Abunimah Ali - The Battle for Justice in Palestine

Praise for The Battle for Justice in Palestine

Every community that stands fast, loving its people and its land, its customs and its ways, will be seen, eventually, as worthy of saving. This is because it is our own humanity we are learning from, our own value. There will also arise a special voice to champion us, one that is brave, trustworthy, and true. In The Battle for Justice in Palestine it is the voice of Ali Abunimah, fierce, wisea warrior for justice and peacesomeone whose large heart, one senses, beyond his calm, is constantly on fire. A pragmatist but also a poet. This is the book to read to understand the present bizarre and ongoing complexity of the Palestine/Israel tragedy. And though it is filled with the grim reality of this long and deadly, ugly and dehumanizing conflict, it also offers hope: that as more people awaken to the shocking reality of what has for decades been going on, we can bring understanding and restitution to the Palestinian people. Their struggle to exist in dignity and peace in their own homelandand this may be the biggest surprise of Abunimahs bookis mirrored in the struggles for survival and autonomy of more than a few of us.

Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple and many other works, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award

A crucially needed dose of educated hope. This is what hits me from this fascinating amalgam of incisive journalism, analytic prose, and intellectually compelling vision that emanates from many years of brilliant activism. Sailing effortlessly from the domestic to the global, from Johannesburg to Belfast and from Chicago to Tel Aviv, Ali Abunimah paints a lucid, accessible picture out of a complex web of racism, racialized oppression, and creative resistance. Ali does not give us hope; he helps us dig for it within us by meticulously laying out before us the facts, the trends, the challenges, and the inspiring resistance to them.

Omar Barghouti, Palestinian human rights activist, co-founder of the BDS movement, author of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights

With incisive style and scrupulous attention to documentation and detail, Ali Abunimahs new book offers a complex portrait, from every angle, of the Palestinian struggle for justice today.

Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director, Jewish Voice for Peace

"This is the best book on Palestine in the last decade. No existing book presents the staggering details and sophistication of analysis that Abunimahs book offers. Abunimahs scope includes an analysis of the politics, economics, environmental policies, identity politics, international relations, academic scholarship and activism, global solidarity, and official and unofficial lobbies that have come to bear on Palestine and the Palestinians. The Battle for Justice in Palestine is the most comprehensive treatment of Palestinian suffering under Israeli control and offers the only possible way to end it. It is a must read for anyone seeking to understand the current situation of the Palestinians and Israel."

Joseph Massad, Columbia Univer sity

In The Battle for Justice in Palestine , Ali Abunimahthe most astute commentator writing on Palestine todaybursts the leaky myths of Israeli exceptionalism while carefully examining where the battle for Palestine is currently being waged. Forget the endless peace process, which has ushered in little more than massive economic exploitation, tragic environmental degradation, and servile and destructive politics. Focus instead, Abunimah tells us, on the many civil society and campus initiatives around the world that are bravely ushering in a new era of global grassroots organizing for justice. Rich in information and deep in analysis, The Battle for Justice in Palestine will inspire readers that Palestinian self-determination is not only possible but absolutely necessary.

Moustafa Bayoumi, author, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America

Contents

List of Abbreviations

ADL Anti-Defamation League

AIPAC American Israel Public Affairs Committee

ANC African National Congress

ANSWER Act Now to Stop War and End Racism

BDS Boycott, divestment, and sanctions

BMIP Bethlehem Multidisciplinary Industrial Park

BNC Boycott National Committee

CSUN California State University, Northridge

DUP Democratic Unionist Party

GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

HIDTA High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area

IACP International Association of Chiefs of Police

IMF International Monetary Fund

IPCC Israeli-Palestinian Chamber of Commerce

IPO Initial public offering

IRA Irish Republican Army

JINSA Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs

JNF Jewish National Fund

JTA Jewish Telegraphic Agency

LGBTQ Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer

MSA Muslim Student Association

NCLR National Council of La Raza

NUG National unity government

NYPD New York Police Department

OCR Office of Civil Rights

OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

OFC Olympia Food Co-op

OPIC Overseas Private Investment Corporation

PADICO Palestinian Development and Investment Company

PCRF Palestine Childrens Relief Fund

PIEFZA Palestinian Industrial Estate and Free Zone Authority

PA Palestinian Authority

PRC Palestinian Return Centre

SJP Students for Justice in Palestine

SOAS School of Oriental and African Studies

TSA Transportation Security Administration

UCSA University of California Student Association

UNRWA United Nations Relief and Works Agency

WTO World Trade Organization

Chapter 1

Shared Values, Shared Struggle

Israel, European and US leaders often insist, is a shining beacon for the world. Franois Hollande, the Socialist candidate elected Frances president in 2012, observed that Israel faced so much criticism precisely because it is a great democracy. But despite these incongruities, it would appear at first blush that, at least when it comes to officially sanctioned racism and discrimination at home, the United States and Israel diverge sharply.

In his second inaugural address President Obama harked back to the iconic ideas shaping Americas view of itself as a beacon for the world. He stood before a crowd of thousands as the living embodiment of the progress and opportunity he now sought to extend even further in a society more willing than ever to embrace multiple cultures. We affirm the promise of our democracy, the president said. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional, what makes us America, is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. Yet even Obama conceded that while these truths may be self-evident, theyve never been self-executing. The history of the United States is one of conflict, sometimes at great cost and bloodshed, to make these ideals real for ever more Americans, whether brought in bondage, born at home, or hopeful immigrants coming to seek a better life. It is a familiar story: the time when official white supremacy was the natural and seemingly unassailable orderenforced by a system of juridical and customary violence known as Jim Crowhas passed forever. The abolition of slavery; the civil rights movement and the end of segregation; comprehensive civil rights legislation ending discrimination in education, housing, and employment; and voting rights are celebrated as milestones toward realizing the promise that all are created equal. Few deny that significant disparities have yet to be eliminated. Few deny that racial gaps in health, wealth, and education are vast in the United States, just as they are between Jews and Arabs in Israel. But these are often talked about as legacies. Even the most conservative opponents of social programs intended to remedy these disparities do not claimas Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has in Israelthat too much integration in and of itself would constitute an existential threat to the United States. Contrast this optimistic and liberal vision to Israels record of state-sponsored racism and inequality, which, as we shall see, is broadly supported by Israeli Jewish opinion and justified as necessary for the states survival.