Monthly Archives: January 2013

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Ilan Pappe in Haifa: The Arab Spring Puts Israel Against the Historical Trend

28 Monday Jan 2013

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Ilan Pappe in Haifa: The Arab Spring Puts Israel Against the Historical Trend

Historian Ilan Pappe is in Palestine, in homeland visit. On Thursday, 3.1.2013, he was a guest of “Herak Haifa” (حراك حيفا – Haifa Action) for a lecture on “The Arab Spring storm – how does it affect the opportunities for solving the Palestinian problem?”

“Haifa AlGhad” Club in Wadi Nisnas was crowded with activists who came to hear the lecture. Ilan Pappe sat on the couch in an environment where he is not “controversial historian” but a wanted partner. You might say he was “playing on home ground”. Everyone wanted to hear his insights as historian about the exciting events storming our region.

Pappe explained that in historical perspective the last two years are just a moment in time. Historians “guess what happened in the past” and certainly have no tools to predict the future. So what we can do is look at processes that have already begun and try to understand the nature of the new era we are entering.

He stressed that the Arab Spring is not a series of separate events in each country, but a comprehensive process of change that only started and can lead to profound changes in other countries in the region. Beyond that, the Arab Spring is part of a process of change in the global political map, as the “Western” hegemony of Europe and the United States is in crisis. This crisis includes an internal crisis that began with the financial crisis in 2008, during which it became clear to everybody that the heads of the capitalist system were cheating the public, causing deep damage to the economy and society as a whole, and no one is held accountable. Internationally China, India and other countries emerge as a central economic force, which can also affect the geopolitical balance of power. In this situation appears the Arab Spring, based on the direct action of the masses, with “Tahrir Square” a live symbol, as an example that a wide public would like to follow in Europe and all over the world.

Most of the lecture handled the consequences of the Arab Spring on the international scene and the position of Israel. It was evident that Ilan Pappe lives between different worlds, familiar with the ruling elites in Europe as well as left-wing circles. He talks intimately about the emotional aspects that accompany the Crisis of Zionism in the Jewish community and brings new winds from Egypt, where he recently attended a conference to discuss the Arab Spring with old friends from the left and new friends from the Islamic movements. Hovering between these worlds he outlines to the audience the contemporary political scene, seen from above but never remotely, with “Close-Up” on details from every arena and arena.

Changes in the world order

Pappe has characterized the Western hegemony as a world order “in which 10% use 40% of the world’s resources”. Today it is increasingly difficult to maintain this order. There is a danger of excessive use of force in an attempt to stop the erosion of the hegemony of the West, as was the case, for example, in the war in Iraq.

However, the main currently visible trend is the deep internal political crisis in Europe and the United States which accompanies the economic crisis and the erosion of global hegemony. Lack of confidence in the existing political system leads to the formation of a new kind of popular movements. There is a general desire for democratization, to protect the rights of those who were trampled all the time by the system. This is the “Zeitgeist” and it affects every arena and arena.

The new democratic spirit is also affected by technological changes and new tools that enable a wide public to take an active role in the dissemination of information and discussion about it. Today no regime can effectively block discussion. Young people take an important active role in these changes. The younger generation in China is not much different culturally from their brothers in the West. The democratic trends are not restricted only the West, but they can be seen everywhere, including Burma and North Korea.

The Arab Spring, as a democratization movement led by young people and mobilizing the power of a broad popular movement, constitutes an advanced part of this “Zeitgeist” of democratization and a role model for others.

Israel stands out in the world as a negative example of a state and a society which develop in a clear anti-democratic direction.

Undermining Israel’s status

For a long time Israel succeeded to maneuver itself to hold a major role in the global and regional agenda. After the Second World War the West wanted to restore West Germany to “the family of nations” as a cornerstone to its geopolitical alignment. Ben Gurion knew how to make the most financially and maximize Israel’s influence by providing forgiveness to “The Other Germany” in the name of the ultimate victims.

