Israel Out of Palestine – Resist the U.S. and the Israeli Settler State

Statement from Solidarity & Defense in support of the struggle in Palestine.

We are seeing a new dynamic emerge amongst the Palestinian people, both in Palestine as well as its diaspora. Youth and women once again are taking the lead and developing new forms of struggle, of organization, of solidarity and of the political-social ideas that are necessary to the re-imaging of what Palestine is and will be. As has long been the case, the Palestinian struggle for justice, dignity and freedom impacts the broader struggles for freedom around the world.

The current ceasefire has come about as a result of the pressure from a popular and unprecedented wave of outrage, protest, direct actions, and strikes driven by the determination of the Palestinian people, its global communities and supporters. Gaza and its people have taken the brunt of the attacks with hundreds of dead, tens of thousands displaced and now homeless, and infrastructure – including medical, fresh water processing and its electrical grid – destroyed. The people of Gaza still endure a siege of their territory that has rendered it an open-air prison. But from Gaza to the West Bank to East Jerusalem to the cities of what is called Israel, Palestinians and supporters, collectively, have risen to the defense of one another and against the injustice and brutality imposed upon them.

1. Full support for the Palestinian people and the fight for Palestinian self-determination.

2. The centrality of Palestinian lives in this struggle. Since 1948 Palestinians have been displaced, divided and driven from their homes and lands. Palestinians have been subjected to near a century of ethnic and cultural cleansing, of genocide. And yet Palestinians have consistently fought for their dignity, humanity and re-establishing themselves as a community. We reject any and all narratives or discussion which fails to place this reality as the central concept.

3. Stop all Israeli police and settler attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and an end to the siege of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.  There must be a continued support for the struggle to stop the displacement of Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah and all of historic Palestine. These attacks on Sheik Jarrah and Al-Aqsa are part of the ongoing attempts at ethnic, cultural and religious cleansing of Palestinians through Israeli state and settler terror.

4. Against repression of Palestinians and the Palestinian solidarity movements whether in Palestine or what is called Israel or Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, France or the U.S. Palestinians and the Palestinian solidarity movements face harassment, repression and even murder at the hands of both state security forces as well as reactionary political movements. Whether these attacks come from the Israeli apartheid police, FBI and police here in the U.S. or from forces aimed at the repression of the Palestinian freedom struggle abroad. We must work to defend against these attacks.

5. Active opposition and disruption of the United States for its ongoing attacks on Palestinian people. The United States is the single biggest supporter and arms supplier of Israel and the attacks, repression and murder of Palestinians. This comes through U.S. policy, arms sales, financial support and direct support for all Israeli political and military actions against the Palestinians. We must work to undermine and disrupt the ability of the United States to continue in its agendas. This means stopping all financial support to Israel. We need organized direct action to raise the costs to the U.S. and its anti-Palestinian agenda. We support the general strike of Palestinians and supporters. We support the Italian workers who refused to load arms shipments bound for Israel. We support the South African workers who refuse to unload Israeli ships or handle Israeli goods. We support actions against corporations which supply arms to Israel in the U.S., across Europe and worldwide.

6. Opposition to the Israeli settler state and all forms of contemporary Zionism. The Palestinian people have suffered the consequences of Zionism as manifested and institutionalized through the Israeli regime and state. Whether its political form is social-democratic Labour, right wing Likud or far-Right and fascist Kahanism, all forms of Zionism function the same and have a program of war, repression and displacement of the Palestinian people.

7. For mass popular action and resistance in support of the Palestinian people and for the freedom and liberation of the Palestinian people. General strikes, boycotts, anti-eviction and anti-displacement defense, street mobilizations and direct action, all of these are necessary to defend the Palestinian people.

8. For struggle and action in solidarity with the Palestinian people. We must work to create networks, alliances and coordinated campaigns to support this struggle. This means principled organizing and action. Common fronts of struggle in which we act together are necessary. This also means that all those coming together maintain the right to independent thought and attitudes. We’re not all going to agree on everything and in the course of organizing we may have sharp disagreements on strategies and approaches. We should acknowledge these differences, while we continue the struggle to support the fight for self-determination for the Palestinian people.

9. We need to acknowledge that the ground has shifted. The initiative is with the grassroots struggles across Palestine, what is called Israel and across the region as a whole. The old leaderships and many states in the region have capitulated to Israel and the U.S. Others are more interested in their own power and positions than in the Palestinian struggle. We seek to align with the new forces on the ground in Palestine and across the region, with the independent struggles for liberation. We side with them.

10. The rising struggle of Palestinians is part of the rising struggle of workers and oppressed across the region and across the world: from Palestine to Myanmar to Colombia. International revolution is on the agenda. We need strategies and approaches which support these struggles and help to move them forward, across all borders.

We are seeing a new dynamic emerge amongst the Palestinian people, both in Palestine as well as its diaspora. Youth and women once again are taking the lead and developing new forms of struggle, of organization, of solidarity and of the political-social ideas that are necessary to the re-imaging of what Palestine is and will be. As has long been the case, the Palestinian struggle for justice, dignity and freedom impacts the broader struggles for freedom around the world.

The current ceasefire has come about as a result of the pressure from a popular and unprecedented wave of outrage, protest, direct actions, and strikes driven by the determination of the Palestinian people, its global communities and supporters. Gaza and its people have taken the brunt of the attacks with hundreds of dead, tens of thousands displaced and now homeless, and infrastructure – including medical, fresh water processing and its electrical grid – destroyed. The people of Gaza still endure a siege of their territory that has rendered it an open-air prison. But from Gaza to the West Bank to East Jerusalem to the cities of what is called Israel, Palestinians and supporters, collectively, have risen to the defense of one another and against the injustice and brutality imposed upon them.

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