Britain failed to grasp damage done to India, Palestine: William Dalrymple

Scottish historian and author William Dalrymple has said Britain has failed to grasp the scale of the damage it inflicted on both India and Palestine, arguing that its role in Palestine represents an even “darker chapter” of imperial history.

“Just like the Brits don’t understand what they did to India, I think they understand even less what they did to Palestine,” Dalrymple said, holding Britain directly responsible for the humanitarian catastrophe that followed the end of the Palestine Mandate.

Dalrymple pointed out that when Britain took over the Palestine Mandate in 1917 under the League of Nations, Christians and Muslims made up around 95 per cent of the population. By the time the British left, he said, nearly 85 per cent of the population had been ethnically cleansed. “Many of these people ended up in the sand dunes of Gaza. It’s a very clear responsibility — there’s no question about that,” he said.