Later Israel was incorporated as a Western fortified outpost in the Cold War. At the end of the Cold War and the declaration of the “end of history”, Israel marketed itself as a modern open society which developed from a third world country to be part of the first. When the Western agenda abandoned “the end of history” and moved to “the war on terror” and the fight against Islam, it enabled Israel’s standing to reach its peak when it presented itself to the West as the most experienced expert on these subjects.

Now the Arab Spring presents a new model of democracy in the Middle East and Israel is exposed more and more as undemocratic. For the first time we see that Israel doesn’t know what to say and can’t adapt to the new era. Israel even fails to play the role of “experts of Arab affairs” for the West – a role based on the Orientalist approach – at this time. New realities in the Arab countries are imposing themselves on the political arena and Western elites get accustomed to working with the new authorities in Arab countries where Israel has no role.

Israel is trying to promote its own picture of the world. They claim that “the Arab spring turned to Islamic winter”. But even according to Israel’s favored scenario, if the West will accept their perspective, adopt a hostile approach toward the new Arab authorities and oppose democratic change in the region – Israel may find itself as a burden on the West and not as an asset that strengthens its control. In Egypt, for example, there is a deep disagreement between the Muslim Brotherhood and the secular opposition, but opposition to Israel and support of the Palestinians are a unifying cause.

Clearly, in a Middle East moving toward democracy, as part of a world where many are fighting for more democracy, when the Palestinian flag is used by everybody as a symbol of the struggle for freedom, Israel finds itself against the stream of history.

These changes will not translate immediately into an end to support for Israel. In the Military sphere and the sphere of interests Israel still has a lot of support – here values​don’t play any role. There are also the Jewish lobby and buying the support of local politicians with money – for example by donations to parties. However, power and corruption alone can’t maintain a political project over time. Support for Israel in the past was based on moral arguments and values, on supportive public opinion – for us it may all seem faked but it was a strong factor. Today all that is changing.

In the past, young Zionist Jews could be leading progressive students’ movements around the world. In today’s campuses they are busy defending Israel as an apartheid regime. For them it is a frustrating and grinding role.

In Israel today there is a majority which openly says “We want a racist Jewish state.” For those who want to continue to live by their lies and claim to be liberal and to protect Israel from a position of justice – the lie is getting harder and ever more tiring.

No wonder Israel today defines its “de legitimization” as a strategic threat. Previously it treated the issue through “Hasbara” (propaganda), diplomacy and foreign relations. Today it is handled also by its security apparatus.

The emerging powers, such as India and China, even if basically their policies will not be more moral, are not committed to Israel as much as the West. They don’t feel guilt for the Holocaust and Christian messianism is not a political factor there. Even in this respect Israel is losing the central standing it enjoyed so far.

The undermining of Israel’s geopolitical position makes the coming years very dangerous – there is a real danger that the government will take aggressive measures in a desperate attempt to stop the deterioration of power to which they are used. A possible attack on Iran is only one scenario that illustrates this danger. We might also witness an intensification of internal repression – the anti-democratic laws that were adopted by the Knesset illustrate this trend.

On the other hand, the deepening crisis can convert positions that were regarded marginal to feasible solutions people are ready to hear. To realize this potential, the people that carry these positions should undergo mental change, after they got used for a long time to be a radical minority whose voice is silenced. We should find the proper means to bring those solutions to the general public as a real alternative.

The solution of the one democratic state in Palestine becomes a hot topic for discussion in academic circles and in the media around the world. Pappe described how he, as one of the best known presenters of this alternative, can’t find time any more for all the requested lectures. But what should supporters of this solution do in order to present it as a real alternative to the public? Overcoming the difficulties of cooperation and building a shared vision between the Arab – Palestinian and Jewish components of this movement are an important part of the answer…

The Arab Spring

The lecture focused, as mentioned, on the analysis of the effects of the Arab Spring on the crisis of Zionism. Not much was said about the “gorilla in the middle of the room” – the Arab Spring itself. However, the general approach presented by Pappe regarding the essence of the Arab Spring was clear. This is a democratic process, in which many and diverse political actors take part, and at its center there is a mass movement which generates the change.

