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Draft:Israeli Resistance and Reckoning with Colonialism

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Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionism

History of Zionism as Colonialism

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In 1897, modern Zionism emerged under the leadership of Theodor Herzl.[1] The movement focused on creating a homeland for the Jewish people, with Palestine chosen as the site for the project.[2] This marked the beginning of the systematic colonization of Palestinian land by Jewish immigrants, a process that gained greater support in the decades that followed due to persistent international anti-Semitism.[3] The Zionist project entered a new chapter when British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour declared his support for the Zionist movement in 1917 to create a new home for the Jewish population on Palestinian land.[4] As a result of the Balfour Declaration, Jewish immigration to Palestine increased strongly in the years that followed, partly because Palestine was under British administration as the British Mandate after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.[5] Jewish immigration marked an even greater increase after Hitler came to power in 1933.[6]

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, the international importance of a homeland for the Jewish population had increased dramatically.[7] With UN Resolution 181, the General Assembly decided that Mandatory Palestine would be divided into a Jewish and an Arab state.[8] When the Mandate expired in May 1948, the Zionist movement led by David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel, which sparked the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[9] This war was accompanied by the catastrophic displacement of the Palestinian population, the Nakba. During this period, 80% of the Arab-Palestinian population was expelled from their homes and turned into refugees.[10] Although the West Bank and the Gaza strip, including East Jerusalem, were assigned to the Palestinian state in the 1947 partition, Israel captured these areas after the Six-Day War in 1967 to improve their geographical position.[11] Since 1967, the occupied Palestinian territories have been subject to the military laws of the Israeli state, while Israeli settlers within these territories enjoy a broader set of civil rights.[12]

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. president Bill Clinton, and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House in 1993.

The Oslo Accords

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A major step in the peace process between Israel and Palestine were the Oslo Accords.[13] In the early 1990s, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was the first Israeli leader ever to formally recognize the Palestinian people, as well as the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as their representative.[14] This historic event marked the beginning of negotiations to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something the Israeli government had previously refused to do, as it had not recognized Palestinians as legitimate negotiating partners until then.[15] Although the talks between the two parties initially took place in Washington, they decided to continue the negotiations in Oslo, away from the political attention of America.[16] In 1993 Oslo I was signed, in which the two parties formally recognized each other.[17] Furthermore, the agreement included a reduction in the presence of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and a temporary arrangement for self-governance for the Palestinians, leading to the establishment of the Palestinian Authority.[18][19] Within 5 years, there should have been a permanent condition of peace.[20]

Oslo I initially seemed to be a groundbreaking attempt by Israel to make peace with the Palestinians. In the following years, however, it became clear that the peace process would ultimately worsen the situation of the Palestinians.[21] Oslo II further developed the plans of Oslo I, in which, among other things, the West Bank was divided into three zones, each with a different administrative authority.[22] In this division, the Palestinians did gain some form of self-government, but most of the area remained under Israeli power.[23] However, because the PLO had agreed to this division by signing the accords, Israel had a free pass to continue the colonization process.[24] The Oslo Accords can be seen as a form of colonial recognition by the administrative authority, exemplified by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for their roles in the process.[25] However, the true benefits of the accords are open to interpretation, and historical evidence suggests that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has deteriorated since they were established.[26] In contrast to top-down initiatives aimed at addressing Israel's settler colonialism, grassroots citizens and organizations play a significantly more impactful role.[27] In various ways, considerable initiatives and organizations operate in Israel to seek justice for Palestinians.[28]

Military Refusal

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From Israel's inception, settler colonialism has required the expropriations of land and the displacement of Palestinians.[29] The primary driving force for Israel’s settler colonial project has been through violence which has primarily been exerted through the military.[30]The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is the largest centralized unit of violence that the Israeli state has access to; through this, they are able to conduct their settler colonial project.[31] Military conscriptions of two to three years is mandatory for all Israeli citizens, with exceptions granted only to Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, certain individuals with criminal records, Ultra-Orthodox Jewish sects (Haredim), and lastly through providing adequate proof of physical or mental health conditions.[32] The idealization of the IDF starts from a young age, with teenagers visiting military bases and learning how to shoot guns, to IDF soldiers visiting schools to relay their experiences.[33] But a small group of individuals oppose the role that Israeli citizens have in perpetuating the occupation of Palestinians; one such group is Mesarvot.[34] Mesarvot was created in 2015 as an anti-occupation Israeli organisation that aims to support conscientious objectors to military service.[35] It provides advice from experienced members, legal support, media attention, and solidarity demonstrations.[36] A recent action facilitated by Mesarvot was the creation of a public refusal letter for teenagers still in high school.[37] A form of protest traditionally known in Israel as a “Shministim” letter, named after the Hebrew word for 12th graders.[38] This type of letter is typically written by youth before they reach the age of mandatory military service.[39] Mesarvot brought together a group of teenagers who wanted to openly declare their refusal to serve, helped them formulate their message, and built a media campaign to amplify their stance.[40] In the end, the letter gathered signatures from more than one hundred teenagers.[41] Most Mesarvot members that refuse to join the army face great societal resistance.[42] An instance of nineteen-year-old public Israeli activist, Sofia Orr got called a traitor, a self-hating Jew, and was told that she should be raped and killed in Gaza.[43] Amongst this, Sofia served over one hundred days in military prison; this is the norm for conscientious objectors.[44]

