UK Faces Pressure for Colonial-Era Accountability Following Palestinian State Recognition

Thu Oct 16 2025 22:22:02 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Amid the UK's recent acknowledgment of Palestinian statehood, calls intensify for reparations and apologies regarding past colonial abuses.

In the wake of the UK's recognition of Palestine as a state, Palestinian representatives have urged the UK government to address historical grievances related to colonial-era war crimes. A legal petition has been submitted, seeking an apology and reparations for alleged abuses committed during the British Mandate period from 1917 to 1948. Advocates argue that acknowledging this past is essential for fostering understanding and reconciliation. The Foreign Office's response remains unclear, but historical evidence of alleged war crimes presents a complicated legacy.

Palestinians pursuing an apology from the UK over colonial-era war crimes allegations have urged the government to respond in light of its recognition this week of a state of Palestine.

The group submitted a 400-page legal petition to the Foreign Office earlier this month seeking an official apology and reparations from the UK.

They represent 13 families who say they were subjected to violence, exile, or repression during the period known as the British Mandate in historical Palestine from 1917 until 1948.

Victor Kattan, who speaks for the petitioners, said the government had a responsibility to acknowledge what took place to advance understanding and knowledge about its past.

Speaking to the BBC during this week's UN conference in New York, he welcomed Britain's decision to recognise a Palestinian state - but argued it had not properly addressed the UK's historical conduct and legacy.

Britain denied self-government to the Palestinian community... It empowered a high commissioner to behave like a dictator [and] Palestinian people bore the brunt, he said.

Recognition alone does not deal with all these historic problems which for Palestinians are not history but the living reality to this day, said Prof Kattan, an expert in public international law at the University of Nottingham.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) would not confirm whether ministers had been made aware of the legal petition saying it did not routinely comment on them, although the BBC understands that Deputy Prime Minister and former Foreign Secretary David Lammy is to ask officials to look into the submission.

It documents three decades of alleged abuses by UK forces during mounting violence until 1948, after which the UK rapidly withdrew and the State of Israel was declared.

The alleged abuses by British forces range from murder, torture, expulsion, and collective punishment which the submission says repressed the Arab Palestinian population amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

A 2022 BBC review found historical evidence of arbitrary killings, arson of entire villages, and the use of human shields by strapping civilians to military vehicles.

The UK Ministry of Defence stated it was aware of historical allegations against armed forces personnel during this period and would review thoroughly any evidence provided.

During World War One, Britain invaded Palestine, driving out the Ottoman Turks, facilitating the 1917 Balfour Declaration that promised a Jewish homeland. Violence escalated between Arabs and Jews, culminating in the Arab Revolt from 1936-1939, which was brutally suppressed.

The Palestinian petitioners aim for reparations akin to previous UK concessions over colonial-era war crimes, including apologies for the 1948 Batang Kali massacre in Malaya and settlements regarding abuses during the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya.

The recognition of a Palestinian state by the UK, France, and others was met with approval from Palestinians but rejected by Israel and the US, who argue it hampers efforts to mediate a ceasefire in the ongoing Gaza conflict.