He spoke of the need and possibility for cooperation between the secular left – to which he, and most of the audience who came to hear him, belong – and the Islamic movements which are working for democracy. He mentioned as an example the fruitful cooperation that exists in England between the left, which is very secular and liberal regarding social issues, and the Islamic movements.

Answers to questions

In response to questions from the audience, Pappe clarified a number of additional issues:

  • No. Palestinians could not prevent what was done to them by Zionism. The problem for Zionism was the very existence of the Palestinian Arab inhabitants in the country in which it decided to establish its state, not any specific political position of these residents.
  • Concerning the integration of the Arab Palestinians who are citizens of Israel in the state – over time this integration becomes less possible due to Israel’s racism and therefore attempts to integrate become less attractive. Pappe asked why Arab parties still participate in the Knesset elections despite the lack of any real ability to influence through the Knesset and despite the benefits that Israel derives from this participation.
  • Many different political actors take part in the Arab Spring and there is no realistic possibility of one party taking control. Specifically, there is no danger of Islamic extremists taking control of Syria as its government tries to claim in order to gain legitimacy for it continuing control.
  • In the past the main slogan of the left was “secular democratic state”. Today the main slogan is “one democratic state”. Yes, this is a concession of the secular left. This concession reflects the need, in the conditions of the Arab Spring, to cooperate with Islamic movements in the struggle for democracy. The left should examine critically its own history and the history of the region, remember what was done in the name of the left and on behalf of secularism, and understand the need for flexibility and the central role of democracy in the region’s political agenda in this period.

You may read this report also in Arabic and Hebrew.

Posted by | Filed under Arab Revolution, Boycott the Knesset, China's Rise, Crisis of Capitalism, Jews in Palestine, ODS, Palestine, Zionism

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Full Speed in Neutral – Reading the Israeli Elections

24 Thursday Jan 2013

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Full Speed in Neutral – Reading the Israeli Elections

