Israel-Palestine Revisited

The last few months have been a bit of a difficult journey. During Israel's attack on Gaza, and the action that I took in joining my university's occupation, I felt really angry with Israel, and got drawn into the popular view on the left that it's all Israel's fault and Israel is a racist state. Even then, though, it was rather unusual for me, someone who was so aware of the situation from an Israeli perspective, to be involved in the outcry against Israel, and it made me feel isolated from my left-wing friends as well as the Israeli and Jewish community.

Then 'Seven Jewish Children' was produced in Cambridge and the Alliance for Workers' Liberty brought an Israeli refusenik to Cambridge and, in discussion that followed as I reconnected with some left-wing Zionists I know, I realised something. I used to think Israel was completely in the right, or at least tell myself that. Then I decided it/we/they/she (?!) was completely in the wrong. And you know what? Neither view was overly helpful.

The other night, the Socialist Worker Party held an open meeting to advocate their calls for a one-state solution, support of Hamas, and total condemantion of Zionism, and I made sure there were several Zionists there to engage with them (although I'm not sure that was the point). The talk was very much based around a particular version of the history of Israel and the conflict, but it was something someone said to me afterwards that really got me: the usual thing about how wrong it is to suggest Israelis might have suffered too.

I've decided something. I've decided that blame and condemnation aren't going to solve this conflict. I've decided that solidarity and resistance are pretty meaningless as abstract concepts, and I'm not willing to wait for the revolution to establish peace. And I've decided that suffering and death aren't quantifiable.

The trouble, in the present, is that so-called 'peace-talks' always amount to 'stop terrorising us'; 'stop oppressing us'; 'you first'; 'no you first'.

The solution is that, Israel's never going to be totally secure, no matter how suspicious it is of all Palestinians, no matter how many times it attacks them, no matter how high the walls it builds are. Whilst I understand the need to protect your own, I think our best bet is to be as conciliatory as possible, and hope that that will make us more secure. End the blockade; tear down the wall; withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza; treat Palestinian citizens of Israel as equals; make sure Palestine is a contiguous, autonomous state. Then it might become less easy for us to be the object of everyone's anger and blame, and we might be able to live in peace with our neighbours. But dissolve the state of Israel? Try to undo sixty-one years of history? Accept that Jews and Palestinians are the two underdogs who don't get the right to self-determination? Be self-righteous and unempathetic and preach hatred and blame?

I think I'm a bit too left-wing for that.

What Is Education For, Then?

The OCCUPATION is OVER:
GAZA is STILL the ISSUE
CAMBRIDGE GAZA SOLIDARITY – OPEN MEETING
THURSDAY 19th FEBRUARY
7.45 – 9.45pm
LATIMER ROOM, CLARE COLLEGE, OLD COURT

You saw/read/heard about the Law Faculty occupation a few weeks ago.

This is your opportunity to find out more about this important campaign to advance education in, and dialogue with, Gaza, reaching far beyond the Law Faculty. The meeting will involve discussion around the future direction and campaigns of Cambridge Gaza Solidarity.

Find out what has been happening since the student occupation finished,
ask questions,
get involved.
This IS a student issue.
We want to hear from YOU.
SPEAKERS include:
Dr Christina Devecchi – on ‘What is Education For, Then?’
Prof. Priyamvada Gopal – on ‘Student and Academic Responsibility’
Franck Magennis – Student Activist, LSE, on the national movement
And more
PLUS speakers from Cambridge Gaza Solidarity
FOLLOWED BY an open discussion on our actions as students to aid those in Gaza and the future direction of Cambridge Gaza Solidarity.

cambridgegazasolidarity.blogspot.com
cambridgeoccupation@live.com
Facebook: OCCUPATION CAMBRIDGE

National Demonstration for Free Education

National Demonstration for
Free Education

This year will see threats to lift the cap on tuition fees. Student unions and activists from around the country have come together to march on a national demonstration in London against all fees.

Join us in the fight
for free education!

- SCRAP ALL FEES
- FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL- A LIVING GRANT FOR EVERY STUDENT
- EDUCATION, NOT PROFIT

Speakers:
- Tariq Ali
- John McDonnell
- Student activists from across Britain and Europe
- Representatives from NUT, UCU and RMT

Coach leaves Cambridge at 10am from Parker’s Piece, Returning at around 6.30pm
Tickets £5 each
email: he-funding@cusu.cam.ac.uk

If you're coming from somewhere other than Cambridge, Meet 12 noon, Wednesday 25 February, outside University of London Union, Malet Street.

Free education is more worth fighting for than ever before: clearly, the costs of marketised education are going to keep going up and up if we keep accepting it at all.

Israel-Palestine

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7890977.stm

http://www.bicom.org.uk/news

http://www.ynetnews.com/home/1,7340,L-3341,00.html?SearchType=TopNav&criteria=&sog=&keyword=&hdnSearchTrajectory=&txtSearchString=hamas&q=&client=pub-5997776081861329&forid=1&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A1%3B&hl=en&txtChanID=3083&select1=Site

http://english.aljazeera.net/Services/Search/Default.aspx

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/middle_east/2001/israel_and_the_palestinians/profiles/1654510.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7818022.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7818022.stm

I've Been Thinking

Never a good sign, I know. BUT. Some basic facts about the world have been bothering me:

- People are not equal, either in terms of opportunity to gain resources or in allocation of those resources;

- People frequently get killed in large numbers for stupid reasons;

- There is immense suffering in the world affecting millions of people RIGHT now, due to inequality, conflict, historic developments, bureaucratic blunders, greed, power struggles, etc.

