“I will begin with what the Balfour Project charity is for, what our aims are, then speak about the history, before and during the time when Britain ran Palestine up to 1948. Then about now: the dire situation on the ground, but more particularly the attitude of our government and civil society to it, the focus more on us than on telling Israel or Palestine what to do. The accent will be on human rights and the rule and law. Finally, the future, and what the Balfour Project and you can do together to change things for the better, because if there’s no change things will get worse. That’s hard to believe, but it’s true.”
Those words are from the beginning of recent Balfour Project webinar led by Sir Vincent Fean on the topic: Palestine/Israel: Britain’s role, then and now.
Sir Vincent Fean was a member of the British Diplomatic Service between 1975 and 2014. His last post was as Consul-General, Jerusalem (2010-14). Before Jerusalem, he was Ambassador to Libya, and previously High Commissioner to Malta.