By Ben Chacko
LONDON: This weekend tens of thousands will march again for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza. The mass movement for Palestine has changed British policy and British politics.
Without it the British state would not have been forced to recognise Palestine, a Labour commitment which Keir Starmer actually renounced in the early stages of Israel’s invasion of Gaza. It would not have been pushed to the limited restrictions on arms sales to Israel that followed, and certainly not to the bigger break we have seen since Ed Miliband became Foreign Secretary, with a declared ban on trade with Israel’s settlements in occupied Palestine and on arms sales that “materially contribute” to the occupation.
These policy changes have been achieved despite worsening state repression which could permanently restrict our freedoms of speech and assembly, including banning protests based on their “cumulative impact” and on the ban on Palestine Action which has prompted multiple mass arrests of peaceful demonstrators. Images of these round-ups broadcast round the world have undermined British claims to be a free society.
That’s a change in our politics, but the size and determination of the movement marshalled by the Palestine Coalition has forced an admission from Miliband that the people on the streets, not the government, “got it right” — raising pressure to reverse the bans and challenge the repressive legislation.
So the first mass Palestine demo of the Andy Burnham premiership really matters. The shifts we have seen so far must be a beginning, not an end. It is wrong to dismiss their importance: the incensed reaction from Israel shows it takes them seriously. That reaction gives us opportunities to force a wedge between our government and Israel’s: the row over Israel’s attempt to close the British consulate in East Jerusalem is an example.
The diplomatic spat forces wide discussion of the illegality of Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in the first place and opens eyes to the fact that Palestine’s relations with the world are actively obstructed by Israel at every level. This advertises the reality of the occupation: and in a way that undercuts attempts by the right to present support for Israel as “patriotic,” part of the clash of civilisations promoted by the likes of Elon Musk.
Ministers need to feel pressure to be tough here, as we need a mass campaign to turn the bans on settlement goods and arms sales into realities. Even arguing over which arms sales “materially contribute” to the occupation publicises the centrality of the occupation of Palestine to Israeli politics, helping spread the message that the answer is “all of them.”
A united, mass demonstration can also focus our movement on practical demands — ending arms sales, boycott, divestment and sanctions — which come from the Palestinians themselves.
The shape of a future Palestinian state will be forged by their struggle, and the Greens’ decision to call for a one-state solution, when this is not the position of Palestine’s representatives at the United Nations or the Palestine Liberation Organisation, is unhelpful at a time when the international isolation of Israel is deepening and the UN is a target of the Trump-led assault on international law, which includes US attempts to legitimise the erasure of the Palestinians.
Likewise, declarations on the nature of zionism have a whiff of purity politics divorced from practical solidarity with Palestine and risk being read as antisemitic within Jewish communities — which is not to excuse the barrage of attacks on the Greens from Israel supporters who scent an opportunity to reverse the Palestine movement’s recent advances.
Unity should be our watchword — building the biggest possible alliance to force the British state to end support for the occupation in all its forms, and building a wider awareness of the connections between Britain’s complicity in the genocide, our alliance with the United States and the militarisation drive that is consuming Europe. (IPA Service)
Courtesy: Morning Star
