[[link removed]]

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF ISRAELIS IN THE PALESTINIAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT?
 
[[link removed]]


 

Fadi Shabita
May 25, 2025
+972 Magazine
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ The history of anti-colonial organizing shows there is room for
joint struggle — but only if the partnership aims to promote true
equality and justice. _

Israelis and Palestinians rally for an end to the war in Gaza, at
Habima Square in Tel Aviv, April 24, 2025., Photo: Tomer
Neuberg/Flash90 // +972 Magazine

 

Like many popular struggles for liberation throughout history, the
Palestinian fight against Israeli apartheid is defined by a
confrontation between two distinct sides: oppressor and oppressed.
Yet, like in almost every other instance — from the South African
anti-apartheid movement to Algerian resistance to French colonialism
— some individuals from within the ruling side have blurred this
divide, choosing to oppose the mechanisms of domination and
disassociate themselves from the actions of their own society.

This recurring phenomenon has consistently forced liberation movements
to address difficult questions: Should they embrace dissenting voices
from the oppressor’s camp or regard them with suspicion? Does active
solidarity from the other side strengthen their movement or risk
undermining it?

Today, the approximately 7 million Jews and 7 million Palestinians who
live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea are
effectively under total Israeli control. While all of Israel’s
Jewish residents, including settlers in the West Bank, enjoy full
rights as citizens, Palestinians are divided into several categories
— all inferior in status to Israeli Jews by varying degrees. 

In the West Bank, where Israel is well on its way to annexation
[[link removed]],
the settler population has grown from 100,000 during the Oslo Accords
to approximately 700,000 today. Many of the settlers are armed, backed
by the state, and hold positions of political and military power.
Leaders of the messianic right, once cautious in revealing their true
intentions, now openly promote ethnic cleansing and Jewish supremacy
[[link removed]].

One of the main tactics used to cover up this ongoing and accelerated
colonization is to present it as conflict based on
“misunderstandings” or “prejudices” between Israelis and
Palestinians. This is an attempt to normalize oppression
[[link removed]] while
shifting the discussion towards “relations” between people. But
it’s clear that as a Palestinian, I’ll have negative feelings
towards Israelis as long as they continue taking over my land and live
in my house. First, we’ll need to address this colonial reality —
and only then can we talk about our relations and feelings.

Just like young Palestinians did not choose to be born in the West
Bank, in Gaza, or in exile, young Israelis, some already the third or
fourth generation of colonial settlement, did not choose to be born
into this political reality. Nevertheless, they must choose how to
respond: Will they take part in it, preserve its mechanisms of
oppression, and benefit from the privileges it grants them? Or will
they choose to resist it
[[link removed]] —
and potentially at great personal cost?

 
Israeli soldiers disperse Palestinian farmers and activists,
preventing them from picking olives during the annual harvest season,
in the West Bank village of Qusra, October 29, 2024.  (Photo: Flash90
 //  +972 Magazine)
IDENTIFYING ALLIES

In French Algeria, although the indigenous population led their own
liberation struggle, a small group of French communists, leftists, and
intellectuals supported the National Liberation Front (FLN) and even
sacrificed their lives for Algerian independence. Groups like the
Jeanson Network, and individuals like Fernand Iveton and Henri
Maillot, aided the FLN by smuggling weapons, funding operations, and
participating in armed resistance.

Others, like lawyer Gisèle Halimi, defended FLN members in court and
exposed French torture practices. Influential intellectuals including
Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir wrote powerful critiques of
colonialism; Sartre, in particular, became a target of the
pro-colonial OAS for his outspoken support for Algerian independence.
Viewed as traitors by French authorities, these activists are
remembered in Algeria as important allies who stood against the
dominant colonial view of the French state and settler population.

Similarly, in apartheid-era South Africa, a minority of white
activists joined the Black liberation struggle, and several became key
figures; Joe Slovo led the ANC’s military wing, journalist Ruth
First was assassinated for her activism, and Helen Suzman challenged
apartheid from within parliament. Most Black South African leaders,
led by Nelson Mandela, endorsed interracial cooperation, insisting the
fight was against apartheid, not white people. And for many of its
members, the ANC’s multi-racial stance helped show that apartheid
wasn’t universally accepted, even among the white citizenry. 

This approach faced skepticism from more militant factions, who
questioned whether white allies could truly transcend their privilege,
feared security breaches, or doubted their revolutionary commitments.
Yet many white activists proved their dedication, with some paying the
ultimate price. After apartheid ended, South Africa’s Truth and
Reconciliation Commission honored the contributions of these white
allies, many of whom helped shape the new democratic state.

When considering the Israeli-Palestinian context, it is first
important to identify the Israelis who are potential allies in the
Palestinian struggle. What has historically been referred to as the
“Zionist left” mostly comprised political organizations that,
while sometimes advocating to end the occupation, fundamentally
accepted Israel’s ethno-national framework. Their rhetoric, which
consistently called to “preserve Israel’s Jewish character,”
inherently denied the right of return for Palestinians displaced in
1948. In doing so, these Israelis have aimed to maintain Israel’s
Jewish-supremacist structure while attempting to prevent its slide
into overt apartheid, a development that could damage the Jewish
state’s international image. 

Rather than challenging Zionism’s colonial foundations, the
distinction between this “left” and Israel’s messianic right has
ultimately been about tactics: whether the 1948 ethnic cleansing had
sufficiently secured Jewish dominance, or whether additional expulsion
of Palestinians — from the West Bank and Gaza, and even Israel’s
internationally recognized borders — remained necessary.

