THE LEGAL PETITION

Between 1917 and 1948, Britain occupied and exercised unlawful control over Palestine through its self-granted Mandate, committing multiple breaches of international law. It reneged on its promises to support Arab independence and made contradictory ones—especially in the Balfour Declaration. The 1936–39 Arab Rebellion was met with systematic repression—arbitrary detention, collective punishment, torture, and killings—amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Britain then abandoned Palestine in 1948, having fostered the violent conflict

Britain has never acknowledged that all this was wrong.

A group of Palestinians whose lives have been shaped by these events have come together in September 2025 to demand that acknowledgement, an apology for Britain’s wrongdoing and the start of a process of accountability and reparation. The Petitioners’ demands are not novel, but the means they have chosen to make them are: over 400 pages, their Petition outlines the incontrovertible evidence of Britain’s actions and failures, the principles of international law applicable at the time that were violated then and which remain unremedied now and the process by which reparation should be made. The Petition must be answered because Britain owes Palestine.