As Israel is a military society, its jokes also come in Khaki. An infantry company was training in a remote area. They didn’t have a shower and couldn’t even change clothes. After a week of hard time in the sun, all the soldiers felt very uncomfortable. They could hardly stand quietly as the captain gathered them in the camp’s yard. As usual, he said he had two announcements for them, one good, one bad. The good one is that they will all change their underwear today. The bad one is that the men from platoon A will change their underwear with those from platoon B.
I didn’t expect much from the Israeli elections. All the Zionist parties share a wide consensus that starts with support for the 1948 ethnic cleansing and objection to the right of return of the Palestinians. All had spent quality time in consecutive governments, paying lips’ service to the famous Israeli longing for peace while robbing more Palestinian lands, building settlements and keeping a system of systematic racial discrimination.
Nor did the Israeli public, or anybody else in the world, expect much either. Actually the elections were called by prime minister Netanyahu as he felt that he was at the peak of his power, with no effective opposition, in order to perpetuate his tenure before Israel enters a period of economic hardship that may turn the public against him.
But where there is no hope or good guys, there is plenty of gloating glee.
First of all Netanyahu hardly got what he wanted. The height of his election campaign was the “Operation Pillar of Cloud” onslaught on Gaza, in November 2012, which ended with Palestinian rockets landing for the first time in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. He had to stop it abruptly after 7 days under Egyptian and American pressure. The result was almost total lifting of the prolonged siege of Gaza that Israel imposed in order to topple its elected Hamas government.
On the home front Netanyahu succeeded to dissolve the (mostly middle class) wide protest movement of summer 2011 with almost no concessions. Raising the prospects of War on Iran he thought he could play himself as the strong man and have Israelis jump to their customary subordinate pose.
It all backfired with the Netanyahu block (his Likud + Lieberman’s “Israel Beitenu”) losing much of its power in votes, MPS and political maneuvering space. As usual at the time of crisis and weakness, the party in government is paying the price of its impotence and is loosing credibility.
The second special reason for gloating is the disappearance from the public scene of Ehud Barak – one of Israel’s most blood thirsty generals… Once prime minister, he didn’t even dare to stand for elections. The other senior general, Sha’ul Mofaz, was leading Kadima, Israel’s biggest party in the last (2009) elections. He hardly squeezed in this time with 2.1% of the vote. The 2013 elections sign the big fall of the top brass from the heights of Israeli politics. The Israeli military had little to be proud about over the last years, so there is not much glory for the generals.
So who will be leading Israel over the next period? Its successful High-Tech elite shows no interest. They are trotting the globe, looking for exits, outsourcing and relocating. The Tycoons that live by monopolizing all the local resources and markets need the government – but they prefer to stay in the background, buy whatever politicians prove best at fooling the public. The Knesset is now full with establishment journalists, political and religious apparatchiks with the most viable lot being the settlers’ pogrom gangsters, now controlling about a third of the house.
Yet the real success story of the elections is Ya’ir Lapid’s “Yesh ‘Atid” (“There is a Future”) hot air balloon party, which came out of the nowhere to be the second biggest. The only thing that he states clearly is his desire to “divide the burden evenly” – i.e. to force Haredim (strongly religious) Jews and Palestinian Arabs to serve in the Israeli army. It shows at the same time how much the Israeli public, and especially the youth, is longing for change, on one hand, and to what extent this public has no real desire to change anything on the other. So they elected a brand new party with exactly the same policies…
The rest of cast makes farther wired laughing matter. Labor, led by Shelly Yekhimovitch, thought they got the magic formula of the 2011 “social protest” – warm hug to the settlers, ignoring the Palestinians and asking for “social justice”. Even talking about peace was irrelevant old staff. This promoted another last minute hot air balloon, Tsipi Livni’s “Tnu’a” (Movement), which advocated the “peace process” as a “niche market” and got its 5% of the vote.
“Meretz”, the Zionist “Left”, enjoyed this time the observed invulnerability of Netanyahu. It allowed its traditional supporters to vote for the party that express “their principles” and not crawling to the “center” to support candidates that may form an alternative government. Meretz doubled its share of the vote to 4.6%. But what those famous principles are? It is a long search we don’t have time to pursue now – in the last war on Gaza Meretz’ leadership didn’t find its supposed “principles” to oppose the war until it was over.

This blog, as explained elsewhere, advocates the boycott of the Israeli elections. The current “Jewish Majority” is based on the ethnic cleansing of the original Arab Palestinian population and on the disfranchising of the Arab Palestinian majority in Palestine. As long as you accept this framework, the discussion in the Knesset and its elections can only be about sharing the spoils of occupation and not about peace or justice.

The Boycott Campaign, now in the spirit of the Arab Spring, led by youth activists and using social media, was less organized but much more effective than ever before. The majority of the Arab public didn’t vote – even though we will never know the real numbers. Both the Arab Knesset parties and the Zionist establishment share the interest to hide the Boycott’s success. What is more important, a growing share of the Arab public is openly declaring its complete distrust of Israeli politics. A growing share of the real left and democratic activists in the Jewish society are now integrating into Palestinian politics, boycott included.

Like everybody talking about Israeli elections – I almost didn’t mention the Arab parties (and the Arab and Jewish Jabha Dimokratiya – Democratic Front) which received about the same results as last time… It is good for them. As I believe that many of their leaders, and most of their cadres, are really patriotic Palestinians, I don’t think they really belong to the Israeli Knesset. Throughout the years the Arab Palestinian public, with its boycotting and Knesset parties, shares the same struggles in the streets against the criminal oppressive laws that come from this hall of racist shame.
But now, in an effort to stem the flow of the public toward the boycott camp, some leaders of the Arab Knesset parties wanted to show that their participation in the Knesset can make a real difference. They blamed the Boycott campaign in preventing the toppling of the Netanyahu government. The only possible meaning of this position is that, if they had the votes to do it, they would support a government led by Lapid. Sorry, gentlemen’s, but by this reasoning you just prove how essential the boycott is. It shows that, even for good people like you, there is no practical politics in the Knesset other than supporting a government of occupation, settlements and racial discrimination.

