Creating a more supportive environment for Israel in Britain

The issuing of the Balfour Declaration, on November 2, 1917, was a pivotal moment in the story of the Jewish people’s return to the Land of Israel. The British government set out a model for a Jewish state living in peace alongside its neighbours. For me, it encapsulates how we in Britain look at Zionism today. It points the way to how people in Europe feel about Israel and understanding that helps us promote Israel's cause better in Britain.__But the decision "to view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" had two important components that are sometimes overlooked. Alongside a promise that those Jews who chose to remain outside of the national home were not to suffer discrimination, was a pledge that the rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine were to be protected. For the British, this was an indivisible part of their commitment to a Jewish state. Yes, the Jews must have their home, but not at the expense of anyone else._And so it remains in Britain today. Our polling tells a disturbing story for Israel and her supporters. Non-Jewish Brits still support the right of the Jewish people to have a homeland. But this sympathy for Jewish national self-determination has become conditional on how Israel deals with the Palestinians. How can we confidently support a Jewish homeland, many Brits now ask themselves, given the tragedy of daily life for Palestinians? From the garbage-collector to the prime minister, people judge Israel according to their perception of what it does, not what it says.__It's the consequence of a process that has taken place over many years, starting in the wake of the Six-Day War, and picking up pace after Lebanon in 1982. Now, when Britons look at Israel on their TV screens and in their newspapers, all they see is the Palestinian story. Checkpoints, the security barrier and civilian deaths dominate. News reporters cast the Palestinians as victims and Israelis as aggressors. Our story - the right of the Jewish people to their own homeland - is lost. It's uncomfortably easy to blame Israel.__In October 2006 some said I should have my head examined after I agreed to become the chief executive of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre. But people said the same when I joined the Labour Party in the mid-80s. I have always been a practical idealist, a non-Jew who has always believed in a two-state solution. But I have never been more concerned about the false reality many people are constructing around Israel and the Middle East, here in Britain and abroad.__We live in dangerous times when, in parts of the left especially, you can't be a friend to Islam or to Muslims unless you are anti-Israel. Events in my local constituency, Rochdale, during the 2005 parliamentary elections represented a microcosm of what we are sleepwalking into globally. The Islamists and the left argued that, because I supported Israel and its right to exist, all my work for my Muslim constituents was a lie. They suggested that I was an opportunistic, neo-con, aiming to dupe them.__These kinds of smear campaigns need to be countered right now. The best way of doing so is to point out that the current situation - wherein the Jews have a state and the Palestinians don't - is not one those of us who care about Israel are happy with. We need to re-embrace the spirit of Balfour and United Nations Resolution 242 and tell people that Israel wants peace more than it does land, and that we believe Palestinians should have their state, too. Israel has a responsibility to deliver its side of the bargain. However, Israel it cannot do it alone. If the Palestinians fall short of meeting their responsibilities, we are weakened. And none of this lessens the right of the Jewish people to their own homeland.__Israel's willingness to compromise for peace has never been enough, because Israel cannot achieve it alone. The Palestinians and others in the region also have to want peace. Israel needs a serious interlocutor so that peace can stand a chance. So my question to the left is this: why not concentrate your attention there, rather than on the one player in the region who has always been serious about peace?___Lorna Fitzsimons is chief executive of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre and the former Labour MP for Rochdale.