent an illegal Wall that Israel has constructed on occupied land.

The numerous violations by Israel of international and humanitarian law in respect of Palestine which are well documented by international organizations including the United Nations and Amnesty International.

The continued blockade of the Gaza strip, now in its 10th year.  The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in 2015 declared that Gaza will be uninhabitable by 2020. A consequence of the Israeli blockade and continuing military aggression in Gaza (three devastating military operations since 2007) has laid to waste its economic and social infrastructure. Today, the people of Gaza have electricity for only four hours a day, suffer 60% unemployment and 47% face severe food insecurity. They are prevented from fishing in less than one third of the fishing area allocated under the Oslo accords.   Of course, we cannot forget that the Ambassador visiting Birmingham was, in the summer of 2014, justifying Israeli violations of international law and war crimes on our TV screens when Gaza was being bombed killing over 2000 Palestinians including over 500 children

The non-stop denial of rights and home demolitions of Palestinian citizens of Israel. Only last week, eight houses were demolished and two people killed, one a Palestinian school teacher, Yaakup Abu al-Qiyab,  in the attempted demolition of the Palestinian Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran in the Negev. These villagers had been ethnically cleansed from their land in 1956 and their land given to a Kibbutz. Today these same villagers face being ethnically cleansed from their homes for a second time to make room for Jewish-only homes.   Among the injured during the demolition was a Palestinian  member of the Knesset and chair of the ‘Joint List’ coalition of Palestinian-based political parties in Israel.