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Britain isn't simply a passive bystander; it's been actively complicit in the oppression of the Palestinian people. 6 months before the 2014 assault on Gaza where over 2000 Palestinians were killed, Britain approved £7 million worth of arms sales to Israel.
In 2018, the IDF used live ammunition on peaceful protestors on the Gaza border, killing 189 Palestinians including 32 children. Britain shamefully abstained from a UN vote which condemned Israel for excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force against the demonstrators.
Just last month, Boris Johnson declared his opposition to an International Criminal Court investigation of Israeli actions in the occupied Palestinian territories, standing in the way of justice and enabling Israel to continue to act with impunity.
And, of course, there is Britain's colonial history in the region. In 1917, when Palestinians were seeking independence from British rule, the British government issued the Balfour Declaration, paving the way for the future displacement and destitution of the Palestinian people.
In 1936, a popular rebellion by Palestinians against British rule was violently put down by the British military. The Palestinian leadership was exiled by the British, and Palestinian military units were forced to disband.
This would later make it difficult for Palestinians to resist what would later come to be known as the Nakba – Arabic for “catastrophe”- where, in 1948, over 700,000 Palestinians were driven out from their homeland and over 500 Palestinian villages were destroyed.
