"There are people (the Arabs, Editor’s Note) who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources. They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions. These people have one faith, one language, one history and the same aspirations. No natural barriers can isolate these people from one another … if, per chance, this nation were to be unified into one state, it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and would separate Europe from the rest of the world. Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never-ending wars. It could also serve as a springboard for the West to gain its coveted objects.”Wow! A British report, ten years before the Balfour Declaration, that proves exactly what Arabs have been saying about Israel - that it is a foreign colonialist entity purposely placed in the heart of the Middle East in order to frustrate any chance of Arab unity and nationhood!
From the Campbell-Bannerman Report, 1907
“Imperialist Britain called for forming a higher committee of seven European countries. The report submitted in 1907 to British Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman emphasized that the Arab countries and the Muslim-Arab people living in the Ottoman Empire presented a very real threat to European countries, and it recommended the following actions:
1. To promote disintegration, division, and separation in the region.
2. To establish artificial political entities that would be under the authority of the imperialist countries.
3. To fight any kind of unity—whether intellectual, religious or historical —and taking practical measures to divide the region’s inhabitants.
4. To achieve this, it was proposed that a “buffer state” be established in Palestine, populated by a strong, foreign presence that would be hostile to its neighbours and friendly to European countries and their interests.” (From the Campbell-Bannerman Report, 1907)
Never mind that the second "quote" cannot possibly be from the report since it refers to the report itself.
Now we only have to find these damning quotes.
At least a couple of people on the web have tried to track down the original source since it first surfaced, with no luck.
But hold on: at least some Arabs say that the reason we haven't seen the source of this quote is because of a massive cover-up!
As the report was strategically important it was suppressed, and was never released to the public up till today's date. But lawyer Antoine Canaan referred to it in a lecture entitled "Palestine and the Law," which he delivered in 1949 in the universities of Florence and Paris, and in 1957 the Union of Arab Lawyers published it under the same title. Arab historians' and researchers' points of view differed on whether the document actually existed until the matter was confirmed by the well informed Egyptian writer Muhammad Hasanin Haikal. Haikal mentioned the final recommendation in his book "Secret Negotiations Between the Arabs and Israel" (Page 110). It seems that the report had never been officially released before now due to its importance and gravity.There you go. The British, in 1907, knew that any report they would write would be too controversial in the Arab world decades later so they suppressed it! It took an Egyptian writer to discover and confirm this report.
How much more evidence do you need?
Except for two things:
A search through the book by Haikal, which is really called "Secret channels: the inside story of Arab-Israeli peace negotiations," shows that he doesn't mention Campbell-Bannerman once.
Much more damning is that the actual minutes of the Colonial Conference of 1907 (later called the Imperial Conference) presided over by the Right Hon. Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman are online. Not only are these quotes not there, but there is no mention of "Palestine" or "Arabs."
The 1911 Imperial Conference similarly says nothing about the region.
A two-part book of the history of the Imperial Conferences from 1887 to 1907 also does not mention Palestine or Arabs once.
It seems a safe bet that these quotes were made up, and so is the "evidence" that supposedly proves these fake quotes.
Then again, that is not surprising. Bisan Mitri is a member of the Palestinian BDS National Committee. Nassar Ibrahim is a member of the Marxist Alternative Information Center and former editor of a PFLP publication. It's not like they exactly care about facts.