Whilst Mesarvot holds a line of total refusal of military service, there exists a small history of partial refusal by military officers for military service.[45] One such case was of a group of 51 soldiers releasing what became known as the "Combatants’ Letter," publicly declaring their refusal to serve in areas beyond the 1967 borders. [46] This was during Israel’s assault in the West Bank during the second Intifada. [47] Garnering over 600 signatures over a period of a year, but failed to gain momentum beyond the initial letter. [48] Similarly to the "Combatants’ Letter,” in 2003 thirteen elite combat unit personnel sent a letter to Ariel Sharon stating that they would no longer serve in missions aiming to oppress civilian populations.[49] Referred to as the "Commando's Letter," the statement highlighted the human rights violations faced by Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and expressed criticism of the expansion of Israeli settlements.[50]

Breaking the Silence

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Breaking the Silence is an organization of Israeli military veterans working to expose the realities of the occupation.[51] Since the second Intifada, they have collected testimonies from soldiers who served in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, exposing the moral and human cost of military control over a civilian population.[52] Abuses such as looting, destruction, and violence against Palestinians have long been widespread yet are officially dismissed as rare exceptions.[53] Although Israeli soldiers and commanders are aware of this reality, the broader Israeli society continues to look the other way and deny the actions taken in its name.[54] Soldiers returning to civilian life often struggle with the gap between their experiences and society’s denial.[55] Through testimonies, lectures, tours, and public events, Breaking the Silence calls for Israeli society to face the consequences of the occupation and exposes the public to a reality that is rarely shown in the media but exists just minutes from their homes.[56] Founded in 2004 by soldiers who served in Hebron, Breaking the Silence has gathered over 1,400 testimonies, carefully verified and cross-checked.[57] Many soldiers remain anonymous due to societal and military pressures.[58] By amplifying their voices, they aim to break the silence and bring an end to the occupation.[59] However, the group has been heavily criticized by high Israeli officials like Prime Minister Netanyahu. As a consequence the group was banned from giving lectures in public schools in 2018.[60]

B'Tselem

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B’Tselem is a human rights organization that focuses on the violations of human rights by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories.[61] A pillar of the organization is the explicit pursuit of ending the Israeli occupation.[62] Furthermore, it is concerned with bringing the Palestinian story and the consequences of Israeli colonial policy to the international attention.[63]

The organization tries to make an outline of the daily affairs in the occupied territories and the relationship between the Israeli military and the Palestinian civilians.[64] They do this by making a detailed documentation of the human rights violations committed by the Israeli military.[65] By sharing this documentation with the outside world, they aim to expose the daily realities faced by Palestinians and bring their voices to public attention by providing them with a platform.[66] One way to support the Palestinians in this is the Cameras for Freedom campaign, in which B’Tselem has provided recording equipment to Palestinian residents of the West Bank in order to record their perspective of the colonial story.[67] This footage can be crucial in providing evidence against Israel in the area of human rights violations.[68]The organization also provides legal assistance by offering legal expertise to Palestinians in pursuing cases against the Israeli state.[69] B’Tselem mobilizes the Palestinian people to compete against their repression as a front and sets up lawsuits against crimes that Israel committed.[70]

Who Profits

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The Who Profits Research Centre is an independent research organization whose mission is to reveal the financial involvement of Israeli and international companies in the continuous Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land.[71] Who Profits was established in 2007 as an initiative by the Coalition of Women for Peace and became an independent research center in 2013.[72] Their research focuses on the economy of the Israeli occupation, examining the private sector's involvement in the settlements, the economic exploitation of Syrian and Palestinian land, labor, and resources, and its role in maintaining the systems of control imposed on the occupied territories.[73] Their Corporate Database contains hundreds of companies operating in the Israeli occupation economy, which are updated regularly and made publicly available.[74] They also assist individuals and organizations in accessing information regarding corporate activity in the occupation via their Information Center.[75]

The organization recognizes that private corporations worldwide play a crucial role in advancing political agendas as they reap immense profits.[76] Similarly, the Israeli and international corporations facilitating and profiting from Israel's military repression, settlement expansion, and exploitation of resources and labor are significant players in a globalized economy and, according to Who Profits, need to be confronted accordingly.[77] Moreover, Israeli companies and the Israeli security apparatus constantly develop technologies and tools of repression and control that are tested and actualized on Palestinian bodies and then exported worldwide to solidify political alliances.[78] Who Profits considers knowledge an influential tool for revealing injustice's root causes and dynamics.[79] They create factual, freely available research and analysis focused on the economic dimensions of Israel's ongoing control over the Palestinian population and the Syrian communities in the Golan.[80]

References

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  1. ^ Avineri, Shlomo (1984). Makng Modern Zionism. Basic Books. p. 57.
  2. ^ Avineri, Shlomo (1984). Makng Modern Zionism. Basic Books. p. 58.
  3. ^ Said, E. W. (1979). The question of Palestine. Random House Trade.
  4. ^ Avineri, Shlomo (1984). Makng Modern Zionism. Basic Books. p. 60.
  5. ^ Avineri, Shlomo (1984). Makng Modern Zionism. Basic Books. p. 60.
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