A large group of left-wing Palestinian and Israeli parties, unions and civil society groups has issued an unprecedented joint statement in support of the Israeli struggle for social justice. The group demands unity in the struggle against occupation and racism.
For the first time since the launch of J14 movement, and perhaps for the first time in regional history, official Palestinian parties and NGOs are showing their support for an Israeli civilian struggle for social justice and against capitalism. Alongside their general statement of support, signatories mentioned the influence Arab revolutions have had on the Israeli movement, and stressed the importance they see in the ground-breaking widespread cooperation between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel.
In addition, the signatories call upon J14 to connect their struggle with the one against the illegal settlements and the occupation, and to stop the Israeli government’s from attempting to sideline the struggle in the face of “outside security threats” such as the upcoming vote on recognition of Palestinian statehood at the UN on 20 September.
“We understand that one of the primary reasons for the social and economic distress of citizens in Israel, in addition to the capitalist economic policies, is the continuation of the occupation and excessive security budgets, which Israel’s government seeks to justify as needed for defending the security of the settlements on the one hand and the state borders on the other,” reads a part of the joint statement. “We therefore believe that an end to the occupation and establishment of a fair and just peace are essential for a life of peace and welfare. We welcome the participation and integration of the Palestinian population in Israel in the social protest. This is an important opportunity to present before various groups within Israeli society the grievances of the Palestinians and the injustices caused them, so that these groups can assume responsibility and take part in the struggle against the marginalizing policies and ongoing discrimination against the Palestinians in Israel, to putting an end to confiscation of lands, instating full equality, and ending the occupation of the Palestinian lands that were occupied in 1967.”
Beyond these messages of support, the statement reaffirms the signatories’ commitment both to the Palestinian Authority’s attempt to gain UN recognition for a Palestinian state, and to the joint popular struggle against the occupation. Yet another notion on the agenda is the message of solidarity with all peoples of the region who are currently fighting for freedom and independence from totalitarian regimes.
Signatories of this unique statement include two out of three Palestinian Left parties – the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian People’s Party (but not the larger Popular Front) – as well as the Israeli Knesset faction of Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash), comprised of The Israeli Communist Party and Tarabut-Hitabrut. Other signatories include the joint Israeli-Palestinian Alternative Information Centre, and the Palestinian Progressive Workers’ Union, Farmers’ Unions, Union of Palestinian Women, and others. Many of these groups were part of the First Hebron Convention for Cooperation between Israeli-Palestinian Left, which took place in May 2011.
Click here to read the full text of the new joint statement.
September 6, 2011
3:01 pm
Congratulations to both Palestinians and Israelis!!!
A journey of a thousand li starts with but one step.
The J14 movement is the legit, genuine and authentic voice of the Israeli people, who is feeling the squeeze of the same neo-liberal, shock & owe, savage capitalist policies that gave way to the popular insurrections in the neighborhood.
Even if the J14 leadership is rigged, it does not delegitimize Israelis struggle for their well being, ransacked and plundered by the tycoons that keep Netanyahu in power. The movement is in its infancy, and its future, up for grabs, but hopefully it has been a school for a new generation of Israeli leaders, with a new vision and a different commitment to Israel.
The J14 movement, the tents de facto “sit ins” or “sleep ins”, plus the marches, can be considered a general essay for what is to come, the battle for the soul of Israel. Of course, the J14 movement can veer to the right or the left, in search of its identity, and become a parody of the ideals that inspired it, but we can only be hopeful that a new reality for Israel and its surroundings is brewing, and the J14 movement will be part of that new reality, in no small manner.
I don’t believe we can burden the J14 movement with embracing the occupation, now or in the future. The occupation is not going anywhere, and the awareness of the cost on Israel and Israelis is sipping in, slowly but surely, despite mainstream Israel efforts to keep it hidden and beyond Israelis’ awareness. One day, Israelis will add two plus two, and realize they cannot go around with a dead goose hanging on their neck, if Israel, and themselves, are to have a viable future.
Until then, congratulations to the incipient efforts of Israelis and Palestinians to coalesce on their support for the J14 movement!!!
Taoist
September 6, 2011
7:16 pm
Not sure what is the significance of this. I could not find reports on this in Arabic at all, and Palestinian friends of mine have dismissed this as a non-event.
