The discussion in the Jewish-Palestinian International Solidarity movement was initiated on the basis that the misdirection taken by the anti-civilian acts in non-1967 territories, propagated mainly by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, negates the work done by the Jewish Solidarity movement. The contention is not based on a moralistic argument but rather presents the political impasse presented by the attacks upon our People instead of the forces of repression. Because one party is weaker than the other does not serve to dismiss such actions either, as if some useful purpose is being served.
The continuing attacks on mainly Jewish civilians in Israel, as well as in France, in addition to the torching of the Synagogue in Toronto is putting our work in peril since we cannot approach the Jewish communities easily under such circumstances. Usually the Jewish solidarity movement has left Palestinian internal political divisions to the Palestinian people themselves, but the Jewish communities are affected in general now for being Jewish rather than agents of the Zionist State and we cannot let this issue continue without our own intervention.
To begin with, Sergio Yahni sentenced to 28 days put it well here in his letter;
“The failed attempt of leaders of the Labour Party to impose a settlement on the Palestinian people has dragged us into a ‘dirty war’ for which Palestinians and Israelis are paying with their lives. The racist violence of the Israeli security establishment, who do not see people but only ‘terrorists,’ has deepened the vicious cycle of violence for both Palestinians and Israelis.
“Israelis are also the victims of this war. They are the victims of the irresponsible and failed aggression of the army over which you are responsible. Even when you waged the most deadly attacks on the Palestinian people, you did not fulfill your duty: giving security to the citizens of Israel. Tanks in Ramallah cannot stop your most monstrous creation: the desperation which explodes in coffee shops. You, and the military officers under your command, have created human beings whose humanity disappears out of desperation and humiliation. You have created this despair and you cannot stop it.”
However, this statement (our traditional response) is not appropriate now that we are making a breakthrough. The opportunities for comprehension in the Jewish communities will be slowed down, so prolonging the war and its intensity. We are faced with serious reactionary tendencies in the Palestinian and Arab political culture that have substantial support amongst the people who are not being informed about the Jewish opposition to Zionist domination, not only of the Palestinians but the Jewish People as well.
The reactionary Palestinian tendencies put Jewish solidarity work in great difficulty. There is no absolute right by any party concerned, all is relative and reciprocal. That has been precisely the problem presented by the Zionist ideology which only concerns itself with one nation irrespective of the rights of any other. In the case of the Jewish-American journalist Pearl it is evident that he was beheaded for being Jewish. He was killed after being obliged to say “I am a Jew…”. The Hamas and Islamic Jihad political movements are only a reflection of this imbedded anti-Jewish sentiments that seek out the books Mein Kamph and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as authentic sources of information. Such tendencies have broad popular support out of a lack of media information of the Jewish dissident movement, based on broad Jewish concern for the Palestinian People. We are being led to conclude that the Palestinian liberation movement is being overtaken by a chauvinist and racist tendency that should be opposed, as it is by the Palestinians who are seeking to build the revolution for Palestinian Independence.
The Zionist military apparatus does not care as much about Jewish people as it cares for its State. Jewish lives do not count in Zionist strategy and wasting Jewish lives by bombings will not achieve the goal of intimidating the Zionist machine to hold back its power. The assumption that Israel is a democracy and will respond to the will of its population is mistaken. Bombings do not work other than feed Zionist strategic intentions. As a result Sharon and Netanyahu are ready to take the advantage and attack on an even larger scale.
We should demand that;
1) anti-civilian actions be ended by all parties concerned, which is apart from the actual conflict and which in turn should be transformed into negotiations, together with mass mobilization, as well as resistance,
2) notwithstanding but recognizing the already announced condemnation made by Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, the chauvinist parties should be condemned by the Palestinian and Arab organizations with which we work politically, as well as condemning the Zionist-Jewish parties that we continue to struggle against,
3) coalitions should include a provision for the condemnation of anti-civilian actions of both Peoples,
4) coalitions and organizations issue press releases to condemn such anti-civilian actions naming the groups that carry them out,
5) the Palestinian and Arab news agencies provide the information of the activities of the Jewish dissident and refusnik movement for the benefit of the Palestinian and Arab public in all the countries concerned.
6) and further, that the Israeli dissident organizations always take on the responsibility of producing the translation into Arabic of all public communications as well as Hebrew, despite the work done to already translate into American-English.
There is a crucial need to transform hatred between Peoples into their true causes, and that is both ;
1) the Hegemonic State that Zionism has imposed on the Palestinian People é a State imposed out of ideology and not necessity; basically because the Western Christian States did not consider the Jewish refugees important enough to be admitted as immigrants, or to merit a territory, while we were nonetheless useful enough to impose upon the Palestinians,
as well as,
2) the exclusivist hegemony of one God against another God’s people ( in spite of their professed universal monotheism) as if Christianity has become the model for Islamic Fundamentalism as well as Zionism. No wonder they call it the Christian Era (CE)!
Rather than each People waging war on the other it is necessary to establish reciprocal relations in resistance to the manipulations of the current power interests. Silence is no longer permissible, not that it ever was. We not only should speak out against the occupation of the Palestinians but we must do so in order to counter the anti-Jewish tendencies amongst the Palestinians who have gained popular support due to the desperation induced by the “Israel Defence Force”. The Palestinians will not be forced to submit or leave their lands, but they are being brought to the point of hatred against the Jewish People in our entirety irrespective of our political position. This is the Sharon strategy.
We don’t rest silent because Zionist ideologues tell us we have no right to speak out if we have chosen not to live in Israel. Likewise we shall now speak out against Hamas and the Islamic Jihad even though we are not Palestinians.
Permanent war is the prospect of the Phalangist Sharon who seeks to destroy Palestinian civil society. The response to this war then must be permanent revolution. To be clear about it, the need exists for a Jewish revolution together with the Palestinian revolution. That is possible only by the transformation of the fanatic tendencies in Palestinian political society by political contestation.
How are we to address the Jewish communities under such conditions? One opinion is that we need not bother since it is assumed that the Jewish people are lost to the Zionist parties. Another approach condemns the entire Jewish People and the culture to a political hell as some sort of punishment. Those who take on the responsibility of building a solidarity movement among those who could make the greatest difference in the upcoming events, the Jewish people, may argue that it is not possible for Sharon and the IDF to defeat the fanatics of the Palestinian struggle. It is only possible for us, the Jewish dissident movement, to address the Palestinian People in all sincerity and ask for solidarity between our Peoples to defeat the Zionist deformation of our political culture. In reciprocity, we assume the responsibility of confronting the reactionary tendencies amongst the Jewish People to deter the degeneration into a fascist mentality. There is no need to exaggerate, precision is the sharpest tool available but it only works if we use it.
Note: The Solidarity with Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) student movement is to congratulated for their condemnation of anti-civilian attacks as printed in its grand brochure, as well as the Palestinian Authority’s strong condemnation of the current tragedies.