Posted by | Filed under Boycott the Knesset, Jews in Palestine, Zionism

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Letter to my Dear Reader from the Canadian Immigration Control

19 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by in Human Rights

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One reason why I’m late on my blogging duties is this trip that took me to such cold and remote places like Cleveland and Toronto. There is a lot to write about these places and the people that live there, some of them really wonderful, even though I had hard time to catch up with their strange language and some of the local habits… but this blog is not about travel and seeing places.

As my travel delayed me on my blog writing, today my writings retaliated and delayed me on my travel. I landed in Toronto’s airport at 8:00 pm and passed the first passport control like everybody. But, being from a suspicious 3rd world country, I was directed by the local police to go to another hall where really intelligent Immigration Officers will do the real checking.

As I handed over my passport to the officer, he clicked my name on the computer and apparently found some interesting materials. He read me the long title of some article about the crisis of imperialism and asked me whether I wrote this article. I couldn’t tell him for sure but said it is likely that I did. So, while trying to read fast, he asked me whether I’m a journalist. I said no. “But you write articles?” – Well, yes. “How comes…?” – Well, I mean I’m not a journalist in the sense that nobody pays me to write… “So you just write and publish whenever you can?” – Yes, something like this.

He was trying to read more, so I said: I thought that Canada believes in free speech. “Yes they do. But this is on Palestine. Are you Palestinian?” In what sense do you ask?  “Were you born in Palestine?” – Yes, I was born in Palestine. “That makes sense.”

“Are you a member of Abna AlBalad?” Yes I am. But what is the problem about that? “No, only that I never heard about this party.” I wouldn’t expect a Canadian immigration officer to know about all the parties in each country. He smiled.

“Were you ever arrested?” Yes, many times. “Did you commit crimes? Are you going to commit crimes in Canada?” No. I didn’t commit any crime. I was not even convicted of any crime in Israel. “So you were just arrested for demonstrations and such things?” Yes, you know.

“Are you going back to Israel, after all the things that you write…?” Well, these are my positions. They are no secret. I stay there in order to make it a better place.

It is not a simple thing to grasp, even for an intelligent Canadian Immigration Officer. So he asked me to sit in the waiting hall until he will finish his reading and maybe even consult some better informed friends.

I very much enjoy when people show interest in my blog. Somehow in this particular case I wished he will find my writings boring and meaningless.

After some time he let me in. But I was left with the feeling that something is wrong with all this process. It is good that government would mind what people think and say – but it is damned wrong if you will be interrogated about your political activity whenever you travel from one country to another.

My dear reader from the Canadian Immigration Control,

I hope you found this blog interesting and you are invited to continue reading without keeping me on hold.

If you really believe in democracy you should know that what leads to political violence is the repression of legitimate political activity. So, if you find that one of the visitors to Canada is writing against Tyranny and Imperialism, just use the “favorite” key, keep the site and read it later.