September 6, 2011
7:53 pm
@ Taoist
I like very much your comment, Taoist. Very much. But, and it’s not a critic against your vision, I don’t think this wooden tongue ‘historical’ statement ‘support’ the J14 Movement (anyway, it’s a bit late, folks): if you read the full statement in AIC (link above, at the end) and analyse the way it has been drew up, there is no empathy & understanding, and the way J14 Movement is depicted is actually a Stalinist denial & wooden tongue rewriting.
They don’t want to hear “the authentic voice of the Israeli people”, Taoist
(again, I’m not teasing you: I think and hope the same thing than you), they don’t even want to hear anything coming from this monster: the Israeli people in the making. Like the Zionist Far Right, they cannot visualize a society without separation; they just want to influence & manipulate, hoping their side will have the last word.
‘Us’ against ‘Them’.
Look the picture in AIC: they are old, they don’t want to have to deal with something new, unexpected.
Hope I’m wrong, but that’s what I think, dear Taoist.
September 6, 2011
8:59 pm
The lack of vision on display by all the different men in power is quite remarkable at the moment. People are falling back to entrenched positions when they should be meeting on the field. Which movie is going to play out “Joyeux Noël” or “Apocalypse Now” ?
What is the long term plan for the Middle East ? Where do the various groups fit in the bigger picture ? What is the way forward ? Is World Peace 2050 a valid mission ? How can all the competing voices be accommodated ? Who are the shareholders ? What is everyone’s role ?
Can the current $1.6 Trillion GDP of Israel; Judea and Samaria/The West Bank; Gaza; Lebanon; Syria; Jordan; Egypt and Saudi Arabia grow by 5% p.a. from 2012 to 2050 ?
Could the Olympic Games be held in Israel/Palestine in 2028 ?
The Options
(a) Sleepwalk to disaster.
(b) Chaos fills the vacuum of leadership.
(c) Stasis leads to collapse.
(d) Everyone accepts the status quo and bows down.
(e) Dynamic peacemaking.
September 6, 2011
10:08 pm
@ WEINSTEIN HENRY,
Well, my dear friend, by the time the debate got to the level of whether Israelis were/are “real people,” it was sort of out of bounds for my standards. I needed to pause, refocus, and take a look at my own views of Israel and Israelis, for my own sake.
The product of that process was the last comment I posted, on Noam’s article about the rift between J14 and the international activists (don’t know if the article has been phased out), in which I arrived to the realization that in Israel, everything gets tainted by the delegitimization business.
Delegitimization is for Israel the equivalent of the king Midas touch, and J14 was not the exception. As soon as the movement appeared, they tried to hang from its neck the dead goose of the occupation, among other things, as if these movement had been born already aware, conscious, and with a theory and tactics of their own, ready to solve all of Israel’s problems.
Wrong.
The movement was born because REAL PEOPLE were hurting. And the movement made Israelis REAL, for the first time in decades, to the world and to each other, also to their surroundings. “Israelis protesting? Ha ha. They should see the Palestinians, and they will stop whining.” That was the narrative behind one of the lines of criticism at the J14 movement.
Well, I am sure that most of those people living in tents, like all of us, are creatures of comfort, and would have preferred to be at the beach with their kids, instead of frying their brains on Rothschild Blvd., or marching for countless hours, then standing for countless more to hear the speakers’ message, in one of the countless rallies they had going for almost two months.
One of the subconscious reasons for the controversy around J14, IMHO, is the danger for many, inside and outside Israel, to the left and right of the political spectrum, that Israelis would become, ehem, real people, and join the human race they left long ago on their own accord, out of their cultural baggage.
And the movement will face many more challenges, subconscious and tangible, as the leadership retreats to plan their future strategy.
I have a lot more to say, dear Henry, but responsibility calls, have a long flight tomorrow, and need to sleep a little. I will continue to monitor +972, however, and see what new ideas you are ruminating.
Times are a changing, mon ami.
BTW, I didn’t see the picture you mentioned, but your reasoning is quite right: many of those groups at the fringes would cease to exist if the “us” against “them” rationale ceases to be.
Taoist
September 7, 2011
6:27 am
” I could not find reports on this in Arabic at all, ”
Hope this helps engelo
Arabic Hebrew and English
http://www.tarabut.info/en/home/