 
Activists protest the judicial overhaul and Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit in Manhattan, New York City,
September 19, 2023.  (Photo: Luke Tress/Flash90  //  +972 Magazine)

By comparison, radical Israeli groups such as Matzpen
[[link removed]], Yesh Gvul
[[link removed]], Ta’ayush
[[link removed]], and Combatants for Peace
[[link removed]] have refused ethno-nationalist supremacy
altogether. From leading protests and refusing military conscription
to conducting solidarity work with Palestinians in the occupied
territories, these organizations have devoted their energies to
fighting Israeli occupation through nonviolent resistance. In the past
(though to a much lesser extent today), these groups maintained ties
with Palestinian organizations and were even acknowledged by the PLO
as potential allies. Israeli activists who joined demonstrations in
the West Bank and previously in Gaza have at times paid a steep
personal price, even as their numbers within Israeli society have
steadily diminished
[[link removed]].

CONDITIONS FOR CO-RESISTANCE

The crucial question is not whether there is room for joint struggle
with Israelis, but what conditions must exist to ensure that such
cooperation truly promotes liberation and equality.

First, any Israeli Jew who chooses to take part in the struggle for
Palestinian liberation must recognize that they are not an “external
supporter,” but someone taking responsibility for a system from
which they benefit and which operates in their name. While the
Palestinian fights for their own freedom and national liberation, the
role of the Israeli is to actively refuse complicity
[[link removed]] in
maintaining the apartheid regime and the ongoing injustices it
commits. This is a partnership grounded in shared political and
practical goals, but it is not symmetrical — each side has a
distinct role shaped by its own historical and national reality.

Second, there must be full recognition of the historical injustice
caused to the Palestinian people with the establishment of the State
of Israel, including their expulsion and dispossession from their
land. This recognition must be accompanied by a real willingness to
act to correct the injustice — including through the redistribution
of land and other resources to account for Palestinian dispossession,
without depriving Jewish Israelis in the process. Such a utopian
arrangement may be hard to imagine now, but when there is true
political will, practical pathways for redistributive justice can be
found.

Third, there must be mutual recognition of both peoples’ right to
live in the land. For Palestinians, this right stems from their place
as the indigenous population, including those who were expelled and
remain in exile, as well as the Jewish-Palestinian minority that lived
here before the first Zionist settlements. For Israeli Jews, it is
derived from their long-term presence in the land over several
generations.

Fourth, the belief that Jewish control is an existential necessity
must be abandoned. The idea that a Jewish state is essential to the
survival of Jews in this land is not only mistaken, but sustains a
system of oppression. Indeed, ethnic supremacy ensures the
continuation of Palestinian resistance, as long as we are denied
equality in our own homeland. A just and peaceful future requires
recognizing Palestinians and Jews as two equal peoples, and building a
political partnership instead of maintaining a regime of Jewish
domination. Justice and equality are not favors granted from one side
to another — they are shared interests. Only a society that
dismantles ethnic privilege can provide true stability and security.

Fifth, a new political structure must be created, one that reflects
the existence and cultural, political, and material needs of both
peoples living between the river and the sea, alongside other minority
communities. This structure must address and rectify the historical
injustice inflicted upon Palestinians, not by creating new injustices,
but through a fair redistribution of power and resources.

The number of Israelis who hold and act upon these principles remains
very small today. Most Israelis, whether they acknowledge it or not,
are participants in the apartheid system. Still, it is vital that the
Palestinian position remains principled and rooted in clear values.
The path forward should respect and encourage joint resistance, but
only on a foundation of sound principles. This is a struggle against
apartheid, and it must be waged in partnership with all who truly
oppose it.

[[link removed]]

_A version of this article was first published in Hebrew on Sabra.
Read it here
[[link removed]]._

_[FADI SHABITA holds a master's degree in conflict resolution and is a
political and social activist and software engineer.]_

_OUR TEAM HAS BEEN DEVASTATED BY THE HORRIFIC EVENTS OF THIS LATEST
WAR. THE WORLD IS REELING FROM ISRAEL’S UNPRECEDENTED ONSLAUGHT ON
GAZA, INFLICTING MASS DEVASTATION AND DEATH UPON BESIEGED
PALESTINIANS, AS WELL AS THE ATROCIOUS ATTACK AND KIDNAPPINGS BY HAMAS
IN ISRAEL ON OCTOBER 7. OUR HEARTS ARE WITH ALL THE PEOPLE AND
COMMUNITIES FACING THIS VIOLENCE. _

_We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The
bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to
engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed
by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on
Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is
ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence
Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies._

_This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the
past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and
militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized
siege on Gaza._

_We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need
your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity
of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians
and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the
fight of their lives._

_CAN WE COUNT ON YOUR SUPPORT ? +972 MAGAZINE IS A LEADING MEDIA
VOICE OF THIS MOVEMENT, A DESPERATELY NEEDED PLATFORM WHERE
PALESTINIAN AND ISRAELI JOURNALISTS, ACTIVISTS, AND THINKERS CAN
REPORT ON AND ANALYZE WHAT IS HAPPENING, GUIDED BY HUMANISM, EQUALITY,
AND JUSTICE. JOIN US._ [[link removed]]

* Israel
[[link removed]]
* Palestine
[[link removed]]
* Palestinians
[[link removed]]
* Gaza
[[link removed]]
* Israeli left
[[link removed]]
* Israeli peace movement
[[link removed]]
* refuseniks
[[link removed]]
* apartheid
[[link removed]]
* Anti-apartheid
[[link removed]]
* co-resistance
[[link removed]]
* Standing Together
[[link removed]]
* Occupied Territories
[[link removed]]
* Zionist left
[[link removed]]
* South Africa
[[link removed]]
* Algeria
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]