Haifa Conference for the Right of Return And the Secular Democratic State in Palestine – June 2008 – Initial Report

04 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by in ODS, Palestine, Right of Return

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Link to the site of the 1st Haifa Conference June 2008

Link to the site of the 2nd Haifa Conference

Sort of Apology

Friday and Saturday, 20-21 of June, 2008 – after a year of dreaming and working for it to happen – the Haifa conference was such a great success that we hardly believed it was real… But on Saturday night, as we made the 5 minutes drive from elMidan back home to Hallisa, a poor, mostly Arab, neighborhood in east Haifa, the racist and Un-Democratic state of Israel was clearly and vigorously there – the streets were filled with police and special “anti riot” units, stopping people and beating them at random. We spent the next week collecting evidence and organizing a demonstration against police violence…

All of you who tried to follow the preparations to the conference, or who are concerned to see the results, might have been frustrated with the chaotic performance of the initiating committee. Others have criticized us for diverting effort from the urgent struggle against the occupation to pipe dreaming a remote future… One thing special about the Haifa conference was that it was initiated and organized by grassroots political activists, in the middle of an intense period of struggles, without budget. It was our moment to raise our heads from the exhausting daily struggle and promise ourselves and the world that the suffering of the Palestinian people may be brought to an end and there can be a bright future for everybody in Palestine after we get rid of the racist Zionist disorder.

Who was there?

Youth Meetings

As a gathering of political activists, working for the future, we started with the youth. The proliferation of independent youth Palestinian movements within the 48 territories is one proof that the new generation is not satisfied with the traditional political offerings. At the Midan theatre, on June 20, 17:00, the conference started with youth meetings – not lecturing to the youth but activists from different youth movements discussing among themselves their views of the future. There were two parallel sessions, one for High School students and the other for the “Shabab”, university students and young workers, mostly in their twenties.

The Opening Session

At the opening session, the 300-seat hall of the Midan theatre was almost full. There were several Arab TV crews, including Al Jazeera, taking interviews with political leaders, and reporters from local Arab newspapers. Several Palestinian flags were on the stage, as well as a sign in Arabic, Hebrew and English declaring the “Haifa Conference for the Right of Return and the Secular Democratic State in Palestine”. Sahar Abdo, the presenter, called Hanan Wakeem to sing “Mawteni” (My Homeland), and the public stood up to the song and observed a moment of silence for the martyrs. Rajaa Zo’abi ‘Omari welcomed the public in the name of the initiating committee, and outlined the vision of the conference.

The main part of the opening ceremony included political speeches by the general secretaries of three parties in the 48 territories: Ayman ‘Odeh from the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash – a front that includes the Communist party), Awad Abed El-Fatah from the National Democratic Alliance (BALAD) and Muhammad Kana’ane from Abnaa elBalad, the movement that was the backbone of the coalition that constituted the Initiating Committee. The appearance of Muhammad Kana’ane was most significant as (on 28/5) he was newly released from four and a half years in Israeli prisons, after he was sentenced for political meetings with Palestinian activists in Jordan.

In the second part of the opening session, there were three speeches in Hebrew: Yehuda Kupferman from the “Committee for a secular and democratic state in the whole of Palestine”, and Dr Uri Davis from “the movement against Israeli Apartheid in Palestine” – both from the initiating committee, and Dr Anat Matar, a leading activists in support of the rights of Palestinian prisoners and for the rights of Israeli youth to refuse serving in the Israeli army.

There were also written congratulations to the conference, mostly from like minded activists in the 67 occupied territories and the Palestinian diaspora who could not come. The most significant written participation came from the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat, from the Nafha prison in the Naqab desert.

Who was not there?

Professor Bhim Singh from Kashmir, who had to represent the international delegation in the opening session, could not get a visa from the Israeli embassy in India.

A group of Palestinian academics (with foreign passports) from Bir Zeit University were on the bus from Jerusalem to Haifa, coming to take part in the conference, as the bus was intercepted mid-way in Kfar Saba by Israeli security forces. They were held for several hours and forced to return to Jerusalem.

The Islamic Movement was invited to take part in the conference, as partners in the struggle against Israeli oppression, in accordance to the organizers belief that the secular democratic state is a framework to defend everybody’s rights and to ensure full respect to all religions. They didn’t officially reject the invitation and the task of building cooperation with them is left for the follow up committee that was formed in the conference.

