Jon Lansman reports on the work of Standing Together to secure a ceasefire and an end to Palestinian oppression
For many on the British Left, the century-long tragic conflict in Israel/Palestine and the horrific death toll in Gaza and Lebanon is seen as the consequence of “settler-colonialism” and “Zionism”. The role of imperial powers like the Ottomans, British, French, Americans and Russians are mysteriously overlooked. The fact that Stalin’s support for Israel’s establishment in 1948 was less equivocal than that of the USA (where President and State Department were at odds) is forgotten.
It is now at least ten years since any genuine peace process between the leaders of Israel and Palestine. Illegal settlement construction has continued apace in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The war waged by Netanyahu since the Hamas attack on October 7th 2023 has brought not only 45,000 deaths in Gaza and Lebanon, but ever-increasing violence perpetrated in the West Bank and mixed cities in Israel, not only by the Israeli army but increasingly by settlers and others from the far right, with the connivance of Israeli police.
The tide of public opinion within Israel has now turned against both the war and Netanyahu (by 2-1 in late November) but there has also been consistent and active opposition to the war within Israel from the beginning which should have commanded the support of the British and international Left. This came in particular from Standing Together, a socialist movement of Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel for peace, justice, equality and an end to the occupation.
At the heart of Standing Together’s approach is not a set of principles or policies, but a theory of change which aims to create a politics of hope: “…fundamental political and social change in Israel is possible – and we will accomplish it. It is attainable because the majority of people here hold a genuine interest in an equal and just society”.
This is radically different from the Netanyahu regime which, it says, “only serves occupation and wealth… generates endless social crises” and “harms the majority of our society”.
Standing Together has been in existence now for almost ten years. Their first major demonstration was in October 2015 when 1,500 Jews and Arabs demonstrated in Jerusalem under the motto “we will not surrender to despair”, at which Zehava Galon and Dov Khenin, leaders of Meretz and the Joint Arab List, spoke.
On April 2nd 2017, 50 years after the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza by Israel, they organised the demonstration in Jerusalem against their continuing occupation. It was backed by a Haaretz editorial but not by the Israeli Labour Party. That summer they blocked several major highways to protest disability benefits being less than minimum wage.
In January 2018, they were campaigning in Jerusalem & Tel Aviv with Holocaust survivors and 20,000 others against the deportation of 40,000 African refugees from Darfur and Eritrea. At other times, their demands were for a minimum wage, on issues of religiosity, gender and sexual orientation, generating new coalitions, ensuring representation from marginalised groups and always communicating in both Hebrew and Arabic.
In Tel Aviv that April, following a bloody weekend in which 15 Palestinians were killed, they campaigned in solidarity with Gaza under the banner “Create hope, stop the next war” amid chants of “No to the occupation” and “In Gaza and Sderot, little girls want to stay alive.”
On January 7th 2023, Standing Together organised the first protest against Netanyahu’s proposal to curb the judiciary’s influence over lawmaking and public policy by limiting the Supreme Court’s power to exercise judicial review, and granting the government control over judicial appointments. These became weekly mass protests with support across a wide political spectrum.
However, it is since October 7th 2023, that Standing Together has faced its greatest task – that of leading the opposition within Israel to the war in which, (in their words), “Palestinians and Jews across Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, have endured unprecedented violence, loss, and trauma… both from Hamas’ horrific October 7th attack and Israel’s harsh and indiscriminate retaliation on Gaza”.
In response they have continued to build a movement of Jews and Palestinians for a shared future, a ceasefire, a return of all hostages, and an end to the occupation. They have organised “humanitarian guards” to protect aid trucks heading to Gaza from settler attacks; collected food and supplies for those trucks; organised “Solidarity Watch” patrols to accompany people fearful of leaving their homes in mixed cities; pressurised local police to intervene in cases of intercommunal violence; run an emergency support hotline to provide support in Arabic and Hebrew to people experiencing racism, dismissal from their jobs or expulsion from universities.
Even in the midst of war, Standing Together is building the shared future that is the only possible basis of peace and security.