Solidarity with Palestine must be about decolonisation, not just ceasefire
Samer Jaber
It has been more than 10 months now of Israel waging its genocidal war on Gaza. Throughout this time, mobilisation in solidarity with the Palestinian people has ebbed and flowed but it has not stopped. Large crowds have rallied across the world to protest inaction by world leaders on Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity.
As we approach a year of genocidal warfare, important questions are emerging about the way forward for the Palestinian solidarity movement. In my conversations with various pro-Palestinian activists, one theme has emerged: the urgent need to shift the movement’s goal from stopping the war to decolonising Palestine. That is because a ceasefire will not end the genocidal violence Palestinians face.
The limitations of antiwar marches
Mobilisation against the war started almost as soon as Israel launched its aggression on Gaza. One of the slogans most often raised was “Ceasefire Now!” as a broad-based antiwar movement came together.
Given the urgency of the moment, the ceasefire goal was the bare minimum that allowed for bringing different groups together, Huwaida Arraf, a cofounder of the International Solidarity Movement, told me. She pointed out that this did not mean that the pro-Palestinian movement should limit itself to this objective.
But the demand for a ceasefire has remained the dominant call of public demonstrations throughout the past 10 months, severely limiting the scope of the protest movement. It seemingly implies that protests will stop once a ceasefire is announced. Yet we all know that the suffering of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation and apartheid will not end when Israel stops bombarding Gaza indiscriminately.
Another problem with antiwar marches is that they often end up favouring certain agendas. Some activists I spoke to pointed out that such events often accommodate representatives of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and reflect its perspective. The PA prefers a negotiated peace settlement and collaboration with Israel, which will not address the Palestinian demands for justice, the right of return to their homeland, etc.
Another issue with these demonstrations is that while they show the size and strength of the pro-Palestinian movement, they also often turn most participants into mere spectators. While people march, listen to speeches, and express their enthusiasm, the organisers tend to monopolise the message and direction of the movement.
Ali, a British political observer, who asked that I do not use his last name, highlighted the implications of this approach saying, “You can notice that individuals with close ties to organisers are sometimes given a platform to introduce themselves as candidates during antiwar demonstrations, while others equally committed to ending the war are not afforded the same opportunity. Such practices create an uneven playing field that disadvantages truly dedicated individuals, undermining the inclusivity and effectiveness of the movement.”
While protests play a vital role in expressing public dissent, their effectiveness in influencing international or external political issues can be limited. In some cases, protests act as a pressure valve, letting public frustration out without impacting policy.
Moving beyond the call for a ceasefire
Instead of focusing on a ceasefire, the pro-Palestinian protest movement should embrace demands for decolonisation. It needs to place the Palestinian question back into an anticolonial framework and reaffirm its place within the history of the decolonisation struggle. This entails deconstructing the delusion of the peace process promoted by the United States.
This decades-long process has not only failed to bring actual peace and protect Palestinian rights, but it has also created the false impression that this is a conflict between equal sides rather than between a coloniser and the colonised. It distracts from the reality of occupation and apartheid in which Palestinians live.
It is also important to link the discourse of decolonisation to the right to self-determination and liberation, which are guaranteed by the UN Charter and international law. This approach is crucial to counter Israeli propaganda that this is a struggle between Muslim extremists and a civilised Israel and that the supporters of the Palestinians are anti-Semitic.
Recently, this propaganda has been used to paint pro-Palestinian protests as dangerous to Jewish communities and conflate them with racist, anti-immigrant riots, leading to calls to shut them down. That is why it is important to point out that calls for decolonisation are legitimate and have legal justification under international law.
The decolonisation framework also helps elevate the Palestinian question to a broader issue of justice. It helps people recognise the connections between their own economic hardship and political marginalisation and the suffering of the Palestinians under colonial rule.
This makes the struggle for justice and peace for Palestinians a platform that gives communities visibility and power. This dynamic is particularly evident in immigrant-descendant communities in the United Kingdom and France and Black and Hispanic communities in the United States.
The participation of the Jewish community can also play a crucial role in transforming the pro-Palestinian movement from simply stopping the war to a broader decolonisation effort. This transformation goes beyond proving that the anticolonial movement is not anti-Semitic and giving Jews a voice to tell Israel, “You cannot commit crimes in our name.”
The decolonisation movement will provide a platform for the Jewish community to advocate for coexistence between Jews and Palestinians in one democratic state based on equal citizenship. This position will contribute to dismantling the colonial ideology of the Zionist enterprise, paving the way for a more just solution.
An effective protest movement
Israeli historian and activist Ilan Pappe recently argued that Israel’s extremism reflects the reality that Zionism’s final chapter is unfolding. While I share his perspective, I believe optimism shouldn’t be based solely on Israel’s internal contradictions.
Our focus should be on developing effective strategies for decolonising Palestine. True liberation won’t come from Israel’s internal collapse but from a successful Palestinian decolonisation struggle. So what would that look like?
Student activism provides a good example. As a grassroots movement, it empowers members to participate democratically in decision-making processes, precluding the possibility of gatekeepers emerging and taking control of narratives and actions.
At the same time, given the large size of the student population in any country, student protests can mobilise significant numbers and thus hold major leverage over educational institutions and local authorities.
The student protests in the US earlier this year made clear how effective such activism can be. They did not just call for a ceasefire and an end to military aid for Israel. Instead, they made local and tangible demands within the anticolonial framework: divestment by their universities from any companies that support Israeli colonisation and cutting off collaboration with Israeli institutions.
Students were able to spur their own professors and local communities into action. A significant number of academics felt compelled to declare their anticolonial stance and engage with the student movement. At the same time, many student protests, especially in urban environments, received community support thanks to effective outreach activities.
The campus demonstrations were effective because they targeted elite institutions that produce the next generations of technocrats, corporate leaders, and political decision-makers. This directly challenged the Israeli government’s “commanding heights” strategy, which focuses on influencing leaders to ensure support for Israel.
The spread of the student protests and their mass appeal pushed the student movement beyond the ability of the establishment to contain it. It now has the potential to transform itself into a popular movement with the capacity to influence popular culture and lifestyles.
Mobilisation and grassroots work
The student movement can chart the way forward for other mobilisations. One place to look is the labour movement.
Although many workers’ unions across Western Europe have expressed solidarity with Palestine and called for a ceasefire, this position has not translated into concrete actions that put pressure on their governments to stop arming Israel and withdraw their support for it.
