New petition seeks 'accountability' from UK over role in Israel-Palestine

New petition seeks 'accountability' from UK over role in Israel-Palestine Submitted by Alex MacDonald on Wed, 04/29/2026 - 10:50 The 400-page legal petition asks for reparations, an apology and access to historical documents on British role in Israel's creation British soldiers enter the old city of Jerusalem to impose a curfew following Arab rioting against Jews during the British Mandate in Palestine, 19 October 1938 (Eric Matson/GPO/AFP) Off A new legal petition has called for the UK to accept responsibility for the situation in Israel - Palestine and allow access to historic information on the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinians. The 400-page petition, titled "Regarding Britain’s responsibility for wrongs and reparations in Palestine" and initiated by the Britain Owes Palestine campaign, documents alleged unlawful acts and systemic abuses during the period of 1917 to 1948, from the signing of the Balfour Declaration (in which the UK promised a Jewish homeland in Palestine to the Zionist movement) to the end of the British Mandate on Palestine that saw the creation of Israel. It argues that the UK's governance of the territory - captured from the Ottoman Empire during World War 1 - denied the Palestinian Arab majority meaningful self-governance and established a political system that entrenched apartheid and ethnic cleansing.