Palestinians can only halt Israeli apartheid as equals in the same state
A Palestinian-led movement can bring the direction and leadership
needed for turning supporters of the cause into effective advocates
Wednesday 30 January 2019 13:47 UTC
Analysis matters. Much of the failure to effectively address the Palestinian-Israeli issue has to do with confused analysis.
This is not a “conflict”, a word that implies two contending sides of roughly equivalent strength, but a unilateral settler-colonial project of displacement. The issue is not “ending the occupation” or negotiating compromises over technicalities and territorial “swaps”, but decolonising the entire country.
Conceived in this way, what would a political settlement leading to a just, egalitarian and inclusive post-colonial situation - including the right of return - look like? What is our end game? What is the strategy for achieving it, given Israeli intransigence and the support Israel enjoys among the world’s governments? How can civil society overcome the failures of its political leaders?
Defining settler-colonialism
Locking ourselves into a false debate over a “conflict” rather than settler-colonialism explains why we haven’t been able to effectively halt Israeli apartheid, and why we have failed to formulate an effective political programme of decolonisation.
What is settler-colonialism? It is a type of colonialism in which settlers from the outside arrive in a country with the intent of taking it over – in the case of Zionism, of “Judaising” Palestine, transforming an Arab country into a Jewish one.
Rejecting the notion that the indigenous people have national or collective rights of their own (Palestine “is a land without a people”), the settlers then present their own claim of entitlement over the land – in our case, Jews “returning” to their ancient, God-given homeland.
Since the settlers cannot acknowledge the national claims or even the collective existence of the indigenous without undermining their own exclusive claims, no compromise is possible
Through this reversal, the settlers become the natives and the natives become unwanted intruders. This sets up a fundamental paradox: the process of settlement by necessity is a violent one, since no one is willingly displaced; but while displacement is taking place, the settlers claim they merely want “peace”, thus criminalising justified and normal native resistance (“terrorism” being a quintessentially colonial word).
And since the settlers cannot acknowledge the national claims or even the collective existence of the indigenous without undermining their own exclusive claims, no compromise is possible.
The country can only be seen as “belonging” to the settlers-cum-natives once indigenous people disappear from both the national narrative and the landscape. Indeed, disappearing the natives and then normalising the settlers’ national life on their land is the ultimate goal of this form of colonialism.
Derailing the struggle
The only way out is decolonisation. The indigenous can be all but wiped out, as in Argentina, or reduced to minorities inhabiting the margins of society, as in the rest of Latin America, North America, Australia and New Zealand. Or, the settlers can get up and leave when things get untenable, as was the case with the French pieds-noirs in Algeria, the British farmers in Ireland, Kenya and (what was then) Rhodesia, the Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique, and the South Africans in Namibia.
But there are other cases, Israel and apartheid South Africa being the most prominent, in which the settlers are strong enough to achieve considerable displacement and establish a polity that enjoys a certain amount of international acceptance, but not strong enough to decisively defeat the indigenous or marginalise their struggle. It is here that decolonisation is most complex.
A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to hurl stones during demonstrations in southern Gaza on 14 December (AFP)
South Africa began the process. There, the struggle is no longer for liberation, but for social inclusion and development. In Israel/Palestine, the struggle to liberate/decolonise the country has not even begun, derailed by misconceiving it as a “conflict” that can be resolved through technical compromises.
What, then, would the true decolonisation of Palestine entail?
Three key elements are required: the settlers must recognise the collective existence, history, narrative, rights and sovereignty of the indigenous population; an egalitarian, inclusive and democratic political system protecting both the individual and collective rights of all the country’s inhabitants must replace the colonial system of privilege and inequality; and a process must be established in which the settlers acknowledge and accept responsibility for the crimes committed against the indigenous population.
Equal civil rights
If these requirements are fulfilled, the indigenous, in return, will “nativise” the settler population and allow the whole population to move on to a shared normalcy. Only the indigenous can declare an end to the colonial situation.
The movement we represent, the One Democratic State Campaign (ODSC), has put forward a programme for achieving an inclusive post-colonialism. Initiated by Palestinians with the support of their critical Israeli Jewish partners, the 10-point programme rests on four main principles.
As time passes, the very experience of living together in equality and collectively sharing the ups and downs of national life will forge a common civil identity, society and institutions
Firstly, the ODSC promotes a one-state concept that is democratic but recognises and protects the collective rights of the peoples living in the country.
As a constitutional democracy, the new state provides for one common citizenship, one parliament and thoroughly equal civil rights for all the country’s citizens. The authority to govern and make laws will emanate exclusively from the consent of the governed. All structures of domination and repression will be dismantled. Religious laws and customs will be respected within their communal settings.
Secondly, Palestinian refugees and all those displaced since 1948 will enjoy the right of return to their country and to the areas from where they were expelled.
A protest against South Africa's apartheid regime in the 1980s. Like black South Africans, Palestinians must mobilise international support
Thirdly, achieving genuine post-colonisation entails more than just a political settlement. It requires a process of reinventing the country in a way that fundamentally dismantles all structures of domination while re-allocating land, property and economic resources to give equal access to all citizens.
Finally, as time passes, the very experience of living together in equality and collectively sharing the ups and downs of national life will forge a common civil identity, society and institutions. This does not replace existing national, ethnic, religious, gender-based or other forms of community, but integrates them into a common society and polity.
Forging alliances
Such an ambitious plan requires a strategy for achieving it. Together, the stakeholders, Palestinians and their Israeli Jewish allies, must mobilise international civil society, where the Palestinian cause has great support.
International mobilisation aimed at generating support among governments for a one-state solution depends upon the “marching orders” they receive from Palestinians and their Israeli allies. Only a Palestinian-led movement can bring the direction and leadership needed for turning supporters into effective advocates.
We are not naive. Like most whites in South Africa during the anti-apartheid struggle, the vast majority of Israeli Jews will never be active partners in a struggle for the decolonisation of Palestine. The best we can aim for, strategically, is to “soften” them through an inclusive plan of decolonisation to a point where, as in South Africa, they will not actively resist the transition to post-colonialism once their apartheid regime has been made unsustainable.
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Taking a leaf out of the African National Congress playbook, this means forging an alliance between Palestinians and international civil society through trade unions, universities, churches, activist organisations, governments and solidarity campaigns, including the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign.
The ultimate goal is to mobilise broad-based support among the international public that will “trickle up” and generate support among governments for a single democratic state.
Armed with a vision, an analysis, a plan, a strategy, a well-organised community of advocates abroad and grassroots Palestinian leadership – all of which exist – we can succeed. Time to get to work.
- Jeff Halper is an Israeli anthropologist, the director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and a member of the ODSC. He can be reached at jeff@icahd.org.
- Awad Abdelfattah is a political writer and the former secretary-general of the Balad Party. He is the coordinator of the Haifa-based One Democratic State Campaign (ODSC).
To become involved, contact the ODSC at: contact@onestatecampaign.org
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Photo: The Dome of the Rock in al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s old city is pictured on 24 January (AFP)
https://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/we-have-tools-we-need-one-state-solution-time-get-work-1723748806
posted by Satish Sharma at
14:26
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