Persecution and Liberation

I have been very vocal about Palestine over the past year. Palestine is a cause that I have felt support for since I first learn about the apartheid, maybe 20 years ago. When the situation became increasingly intensified, I joined together with some local people to found the Dorset branch of Palestine Solidarity Campaign. It’s one of many campaign groups that supports liberation for Palestinians, and there may be a few tactical differences between groups, but they often work together and support each other. Our local campaign group has organised many protests, and arranged transportation to London for the big ones. I’ve been to a few of these big London protests now and the feeling there is passionately hopeful. Some people say that holding a placard doesn’t achieve anything, but I think there are lots of small actions which can accumulate into a greater movement for change. There is something really powerful about a large amount of people coming together in solidarity. It’s a kind of magic in itself. 

What we want is a free and peaceful Palestine with an ethic of multi-culturalism that accepts all religions and ethnicities. What we oppose is ultranationalism, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide. I say that’s what “we” want but I speak for myself right now. This is what I want. I want every country to respect indigenous rights, to oppose racism and religious discrimination, and to allow people to move freely between borders. Ultimately I want a world without borders, because I believe that freedom of movement is essential to our wellbeing. 

Jewish Safety

Jewish people should understand this well, and many support Palestinian liberation. The way that I understand Judaism is that it’s a religion that creates a sense of nationhood in its members. A nation without borders, a diaspora. If we look back in time to the Middle Ages, we can understand the relationship between religion, nationality, and ethnicity. Back then, the rulers of the land could impose taxes and restrictions on people, based on their perceived loyalties. Jewish people were dispersed throughout Europe, but not always welcome. They could be seen as a threat to the dominant religion and culture, or tolerated as a minority. Sometimes the Jews became scapegoats for societal problems, along with other minorities.

The solution was often for Jews to create their own autonomous communities. In certain Eastern European towns, such as Lublin, Kraków, Lviv, Tarnów, Vilnius, Berdychiv, and Pinsk, Jews formed a majority or near-majority. Whereas many Jews converted to Islam in the Middle East (or West Asia as it should be known), expulsion from Europe caused many Jews to move to Jerusalem. By the late 19th century, Jews made up 60% of the population of Jerusalem. 

Ottoman Palestine (1517–1917) was home to a mix of Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Muslims made up the majority of the population, particularly in rural areas. They were primarily Sunni Muslims and included Arabs, Turks, and other ethnic groups. Christians were the second-largest religious group, found mostly in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth, with various denominations. Jews lived mostly in Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, and Tiberias. Christians and Jews were both considered a protected minority within Palestine, but they did have to pay a non-Muslim tax, and were restricted from certain roles. 

West Asia became a focus of conflict during the First World War.  British forces invaded Palestine and captured Jerusalem. The Ottoman Empire was defeated and divided up between the British and French Empires. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 promised to create a Jewish “homeland” in Palestine. British colonial administration of Palestine ended in 1947 with the Partition Plan for Palestine, which was the beginning of apartheid. 

The Nakba

An estimated 700,000–750,000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes. Jewish militia carried out operations to expel Palestinians from strategic areas, such as Deir Yassin (April 1948) and Lydda and Ramle (July 1948). Over 400 villages were massacred and destroyed. Many other villages were abandoned as people fled for their lives. Refugee camps formed in Gaza and the West Bank. Neighbouring countries also took in many refugees. Properties which had been left abandoned by refugees were seized by the Israeli state which formed in 1948. 

The systematic abuse of Palestinians, forcing them out of their homes, abducting them, holding them hostage, torturing, raping, and murdering them, has persisted over the decades as the settler colony of Israel has expanded. The Israeli government are vocal about their plans to expand not just into Gaza and the West Bank, but beyond the borders of Palestine into neighbouring countries. The settler colonisers have been moving in from the USA and Europe, granted "vacant" land that has been ethnically cleansed. Over the last year, a colossal downpour of bombs has obliterated Gaza, supplied by American and European allies to Israel. The bombs deliberately target schools, hospitals, mosques, residential areas, and journalists. This is a genocide, as ruled by international courts. 

The "two-state solution" of apartheid and settler-colonisation should be seen as a crime against Palestinian people. Jewish people around the world recognise the immorality of the genocide. We are crying out for justice, not just for Palestinians but for all oppressed people.