Open Discussions
in association with
Gulf Cultural Club
invites you to a seminar titled:
The Balfour Declaration: A Century of crisis
Speakers:
Francie Molloy, MP*
Reverand Stephen Sizer **
Dr Mohammad Haidar***
On 2nd November 1917 Arthur Balfour delivered his undertaking that Britain would support the creation of homeland for the Jews in Palestine who constituted 5 percent of the population. A century of endless suffering had begun. The era of colonialism emerged with disastrous consequences. Thirty years later, the UN issued Resolution 181 to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab entities. Today, the whole of Palestine is under Israeli control, while the Palestinians have remained destitute, scattered in the diaspora with no hope of immediate repatriation. Instead of apologising for this historic fault, the present UK establishment remains committed to a cause that has only caused human misery, and served no real benefit for the British or Arab people. The Balfour Declaration has shaped UK’s foreign policy in the Middle East for 100 years while the British people have become hostage to this unfair deal.
Date: Tuesday 14th November 2017
Time: 6.30pm
Venue: Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place, W1H 4LP
* Francie Molloy is a Sinn Féin politician who has been the abstentionist Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster since 2013. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Mid Ulster from 1998 to 2013. He first stood for Sinn Féin in Fermanagh and South Tyrone in the 1982 Assembly Elections, finishing sixth in the five-seat constituency. He was then elected to Dungannon council in 1985[5] representing the Torrent electoral area, centred on Coalisland. He retired from the council in 1989 but was re-elected in 1993, and has been a councillor since then.
**Stephen Robert Sizer (born 1953) is the founder and director of Peacemaker Mediators. He began his career working for the Department of Health and Social Security (1971–1973) as a Supplementary Benefits Visiting Officer in east London. From there he went on to study Geography (African & Asian Studies) at Sussex University, (1973–1976). In addition to his parish ministry, he is an author, theologian and evangelist with controversial views on Christian Zionism.
*** Dr Mohamed Haidar is Lebanese-born economist and activist with BSc degree from the Lebanese University, BA from Yarmouk University (Jordan), MSc from the Lebanese American University and PhD from Durham University. He worked as Business writer with Al-Hayat daily newspaper. He taught and supervised research work at the American University of London. He also cooperated with the International training Centre of the United Nations (ILO) which is located in Turin – Italy. He worked as Financial Consultant for Arab Investments, a company specialized in financing and managing property and property developments. Dr Haidar is regular guest on several media and broadcasting stations such as BBC, RT Al-Jazeera and other stations discussing Business and political issues in the Middle East.
Admission is Free. Please register for catering purposes – email: d05sa@yahoo.co.uk or text 07795 660 438