Saturday full of Workshops

The real attraction in the conference was the workshops program, 3 workshops in parallel at each of 3 sessions. In the 9 workshops there were 41 registered contributors, in addition to the facilitators, all of them leading activists and intellectuals. The list of participants’ names, more than 50 of them, on the invitation was a parade of support for the conference, and it was probably the main reason why, while we initially expected the second day of long discussions to have restricted participation, we came Saturday morning and found the premises of elMidan full with festive atmosphere, with many Palestinian activists from different political movements and parties and from many civil society organizations. There was a very significant presence of Jewish activists as well, probably the widest participation in a Palestinian political event ever (except, of course, mass demonstration, where everybody comes but there’s not much interaction). There was also a significant presence from international solidarity movements – most of them young activists that volunteer in different programs to support the Palestinian people and came on the weekend to Haifa to support the conference. All in all between 300 and 400 people took part in different workshops on Saturday, with lively discussion about many aspects of the problem, the struggle and the solution.

The enthusaistic atmosphere created the conditions for the most serious discussion that characterized the workshops. The participants made their best to clarify their positions, and the public took active part in the discussion. Many different approaches were proposed, but it only contributed the confidence that we can do important things together.

What Happened at the Conference?

Details of the Proceedings

I will not dare try to give here any short description of the contents of some 20 hours of discussion in the workshops and full sessions. About half of it was filmed and should go online anytime soon. We also requested all the participants to write down their contributions, and some of it is already on the conference’s site: www.ror1state.org. There are also written contributions from many writers that could not make it to the conference.

The full list of participants is on the invitation, and may be seen on the website. To introduce each of them and write a little about their experience in struggle or their writing or other achievements requires a big book – only the internet can give practical answers to this task.

Palestinian Popular Festival

Some of the more sophisticated writers that attended the conference promised to write special articles about the atmosphere that filled elMidan, before going after the conference political and social contents. It was all organized on the principle of a Palestinian popular festival – covering for the lack of budget with the effort of tens of activists, like the family in a wedding party, running around all the time to take care for the guests. Tens of the participants from outside the area were invited to be guests in the homes of local activists; Lunch was traditional wedding’s home made food, and after 220 meals were served the rest was contributed to a local welfare institution; Simultaneous translation to Hebrew and English was done by political activists, and in most cases more to the point than the mechanical translation of many professionals.

All Palestinian Gathering

The most important thing about the Haifa conference is its place as part of an all Palestinian awakening for a new vision that will pose alternatives to the dead end of the Imperialist-led fake “peace process”. The problem, the struggle and the solution are all common to all parts of the Palestinian people, as was seen throughout the conference. It was stressed in the workshop on ethnic cleansing exposing how it is practiced by Zionism from before 1948 until these days, in the 1948 occupied territories as well as in Gaza and the West Bank and the Syrian Golan. It was clear from the concentration on the right of return of all Palestinian refugees to all the areas from which they were expelled.

Even though only few Palestinians from the 67 occupied territories, mostly from Jerusalem, could come to Haifa, the conference was part of a wider movement: Ajras elAwda, one of the components of the initiating committee is an all-Palestinian network. Ajras published a special magazine on the occasion and distributed it in Palestinian refugee camps in Syria. Special meetings are now taking place in Ramallah to promote the same ideas, and in Haifa we listened to the written participation of Ahmad Katamesh from Ramallah presenting his view toward the future democratic state in Palestine. Salame Kelly, a leading Palestinian activist and Arab Marxist from Syria, sent a speech on video that had to be part of the opening ceremony (but we failed to show it due to technical problems).

The Palestinians in the 1948 territories

For a long time Palestinian in the territories who came under Israeli control in 1948 were a smashed society, licking the wounds of the 1948 Nakba which included many massacres and the ethnic cleansing of the majority of the population. Some tried to pursue a course of struggle for equal rights within the Israeli context outside of a Palestinian national perspective, but were always frustrated by Zionist systematic racism, that defines the goal of the state as serving the “international Jewish nation”. In the nineties of the last century, some tried to pose a perspective of redefining Israel as a state of all its citizens. The Haifa conference was an opportunity to examine in historic perspective all these failed attempts at reforming the racist system, and propose a solution to the suffering from Israeli Apartheid in the context of a comprehensive solution to the Palestinian problem.

