Many Peoples, One Struggle

Many Peoples, One Struggle
By Omar Hamed

The Palestinian victims of Israel's war of occupation and settlement since the 'withdrawal' from the Gaza Strip on August 20, 2005, now number 572 Killed. Israeli tank shells in Palestine killed a fourteen year old the day before I wrote this.

The recent intifada or conflict in the occupied territories has dragged on for six long years now with many innocent people on both sides of the border killed. However a new current in Palestine and Israel is emerging, which views the struggle against the occupation, the annexation wall, the confiscation of Jerusalem and the displacement of millions of Palestinian refugees as a human rights struggle not simply religious fighting or a land dispute.

In Palestine and Israel organisations dedicated to non-violent resistance to Israeli occupation and the continued building of the 670km separation wall which criminally annexes large portions of the West Bank are building a movement of solidarity and humanity to try and break the cycle of violence and hatred in the promised land.

Israeli organisations like the Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD), Anarchists against the Wall (AATW) and Gush Shalom frequently take part alongside Palestinians in non-violent direct action and symbolic demonstrations. In Bil’in, in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers have injured and killed many Israelis and Palestinians taking part in the joint struggle against the apartheid wall. In August an Israeli anarchist was permanently disabled while taking part in a peaceful demonstration.

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is another organisation that uses non-violent direct action against the occupation. International activists under Palestinian leadership take part in direct action; dismantling checkpoints, tearing down illegal Israeli roadblocks, acting as human shields and helping Palestinians harvest their olives on their confiscated lands. ISM, AATW and ICAHD represent the new resistance to occupation who many believe hold the key to both Palestinian and Israeli hopes for a just and peaceful situation in the Middle East.

Ali from Aotearoa Jews from Justice and ex-pat Israeli said at a demonstration in Wellington three weeks ago, “Israel does not speak for all Jews. There are Jews all over the world who oppose the Israeli government’s dispossession of Palestinian people… They’re the people refusing to serve in the criminal Israeli Defence Force, they’re the people who go to the West Bank to protest Israel’s annexation wall, designed to separate Palestinians from their land and livelihood, they’re the people who rebuild the homes of Palestinians after the Israeli government demolishes them.”

Her words remind us that in Palestine and Israel today there are many peoples and one struggle.