WORKSHOP REVIEW

’Stopping the Illegal Occupation:
Acting for Peace and Justice in Palestine’

Notes from a workshop with Tanya Reinhart

Introductory talk

The process of ethnic cleansing in Palestine, as embodied in the illegal settlements and the separation wall, is the key flashpoint in global politics today. If governments want to solve the 'War on Terror' this is where any solution has to begin.

The situation in the Territories is bleak and getting bleaker, but there is hope: the Israeli government and its allies successfully silence any media criticism of its policies, but peoples' consciousnesss that a great crime is being committed is growing.

That consciousness is played out in three ways.

1. The International Solidarity Movement: the ISM programs began in the early 2000's, in the context of a peace settlement persistently violated by on-going appropriation of Palestinian lands and construction of Israeli settlements. They were, and are, an international beacon of hope, that people should come to bear witness, creating a permanent international presence on the ground in Palestine.

The courage of ISM activists - several of whom have now been killed by Israeli security forces - has shamed many Israeli anti-occupation activists. Rather than content themselves with offering charitable assistance, many anti-occupation Israelis have themselves taken up the challenge, and engaged in this vital political work.

2. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement: the international movement for BDS, responding to a call from Palestinian civil society, has made great strides. The Israeli government is extremely sensitive to any attempt to isolate Israel. BDS initiatives have been condemned by the Israeli government and its allies. Despite this, the movement has been taken up in many countries. In the US, for instance, students have successfully mounted on-campus divestment campaigns. There is increasing interest in reviving some of the techniques developed in the international anti-Apartheid, specifically around consumer action, cultural boycotts, academic boycotts,

3. International political campaigning: collective action has been directly geared to political agendas, targeting the formal political process. This has for instance involved systematic efforts at countering the media strategies of the Israeli government, through
rapid-response media activist networks for instance.

There are two current urgent issues that these efforts are focused on:

1. The ongoing construction of the illegal separation wall, with actions at the international level and locally, focused on the construction of new segments of the wall.

2. The current blockade imposed on the Palestinian people by Israel and the 'international community', as a form of collective punishment for voting in the Hamas government.

Discussion + questions

The boycott issue

The boycott is presented by the Israeli government as the thin end of the wedge: any action to boycott Israel is tantamount to action to destroy Israel, if not to destroy the Jewish people. Yet the rhetoric becomes increasingly shrill and unconvincing in the face of its abuses in Territories.

Clearly any boycott action will be used by the Israeli government to fuel the sense of victimization and siege mentality. This is to be expected: the question is not whether boycotts will win over the elite, the question is whether they will produce a political movement with sufficient impact to force them to end the occupation.

We should have no false hopes that the Israeli government will ever be won over. Political action on this issue is bound to create division and conflict, the question is whether this forces change.

The anti-Apartheid analogy is worth exploring both for its differences and similarities.

The Israeli Left

The Israeli anti-occupation Left is now crossing the line, standing with Palestinians against Israeli militarism. The current focus on the Wall is producing Israeli-Palestinian non-violent encampments in the path of the Wall, to enact their solidarity and symbolize an alternative.

The Hamas government

The election of Hamas has widely been interpreted as a vote for religious parties, yet this is not the case. The vote was a protest vote against the PLO administration, which was widely interpreted as corrupted and collaborationist. It is estimated that religious
political affiliations only account for about one third of the voting population.

With the removal of a corrupted PLO government, Israel has lost its network of security foirces in the Territories. This was the most significant consequence of the rise of Hamas into government. This is the real reason why Israel insists it will not deal with Hamas.

The international campaign

The international dimensions noow are especially significant. Instead of an intellectual or moral support for the Palestinian cause, the movements are moving to practical actions, embedded in localities. In part this reflects the further internationalization of the conflict
with the ''War on Terror', where peoples see action for Palestine as part of the war on the 'WoT'.

Discussion of boycotts

Localised actions then are translating into boycotts. In the first instance these perform an educational role, in terms of highlighting particular companies or agencies involved in the Settlement and the Wall, highlighting how we are directly connected, implicated and in
some respects culpable by our inaction, for the continued abuses.

There is intense discussion about targets, in terms of what would be most effective. A focus on military sales to Israel, and actions centred on companies producing arms for Israel may attract wide support, and play a clearer educational and awareness raising role than, for instance a call for a generic boycott.

Boycotts should reflect specific local relationships with Israel. In terms of the Australia-centred campaigns, there needs to be analysis of the specific connections in place, and their significance in terms of local (Australian) consciousness and awareness. In other words there has to be a strategic focus on what resonates. There needs to be research into specific targets (eg corporates), priorioties and sites of opposition (eg local authorities, unions etc).