One Democratic State in Israel/Palestine

international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis Saturday November 13, 2004 18:19 by Zeev bin Natan

There is need now to build a mass non-violent movement toward a single democratic non-national state, a “politics from below” for a sustainable just future for Israelis and Palestinians, forging bonds of ta'ayush (togetherness) in common struggle, the return of refugees in massive numbers – and inside Israel moving beyond apartheid ethnocracy and its oligarchy.

With the passing of Abu Ammar, heavy pressure will be brought to bear by the Israeli political and economic oligarchy, Washington and the EU to impose a bourgeois leadership on the Palestinians that can be 'controlled' by Israel and the Euro-Atlantic power axis. And for those installed ‘compliant’ leaders to agree to some kind of Israel-dominated Palestinian Bantustan, a hodgepodge of enclaves, behind a Great Wall and a high Gaza fence: the 0.5-state solution.The Palestinian refugees will continue to rot in their camps, half a nation in limbo with nowhere to go. Israel itself, through settlement policy, has destroyed the geographic basis for any viable two-state solution.

Some of us in the Association for One Democratic State in Palestine/Israel are pressing for a mass non-violent movement toward a single democratic state, a “politics from below” for a sustainable just future for Israelis and Palestinians, forging bonds of ta’ayush (togetherness) in common struggle, the return of refugees in massive numbers – and inside Israel moving beyond apartheid ethnocracy and its oligarchy. The Association has a growing membership of Arabs, Palestinians, Israeli Jews, Americans, Canadians, Europeans. Antiauthoritarians, Greens and progressives of all persuasions should get behind this as a longer-term radical democratic goal. We welcome input from Ireland. Join the Association. See Sami Aldeeb’s statement below.

Nonetheless, over the shorter term I would argue pragmatism, or a kind of utopian realism: press now for the ‘best deal’ option for a Palestinian statelet, even with rigged elections under Occupation and a puppet comprador leadership -- recognizing that such a Palestinian 0.5-state engineered by Israeli nationalists, international Capital and its oligarchies is a short-term compromise and not a lasting solution. Yet a desperately needed space for Palestinians in which to breathe from the Ihtilal (the Suffocation, the Palestinian term for the Occupation) and its orchestrated nightmare.

The primary aim over the longer haul is to build a popular non-violent movement in the puppet enclaves of Palestine and inside Israel, developing direct action to regain the commons (see http://www.onestruggle.org ) and activate the populace, Palestinian and Israeli, for a totally transformed radically democratic, non-national and secular single state to come.

If we want to grow grassroots direct democracy, that path cannot run through conventional ballot-box electoralism. It will spring from mass and massive unity of purpose and action. Working in stages over say 15 years: from two (or 1.5) states to one state and on to 'no state' - - forward to a Cooperative Socialist Commonwealth of Canaan in federation with a radically democratized Jordan.

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Association for One Democratic State in Palestine/Israel 12 November 2004

While the Palestinians mourn their leader Yasser Arafat, our Association invites all of you to work for peace and to end the sufferings in Palestine/Israel.

The only way to reach peace is to establish justice, for all, regardless of their religion. 2700 years ago, Prophet Isaiah said: "Peace will be the fruit of justice" (32:17).

The creation of two states in Palestine/Israel as proposed today means the negation of the right of the Palestinian refugees to return home. Besides the fact that such a negation is a violation of human rights, the proposed solution will never achieve peace. It will only encourage fundamentalism, provoke permanent conflict between the two peoples, and perpetuate sufferings.

Our Association is convinced that the only way to reach peace is to create One Democratic State in Palestine/Israel, with equal rights and duties for all the inhabitants of this region, including the Palestinian refugees who must have the right to return home. Our solution helps to resolve not only the refugees' problem, but also the Jewish settlements, as the Jews inside the proposed State will be able to live wherever they like.

Therefore, we invite you to bury once and for all the plans aiming to create two states, including the Geneva Initiative, the Road Map and the Oslo Accords, and to work for the creation of one democratic state in Palestine/Israel.

Sami Aldeeb
Chairman
Association for One Democratic State in Palestine/Israel
http://www.one-democratic-state.org