Winston Churchill sent the infamous Black and Tans from Ireland to Palestine

The Balfour Declaration’s purpose was to form a “little loyal Jewish Ulster in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism”, according to Ronald Storrs, “the first military governor of Palestine since Pontius Pilate” (his words). Not everything went to plan… | DAVID CRONIN*

“The Birth of the Irish Republic” by Walter Paget

A Balfour curse

Demonstration in Damascus, Syria against Balfour’s visit to the region in 1925.

Balfour. The name is synonymous with the declaration that helped create the state of Israel and with it the untold agony and suffering of a people who to this day – more than 50 years on – have yet to recover from one of history’s worst political and moral injustices. On a journey by ship and train in 1925 to Egypt, Palestine and Syria, Balfour was met by protests and demonstrations which shook streets and capitals. From the pages of the Egyptian periodical Al-Ahram, Dr Yunan Labib Rizk* takes an in-depth look at the man and a trip that made headlines.

Nakba Day 2012: Repudiate Harper dictatorship’s support of Israel as a “Jewish” state