What if the UK publicly apologised for the Balfour Declaration—and promised reparations to the Palestinian people?

Inspired by archival materials, Farah Saleh’s unique and powerful performance lecture investigates ways of confronting the United Kingdom’s colonial legacy in Palestine. The role of Arthur James Balfour, the country’s Prime Minister (1902-1905), Foreign Secretary (1916-1919), Chancellor and Rector of many UK prominent universities (1886-1930), is examined in the denial of Palestinian political rights in their homeland. Saleh takes us this through history, fiction, and fantasy, situated in the future, in 20454. The audience interact as members of the reparations’ evaluation committee reflecting on the imagined apology letter that the United Kingdom will have issued in 20254 to the Palestinian people.

Helen Trew, Director Art27 Scotland said:

“At the heart of the performance is a confrontation with the UK’s historical responsibility in displacing Palestinians and undermining their right to self-determination. Drawing on frameworks such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Art27 considers how the ongoing occupation continues to deny Palestinians’ ability to freely pursue their cultural development and indigenous identity. Audience members are not passive observers – they become part of the narrative as a reparations evaluation committee, asked to assess the impact of the imagined UK actions. This framing turns the performance into a space for collective reflection and engagement with our own history.

As part of Art27 Scotland’s CULTURE = LIFE programme for Refugee Week 2025, this performance embodies the programme’s ethos: that cultural rights are human rights, and that art can be a vital force for truth-telling and transformative justice.”