Israel/Palestine

See our publications on Israel/Palestine, and articles on fighting left antisemitism.

The Palestinians in Israel

About 2.3 million Palestinians live in Gaza, about 3 million in the West Bank, and about 2.1 million in Israel or East Jerusalem. More than 3 million live in Jordan, and the other four million or so are scattered, with the biggest numbers in Syria, Chile, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the USA. Of those segments, now, the 21% (and increasing) Arab population in Israel and East Jerusalem probably has the greatest leverage in securing a democratic outcome for the much-defeated Palestinian people. It was not always so. But now the population of Gaza has been politically expropriated by Hamas...

Behind the prisoner-hostage deal

Standing Together has criticised the choice of prisoners exchanged with hostages by the Israeli government on the grounds that many exchanged are Palestinians, mostly under 18 and many of them citizens of Israel, held with no conviction. By including these prisoners in the exchange, Standing Together argues that this “deepens efforts to criminalise Palestinian citizens, gives Hamas more power over the lives of Palestinians in Israel, and sets a dangerous precedent”. It reports that detainees’ lawyers were against the deal. With prisoners who have not faced trial, there is no guarantee the...

For analysis, not wordplay!

We are right to criticise “slippery slogans” around Israel/Palestine as elsewhere. Se must push back against another problem too: a sole and superficial focus on individual words, on their emotional and rhetoric force over substance, and using these for virtue-signalling or “gotcha!” politics. One recent protest chant is “Not a war! Not a conflict!” The assertion is false. “Conflict” and “war” do not imply symmetry in military might or indeed culpability. The might of the Israeli military far outweighs that of Hamas, though Hamas and Hezbollah are armed to the teeth by Iran, a dictatorship...

Another look at Gaza demonstration slogans

It is good that so many people turn out for Gaza ceasefire protests. It is bad, and odd, that placards and megaphones on those protests are dominated by slogans devised by groups who want not so much a ceasefire as Hamas to war and win; and that most protesters follow the placards and chants without signalling dissent. Best if we, Workers’ Liberty, and other groups who want peace, two states, workers’ unity, can be numerous enough to have our placards and banners dominate. Pending that, let’s analyse some of the slogans. “Free Palestine” was first brought onto marches in a big way by Socialist...

Building Nottingham Friends of Standing Together

In Nottingham, a Friends of Standing Together (FOST group) started only days after the 7 October massacre. It was the initiative of AWL members along with others including a recent Palestinian refugee and left-wing members of the Jewish community. It includes many Jewish activists who have been active in the community around the Liberal synagogue in the town, with initiatives like Salaam-Shalom kitchens offering free meals to Jewish and Muslim students. We had worked with them over issues dating back to the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. They and other activists, despite their feelings of...

The hope in Israel-Palestine

How can the political reality in Israel/Palestine be changed? And how can those, like us, many thousands of miles distant from the territory, best contribute to struggles for that change? Workers’ Liberty agrees with those Palestinians and Israelis who stress the irreplaceable role of pressure from grassroots social movements organising on a binational basis, aiming to win equal rights for both peoples. Supporting efforts to develop such movements is not an immediate answer. It is not a substitute for immediate-term efforts such as increasing diplomatic pressure for a lasting ceasefire. But we...

Full ceasefire, peace, two states!

As Solidarity goes to press, the Gaza ceasefire starting 24 November, to exchange hostages taken on 7 October with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, has been extended two days to 7am Thursday 30 November. There is talk of a new extension, but probably a new Israeli offensive will be raging by the time this paper reaches most readers. Despite the Israeli military and Hamas accusing each other of impeding aid deliveries and breaking the ceasefire, it has held. But the respite is meagre. A prime factor is Israel’s insistence on aid going only via the crossing from Egypt, not via a crossing...

Two of many deaths

Hundreds attended the funeral of the life-long Canadian-Israeli peace and women’s right activist Vivian Silver, on Thursday 16 November. The co-founder of “Women Wage Peace” had been believed to be kidnapped. Her house was burned and gutted. Her body was eventually identified by DNA; she was murdered in her home in Kibbutz Be’eri, Israel. A tribute to her from WWP; WWP’s first response to the massacre and Israel’s retaliation ; Standing Together organiser Uri Weltmann’s update following the funeral. Placards on Israeli protests calling for ceasefire and hostage exchanges have honoured her...

Why we advocate “two states”

Solidarity advocates self-determination for both the Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian Arab nations, in other words “two states”, a real independent Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel. Such mutual esteem and mutual recognition of rights, we argue, is the only possible basis for unity of Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian-Arab workers and Arab workers more widely. It is part of the democratic component of a socialist programme in the region. In other words, we uphold for the Israeli Jews and the Palestinian Arabs the same principles as we uphold for the world’s other nations. Karl Marx...

Hadash’s take on “two states”

Assaf Talgam, a member of Maki and Hadash, spoke to Solidarity on 14 November. The first part of this interview was in Solidarity 691 . Historically the two state solution was almost the consensus among Jews in Israel: ten years ago, even Netanyahu acknowledged that it was the only viable solution. However, in recent years it has become much less prominent in the discourse. Labour traditionally supported it, but they do not talk about it any more and it is merely a formality for them. Many Zionists from the centre say that in theory they support a compromise with the Palestinians, but that...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.