From the Balfour Declaration to Omdurman: Beit Safafa, Palestine

Abdulaziz Yaqoub

On 2 November 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued a declaration expressing support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, while pledging that the civil and religious rights of the non-Jewish population would not be prejudiced. This was not merely a diplomatic announcement, but a colonial decision issued by a power that did not own the land, intervening in the destiny of a people without consulting them and opening a long chapter of dispossession, displacement, and conflict. The declaration granted what Britain had no right to grant and shaped Palestine’s future according to the will of power and imperial interests, rather than the right of its people to self-determination.

Ever since, the Balfour Declaration has stood as evidence that power may impose a reality, but it cannot create a right, and that maps and decisions, however powerful, cannot erase the memory of peoples or deprive them of their right to their homeland.

Yet the history of Palestine has not been written by documents alone. It has also been preserved in the stones of houses, the memories of ordinary people, and the stories of those who stood alongside its people. Among the enduring testimonies to this history is the Jerusalem village of Beit Safafa, associated in popular memory with a highly significant name: “Palestine’s Omdurman.”

This name was no coincidence. The Sudanese left a legacy in this village that extended beyond military participation to become part of the life and history of the place itself.

In Jerusalem, there was a neighbourhood known as the African Quarter, where Sudanese people lived, some of whom had settled in the Holy Land years earlier. As confrontations intensified in 1948, a number of them volunteered and joined the ranks of the Holy War Army, led by Abdul Qader Al-Husseini.

In March of that year, volunteers, including Sudanese fighters, arrived in Beit Safafa, where they joined the local residents and Arab combatants. The Egyptian forces stationed in Bethlehem also included Sudanese, Saudi, Yemeni, and Libyan volunteers. Palestine, therefore, was never a cause confined within its geographical borders; it inspired men united by a shared commitment to justice and dignity.

The Sudanese took part in defending Beit Safafa, fought in the surrounding areas, and some undertook guard duties. As a result, the village became associated in popular memory with the nickname “Palestine’s Omdurman.”

Local accounts indicate that Sudanese fighters participated in the attack on Makor Haim and succeeded, for a time, in driving the settlers out of the settlement before returning to Beit Safafa because of their limited weapons and resources. One account mentions approximately forty Egyptian and Sudanese fighters, alongside nearly thirty young men from the village, who took part in its defence. Their resources were limited, but these men understood that the duty to defend one’s land does not depend on guarantees of victory.

Among the most prominent figures remembered from that period was Mohamed Ali Mustafa, a man of Sudanese origin who lived in the African Quarter. He began his participation in the ranks of the Holy War Army with the rank of corporal. His rank was subsequently raised in the Egyptian forces to Yuzbashi (captain), and he became the commander of the Beit Safafa garrison.

With the ceasefire and the withdrawal of Arab forces from positions south of Jerusalem, an attempt emerged to divide Beit Safafa along the railway line. Historical memory recounts that Mohamed Ali Mustafa rejected the partition of the village he had defended. The village was eventually divided, but while the maps separated the land, they could not divide its collective memory.

Not all Sudanese residents left Jerusalem after the withdrawal of the forces. Some remained and settled among its people, and their stories became intertwined with those of Jerusalem’s families. Among these accounts is the story of a Sudanese man known as “Hamayel,” who became associated with one of the city’s families and eventually formed part of the collective memory of the place. Thus, the connection between Sudan and Jerusalem extended beyond the battlefields into homes and everyday life.

Palestinian historian Mustafa Musa Ahmed Osman played an important role in preserving and documenting this history, recording the names of the men of Beit Safafa and its martyrs. He published his book The Martyrs of Beit Safafa in Memory, along with other works on the village and its history, ensuring that these stories would not disappear into the dust of time.

The Sudanese presence in the Palestinian cause did not end with the events of 1948. Nearly two decades later, another generation carried Palestine in its heart. Among its prominent figures was Mohamed Saleh Omar, a lawyer, university professor, and minister, originally from Badin Island in northern Sudan, who grew up and received his education in Omdurman.

In the late 1960s, Mohamed Saleh Omar travelled to Palestine and joined the Palestinian resistance. He spent some time in its camps before returning to Sudan in 1969. He subsequently joined the Ansar movement on Aba Island, where his life came to an end during the events of 1970, at the beginning of the May Regime, which had a leftist orientation.

His story intersects with that of the men of Beit Safafa in its spirit of solidarity and commitment to justice, despite the differences in time and circumstances. Those men carried Sudan to Jerusalem, while he carried Palestine in his heart before returning to his homeland to continue his national journey. His was the story of a generation that did not regard geographical borders as barriers to supporting a just cause.

Here, history takes us back to the Balfour Declaration: the decision through which the colonial power believed it could shape the destiny of a people and turn a declaration into an irreversible reality. Yet Palestinians continued to hold fast to their land and identity, passing their collective memory from one generation to the next, ensuring that their cause remained alive despite the dispossession and displacement they endured.

Today, as Palestine continues to live with the consequences of that declaration and Sudan faces a war threatening its security and social stability, these stories acquire renewed contemporary significance. Every people has its own experience and particular circumstances, but human dignity and the right to live in a secure homeland are indivisible. Loyalty to Palestine does not mean merely recalling the names of resistance fighters; it also means rejecting injustice and violations wherever they occur, and safeguarding every person’s right to life, freedom, and dignity in our own reality.

The Balfour Declaration began with just a few words, yet they opened a century of tragedy. The men of Beit Safafa and Mohamed Saleh Omar possessed neither international resolutions nor imperial power, but they possessed a conscience that led them to stand alongside those whose rights were at stake.

Peace be upon those who carried Sudan to Jerusalem, and upon those who carried Palestine in their hearts back to Omdurman. Distances separated them, but justice united them.

Between the Balfour Declaration, which sought to dispossess a people of their homeland, and the stance of those men who stood with its rightful owners, one truth endures: power may impose a reality, but it cannot create a right, nor can it strip peoples of their memory.