The protest group Zionist Free Leith submitted a petition to the council on Monday, 4 November, calling for Balfour Street to be renamed Gaza Street.
Balfour Street, named after former prime minister and University of Edinburgh chancellor Arthur Balfour, connects Leith Walk to Pilrig Park.
Despite being prime minister for three years between 1902 and 1905, the most enduring part of Balfour’s legacy is his signing of the Balfour Declaration in 1917.
The declaration was the first time that the British Government openly supported the creation of “ a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.
Many regard the Balfour Declaration as the bedrock for the modern state of Israel.
In a post on Instagram, Zionist Free Leith said the declaration “laid the groundwork for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine”, adding that:
“[T]he continued existence of a street named Balfour perpetuates his legacy of racism and genocide”.
Despite the declaration stating, “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”, Balfour is criticised for not protecting the political rights of Palestinians.
Balfour was the longest serving Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh (1891-1930), where the Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society have called on the institution to denounce “its historic role in the settler colonisation of Palestine and its imperial ties”.
Writing in June following their occupation of the university’s Old College Quad, the group said:
“Balfour’s legacy is remembered today as one explicitly tied to the colonial dispossession of Palestine and dehumanisation of Palestinians…”
Historian Roger Louis describes Balfour’s attitude towards Palestinian people, treating them as if their personal or national aspirations were illegitimate, as “not untypical of his era”.
Zionist Free Leith is an affiliate of the revolutionary-socialist ‘Industrial Workers of the World’ union, that raises money for those affected by the conflict in Palestine and calls for local businesses to “boycott Israeli products”.
In July 2024, the director of UK Lawyers for Israel, Caroline Turner has criticised the group saying:
“[Zionist Free Leith] discriminated against Jews and Zionists, and created a hostile environment for them, and for the egregious breaches of its charitable objects.”
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, over 42,000 Palestinians have been killed since the 7 October attacks against Israel which saw 1,200 people killed and 240 hostages taken.
“Balfour Street – geograph.org.uk – 4993567” by Richard Webb is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
