In solidarity with the Palestinian people

This is an edited version of a talk given at the June 6 Gaza Solidarity Day rally in San Francisco

Activists rebuild home that was demolished by the IDF.

In July 2007, I had the privilege of traveling to the West Bank with a group called the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. This group builds homes for Palestinians who, for whatever reason the Israeli government deems fit, cannot get a permit to build on the land that they own.

The group of about thirty internationals who came with ICAHD was helping Palestinian construction workers build a home that was served a “stop-work” order by the Israeli government after reconstruction had begun a year earlier.

During our second day of construction, the Israeli Defense Force crept down the crooked dirt road that led to the small village of Anata and demolished the home of a family of nine. The family was away for a wedding celebration, so the IDF was kind enough to knock down the door and dump the family’s few belongings on the street, before turning their home into a pile of rebar and concrete. When the family came home to this destruction, we were there to let them know that we would be rebuilding their home as well.

This family—along with the rest of the Palestinian population—is living in an apartheid state that is perpetuated by a laundry list of horrific myths and outlandish lies put forth by the imperialist media and funded almost entirely by the U.S. government.

This family—along with the rest of the Palestinian population—cannot move from town to town to visit their families. They cannot receive permits to build on land to which they own a deed. Not one ounce of concrete has made it into Gaza so that the homes and the schools and the hospitals destroyed in the December-January massacre can be rebuilt. These people are living under complete occupation in what imperialists and their apologists call the “only democracy” in the Middle East.

We cannot make the mistake of believing that this conflict is a result of thousands of years of religious bickering. For Israel, the conflict has only to do with colonialism and land. For the U.S. government, Israel is an extension of its own imperialist interests. Without the existence of the U.S.-supported Israeli settler state, the people of the region would have control over their own resources and politics.

Regardless of the reasons for this occupation, it exists—and it needs to stop. As a Jew, I am appalled at the attempts by the Israeli government to use Judaism as its justification for this blatant racism, destruction and hatred. As a human being, I am disgusted by the complacency of people and governments all over the world, as they stand by and watch as Israel murders 1,300 defenseless Palestinian people and blames it on them. As a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, I stand in solidarity with any people who are living under the oppressive thumb of imperialism. As a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, I demand an end to the U.S. funding of Israel and the right of return for all Palestinians.

I say this to Israel: You may continue destroying Palestinian homes, you may rip up Palestinian olive trees, you may humiliate and kill Palestinian people. But we will be watching. We will be there to help rebuild their homes. We will chain ourselves to their olive trees. We will expose Israel for what it really is. We will stand side by side with the Palestinian people as they resist colonial occupation and genocide.