The Empire of Broken Promises: Why Britain Must Be Held Solely Accountable for the Israeli-Palestinian-Iranian Conflict and Its Global Legacy of Chaos

 

By Isaac Christopher Lubogo

 

I. INTRODUCTION:

 

There comes a time when truth must stand, stripped of diplomatic varnish and polished distortions. That time is now. For far too long, Britain has escaped the dock of history, cleverly draping its imperial sins in robes of “civilization” and “law.” Yet the blood on the hands of the British Empire is not symbolic—it is literal. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle East, where British colonial hegemony is not just a contributing factor—it is the original sin of the Israeli-Palestinian-Iranian conflict.

 

We must therefore argue, unapologetically, that Britain bears sole and full historical responsibility for the quagmire in this region and must be held accountable—not just morally, but politically and economically—for the devastation it sowed.

 

 

 

II. THE MESS IN THE MIDDLE EAST: ORIGINATING IN WHITEHALL, NOT GAZA

 

1. The Balfour Declaration (1917): A Promise Britain Had No Right to Make

 

Britain, then an occupying imperial power in the Middle East after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, promised to support “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,” without consulting the indigenous Arab population who already lived there in overwhelming numbers.

 

This unilateral declaration:

 

Violated the principle of self-determination enshrined later in international law.

 

Ignored local sovereignty and historic Arab presence.

 

Created an irreconcilable dual promise, as Britain had earlier assured Arab leaders of independence for helping fight the Ottomans.

 

 

 

2. Divide and Rule: Britain’s Strategic Disorder

 

Britain deliberately inflamed ethnic, religious, and political divisions to weaken resistance and tighten control:

 

In Palestine: sowed conflict between Arabs and Jews to delay independence.

 

In Iran: engineered the 1953 CIA-MI6 coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh for nationalizing oil, leading to dictatorship and radicalization.

 

In Iraq: installed minority Sunni elites over Shiite majorities.

 

In India: partitioned a continent along religious lines, birthing Pakistan and India in rivers of blood.

 

In Nigeria: lumped 250 ethnic groups into one fragile unit.

 

In Uganda: created tribal aristocracies, privileging certain groups to control others.

 

 

3. Artificial States, Permanent Conflict

 

Britain left behind artificial states without identity, infrastructure, or reconciliation mechanisms. It:

 

Drew arbitrary borders (e.g., Sykes-Picot Agreement) across tribal lands.

 

Created “client states” that served British interests rather than native aspirations.

 

Trained colonial armies to defend British extraction, not protect citizens.

 

 

Britain was not building nations—it was building scaffolds for plunder.

 

 

III. THE CASE FOR SOLE RESPONSIBILITY: WHY BRITAIN AND BRITAIN ALONE MUST BE BLAMED

 

1. They Had Power. They Used It. They Broke It.

 

The British Empire was not a neutral referee—it was the author of the script. At the height of its power, it dictated borders, overthrew leaders, rigged economies, and corrupted political systems.

 

Britain did not consult native populations on governance or statehood.

 

It invented “protectorates” as a euphemism for robbery.

 

It used legal frameworks (British common law, indirect rule) not to empower—but to entrench colonial dominance.

 

 

2. Britain Profited from the Chaos

 

Britain enriched itself through chaos:

 

Controlled Middle Eastern oil through colonial monopolies.

 

Sold arms to both sides in conflicts it helped create.

 

Enforced unequal treaties that benefited British corporations.

 

 

Even today, companies born in the colonial era (e.g., BP, formerly Anglo-Persian Oil Company) profit from geopolitical instability seeded by Britain.

 

3. They Left the Scene Without Cleaning the Blood

 

Upon withdrawal, Britain:

 

Left behind no roadmap for peace.

 

Left no functional institutions.

 

Left militarized sectarian societies, ensuring continued dependency and conflict.

 

 

They abandoned their imperial mess like a thief fleeing a burning house.

 

 

 

IV. GLOBAL ECHOES OF BRITAIN’S COLONIAL CHAOS: A COMPARATIVE ACCOUNT

 

1. India–Pakistan–Kashmir Conflict

 

Britain partitioned India overnight in 1947, displacing over 15 million people and killing at least 2 million.

 

The Kashmir dispute was deliberately unresolved, guaranteeing decades of Indo-Pakistani wars and nuclear brinkmanship.

 

 

2. Sudan–South Sudan

 

Britain administered North and South Sudan as separate colonies, fostering religious and ethnic alienation.

 

Upon exit, it forced a hasty union, creating civil war and the eventual split.

 

Britain left behind no peace mechanism, only deep fractures.

 

 

3. Kenya (Mau Mau Uprising)

 

Britain ran torture camps, including castrations and mass detentions.

 

Only in 2013 did the British government admit to war crimes, paying minimal reparations.

 

Yet no institutional reparations have been offered to rebuild those communities.

 

 

4. Uganda

 

Britain manufactured tribalism by empowering Buganda monarchs, sowing internal conflict.

 

It introduced Asian capitalists, only to later abandon them to Idi Amin’s rage.

 

It structured Uganda’s economy around export extraction (cotton, coffee)—not development.

 

 

V. IS JUSTICE POSSIBLE WITHOUT ACCOUNTABILITY?

 

The answer is no. Justice demands both truth and restitution.

 

1. Britain Must Apologize – Officially and Unconditionally

 

Not with PR statements, but through parliamentary declarations and state ceremonies, acknowledging the destruction it caused.

 

2. Reparations Must Be Made

 

Financial restitution for war crimes, displacement, and economic plunder.

 

Investment in rebuilding institutions and peacebuilding in ex-colonies.

 

Debt cancellation for former colonies whose underdevelopment was engineered.

 

 

3. Historical Education Must Be Rewritten

 

British schoolchildren still learn empire as glory, not brutality. The curriculum must include the real costs of imperialism—enslavement, starvation, genocide.

 

 

VI. CONCLUSION: THE EMPIRE NEVER DIED — IT MORPHED

 

Britain’s crimes are not in the past. They are present-tense consequences. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict rages on in lands Britain promised to two peoples at once. Iran’s anti-Western fervor was born from British-backed coups. Africa’s governance failures are the children of broken colonial institutions.

 

Britain must stop pretending to be a distant spectator to a fire it ignited. It is time the world holds her to account—not just for what she did, but for what she left undone.

 

Because until the empire pays its dues, the world cannot heal.

About the author:

Isaac Christopher Lubogo is a Ugandan Legal Scholar | Philosopher | Political Analyst | Son of Africa