Palestine This Week: From Balfour to genocide, the war to eradicate Palestine

Palestine This Week begins by marking the anniversary of the infamous Balfour Declaration. Host Nasim Ahmed and guest Mouin Rabbani explore how this single document from 1917 fundamentally altered the trajectory of the Middle East. Their discussion examines how, without this fateful British promise, the region might have evolved very differently – without the creation of millions of Palestinian refugees, without newly formed Arab states being forced to manage an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, and without the establishment of what became a garrison state whose dominance of the region would be prioritised by Western powers above the interests of local populations.

The show features an in-depth analysis of Israel’s military campaign in northern Gaza, which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and others have condemned as ethnic cleansing, pointing to the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure and deliberate prevention of humanitarian aid. Highlighting new data from Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) that reveals that at least 74 per cent of the fatalities in Gaza are civilians, challenging the official Israeli narrative about the nature and impact of the occupation’s military operations; Israeli officials claim that half of those killed are Hamas fighters.

Explosive developments within Israel are also discussed, including a major scandal involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office allegedly fabricating documents to undermine ceasefire negotiations and hostage release talks, and Israel’s controversial legislation to shutter UNRWA’s operations, which has sparked an international outcry and calls for accountability at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The programme concludes with an analysis of how Israel’s bombing campaign is being portrayed in Western media, including accusations of bias at the BBC from more than 100 of its own staff members and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy coming under fire for his ignorant and dangerous stance on the Gaza genocide. Looking ahead, our experts discuss the potential impact of US elections on Palestine and the wider region.