Social media users have a circulated an image of what appears to be an “official” statement issued by the University of Edinburgh apologizing to the Palestinian people for the colonial legacy of the university embodied by the “Balfour declaration” of former UK PM James Arthur Balfour, who served as Edinburgh University's chancellor from 1891 to 1930.

However, further inspection into the circulated statement reveals that it is part of a dance theater piece by Farah Saleh, a Palestinian dancer and choreographer currently based in Scotland, the play is set in the year 2043 and the fictional apology was written in 2023 and presented to everyone in the audience last friday as part of of the performance.

The fictitious statement reads as follows:

“As a university that formally and publicly embraces the decolonial agenda, The University of Edinburgh feels the obligation to apologize to the Palestinian people for the Balfour declaration of 1917.

“The declaration was written by Arthur James Balfour, the University's longest serving chancellor (1891-1930), in which he granted Palestine as a national home for the Jewish people, while denying the indigenous Palestinian people self-determination and freedom in their own homeland.

“With this apology the University aims at confronting its colonial legacy and starting a decolonial process of reparations for the Palestinian people through five concrete actions:

“First, the University will acknowledge publicly Balfour's colonial legacy in Palestine and his role in the creation of a larger repressive and racialized global order, for example in Ireland and South Africa, stemming from his belief that "men are not born equal". The University will also offer a foundational course to all its students on its colonial legacy.

“Second, the University will remove restrictions to free speech on the topic of Israel/Palestine by suspending the controversial IHRA definition of antisemitism, which draws false equivalences between critique of Israel's state policies and antisemitism.

“Third, the University will review, publicly disclose, and divest from all investments in companies that directly or indirectly profit from the illegal military occupation and colonization of Palestine, as well as from research with weapons companies that provide arms to Israel.

“Fourth, the University will allocate resources for scholarships to Palestinian students to come and study at The University of Edinburgh and for university students and staff to engage with knowledge exchange projects at Palestinian universities.

“Fifth, the University will endorse a one state solution, which would allow for the creation of a new one state in Palestine/Israel for all its citizens, on the political basis of one person one vote, compensation and right of return to the Palestinian refugees.”