It was clear from the list of participants that the discussion of a secular democratic state in Palestine is not confined to Abnaa elBalad, which always promoted this solution, or to radical circles around it. Salman Natur and Hisham Naffa from Hadash, as well as Dr. Mahmoud Muhareb and Yael Lerer from Balad are just some of the more famous promoters of the one state solution. But also the speeches of the secretary generals of Hadash and Balad in the opening ceremony revealed a lot of soul searching and internal conflicts in relation to this perspective. It would not be far-fetched to conclude that there is a majority of Palestinians within the 1948 territories that prefer the secular democratic state, while the main reservation is about the practicality of posing this slogan at the current stage, but there is also no much illusions left about any practical solution to the Palestinian problem as long as the United State and Israel are calling the shots.

The massive presence in the conference of activists from the Palestinian civil society is another show of maturity of the society’s confrontation with the harsh conditions of Israeli Apartheid. While there is a whole class of people that dedicate their lives to caring for the daily needs of the people, from education to health, to workers’ rights, women’s rights, economic and social development, culture and much else, almost nobody expects solutions to those problems outside of a framework of political change. We didn’t expect the local NGOS to take a clear political position, and all participants were presenting their personal views on their own responsibility. Ameer Makhoul from Ittijah, Union of Palestinian community-based organizations – an umbrella organization for Palestinian NGOs – was on the initiating committee from its onset, and we had the participation of many leading personalities from NGOs covering most areas of public lives.

Jewish Participation

The numbers are not the only measure, and we still didn’t process the registration papers, but the participation of Jewish activists in the conference was very obvious. They covered a whole rainbow from released political prisoners, through different trends of the traditional left, feminists, Oriental Jews (Arab Jews) activists, anarchists, anti war activists, academics, religious activists for peace, democrats, cosmopolitans and many more… But the most significant part was not their presence but the way that they were integral part of the whole conference, not as a separate entity trying to negotiate or to come to terms with a separate Palestinian entity, but as part of a common gathering trying to figure out a common future and how to bring it about.

The Concluding Declaration

When we finally arrived to the concluding plenary, we were not only tired and much beyond the schedule, but it was also clear that the inputs of the conference are too many and too important to try to conclude them in one hour’s discussion. The initiating committee decided to present to the participants the draft position paper on which we agreed after long internal discussion, a paper named “The Jaffa Declaration” in tribute to the city where the initiating committee was holding its meetings while it was discussing the document through the first months of the year.

The Jaffa Declaration

The establishment of the Democratic Secular state in the whole of Palestine is the positive solution that will accomplish justice and will bring an end to the struggle on the Palestinian land as it:

  1. Preserve the unity of the Palestinian people and their historic connection to the Palestinian land.
  2. Achieve the goals of the liberation struggle of all the Palestinian people: The return of the refugees, freedom, equality and the right of self determination.
  3. Strip the Jewish presence in Palestine of its colonialist nature, which is connected to the racist Zionist project, as a tool of imperialism and global capitalism.
  4. Be based on the principle of separation between religion and the state, while assuring the freedom of believers in all religions to practice their religion.
  5. Assure full equality in the rights of all citizens without discrimination on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, class or any other reason.

What Next?

The declaration was read to the public and received general approval as the base for the concluding statement of the conference. Several important comments were made by the public, mostly for additional positions, to be added to the declaration.

Many of the participants asked to join the initiating committee, to form together the follow up committee that will continue the work for these goals after the conference. Hundreds of the participants signed up and requested to be informed of the next steps.

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(*) The writer is a member of the political bureau of Abnaa elBalad and was active in the initiating committee of the Haifa conference