- A minority of the world has loads and loads of benefits, but a really high rate of depression and other mental health problems.

-We are in the midst of perfectly avoidable economic and environmental crises; Britain alone is embroiled in two perfectly avoidable wars; Britain and America seem to have decided that their role in the Arab-Israeli conflict is to make sure that Israel can do whatever the hell it wants, but that nothing constructive actually gets done to achieve peace FOR BOTH SIDES.

- Some of the people I know care about the above listed facts. Some of them are even trying to do something about them. But the vast majority seem either not to have noticed, not to care, to like the world as it is, or to feel that they have no right/responsibility/ability to do anything about any of it.

- It seems quite standard for people to randomly identify ethnic groups as responsible for some or all of the above, rather than noticing that it's a question of basic inequality, unsustainability and injustice worked into the very fabric of society at local, national and international level.

Anyone got any ideas on how to make sense of/do something about any or all of the above???

Those Thoughts on Nationalism

OK, I'm angry now. How have we managed to create a situation where the Israel-Palestine conflict is so 'sensitive' that, no matter how many people get killed, you get villified if you don't remain neutral??? Why is condemnation of the actions of the Israeli government seen as implicit support for Hamas? Hamas is unfairly and disgracefully firing rockets at innocent people, so Israel decides to unfairly and disgracefully bomb the group of people they've trapped inside the most densely populated scrap of land in the world, and it's all Hamas' fault? It's anti-semitic to expect Israel to take responsibility for her actions, and not just point the finger at the nasty terrorists? What's the big distinction between Jews and Palestinians in the first place? Am I meant to care more when Israelis die than I do when Palestinians die? Dead Palestinians are collateral damage, dead Israelis are unforgivable crimes that justify lots of dead Palestinians, is that the idea? I'm a bad Jew because I think this whole thing is intolerable? Oh, wait, I'm not quite Jewish, am I? Not practising, not quite pureblood, so who am I to say that, as a Jew, I don't want this to be happening in my name? Am I allowed to say that, as a student, I don't want my unions and my university acting as if everything's fine, and it's just bad luck that the violence keeps escalating, and escalating, and escalating, but just mentioning the word Hamas makes everything Israel does OK???

Or should I just put my head down, get on with my studies, and ignore the fact that if I was in Gaza my university would have just been bombed and attempts to send aid being blocked by the claim that it would just fuel Hamas' terrorism??? Should I pretend that a 'Jewish state' is a perfectly reasonable thing for a persecuted people to want, and not racist? Am I not allowed to criticise my own government and other governments and expect the world to do better than a murderous, bloody apartheid situation?

A Song

http://www.seizetheday.org/music.cfm?trackID=43&albumID=3&alphabet

Listen to the words. Comment with song recommendations of your own. xx

Some Song Lyrics I Find Inspiring

Blowin' In The Wind

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Democracy

The present government was elected upon the strength of the votes of 35% of 61% of the population of Britain. Does that undermine democracy? Well, aside from the fact that representative democracy in itself is not what I think of as democracy, the general principle of democracy is not that people's views should somehow magically be taken into account without them actually doing anything. It's that there are platforms for active citizens to make a difference. I'd love to see everyone in Cambridge being more politically active. Everyone in the world, in fact. My ideal world is one where everyone's so politically active that concensus decision making is the basis of all political activity.

But we couldn't force people to join our occupation and help us decide what it should be. If people thought it should have been something different, we would be the first to commend their actions if they decided to do something about that. A friend suggested that J-Soc and Israel Soc could combine to demand that the university issue a statement recognising the West Bank as part of Israel. If J-Soc and Israel Soc were to organise an occupation and run it using concensus decision making, however, the group that got involved with this week's one would, I'm sure, turn up in force, watch their films, hear their talks, and help to shape their decisions.

If you're interested in knowing more about the occupation, follow the link on the right-hand side, where you can find out all about it. Coming up: my thoughts on nationalism. Isn't that exciting! Please do make sure you let me know what you think by commenting!

Something to be Proud of

Images of angry protesters on the news can look quite scary. This week, I have had a taste of something that was labelled 'extreme': taking part in an occupation of a building of Cambridge University, which released demands relating to the plight of the people of Gaza. Over the course of the week, a lot emerged to get angry about. How many people criticised us without being willing to engage with us. How little the university authorities cared what a substantial group of committed students thought. How much effort they made to undermine us, through inconvenience to the students of the faculty we were occupying. How inseparable the issue of Israel's culpability and the suffering of the people of Palestine seems to be from that of Hamas' culpability in people's minds. How quick J-soc is to confuse criticism of the Israeli government with attacks on Jewish students. Maybe at points the expressions on our faces or the tone of our words would have looked scary broadcast on the news.

But then, at the same time, a lot emerged to be proud of. How big and strong Cambridge's student movement is, and how willing they are to take on the apathy of their fellow students, the clouding of the issue from certain groups, and the authoritarian measures of their apparently prestigious university. How much it's possible to achieve cooperatively, non-violently and discursively. How many individuals within the university staff are willing to speak out alongside us. How much love there is in the world that can actively overcome all the hatred, suffering and injustice.

So yes, uselessly waving placards, being told to go away and quietly raise money or volunteer like good little privileged people, and the endless criticism and underhanded treatment more radical actions are subjected to, can make protesters angry. But what met the people who were forced to leave the faculty before negotiations were complete was not mindless, ill-informed anger or violence; it was hugs, tears of mixed joy and disillusionment, and the promise that it would not end there.