Palestinian Students Forced Top British Diplomat to Leave Beir Zeit University

Beirzeit , West Bank,(ST)_Palestinian students on Tuesday forced a British Diplomat to cut his visit to Beirzeit university in the West Bank and prevented him from giving a lecture in protest of the pro-Israeli British policies and the role played by Britain  to fulfilling the Balfour Declaration .

Demonstrators banged and kicked a car carrying Consul General Sir Vincent Fean as he hurriedly left the campus, denounced Britain’s support for Israel and shouted at him to leave.

A video footage showed the consul general being ushered back to his car by security officials, surrounded by a crowd of students chanting “Get out of Beir Zeit!”AFP reported  

It added that some protesters  held up posters of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and placards condemning the Balfour Declaration of 1917 – a British pledge of support for the establishment of a Jewish “national home” in Palestine, then under a British mandate. One of the hoisted  placards written in Arabic and English said :” I am a refugee because of Balfour . A picture of a Palestinian prisoner was stuck onto the vehicle.

A spokesman for the British Consulate-General alleged that  “Sir Vincent had hoped to underline Britain’s deep commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state, and the urgency of progress on the peace process in 2013.

The incident recalls what students of the  same university did  in 2000 when they threw stones at visiting French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and demanded to leave the university.

T. Fateh