Organizing for self‐determination, ethical de‐Zionization and resisting apartheid

Abstract

This paper argues for a secular, democratic state in historic Palestine as the most morally coherent solution to the century‐old colonial conflict because it offers the best hope for reconciling the inalienable right of the indigenous Palestinians to self‐determination and the acquired rights of the colonial settlers to live in peace and security, individually and collectively. Accepting colonists as equal citizens and full partners in building and developing a new shared society is the most magnanimous offer any oppressed indigenous population can present to its oppressors, but for such to be attained, settlers must shed colonial privileges and character, accept justice, unmitigated equality, and conscious integration into the region. Building a just and lasting peace anchored in international law and universal human rights, conducive to ethical coexistence requires the ethical decolonization, or de‐Zionization of historic Palestine. Such a process is premised on a revitalized, democratized Palestinian civil resistance movement with a clear vision for a shared, just society and effective worldwide support for reaffirming Palestinian rights and ending Israel's violations of international law and universal rights. By emphasizing the equality of humanity as its most fundamental principle, this paper shows that the proposed secular democratic state promises to transcend national and ethnic dichotomies that now make it nearly impossible to envision reaching any just solution to the most intricate questions.

Keywords:

• de‐Zionization
• ethical de‐colonization
• Nakbah
• Israeli apartheid
• PLO
• boycott divestment sanctions (BDS)
• bi‐nationalism
• secular democratic state
• ethical coexistence

Notes

1. Even human rights reports issued by the US State Department have condemned Israel's ‘institutional, legal and societal discrimination’ against the indigenous Palestinians. For example, see the 2008 report at: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/nea/119117.htm/.

2. See http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9134.shtml/.

3. Dascal proposes this as a current principle that Israel and its Palestinian citizens ought to uphold as a means of alleviating the conflict between the two identities in opposition. This same principle, however, can be quite useful if applied to the future of a unitary state.

4. For more on this, see Global BDS Movement (2008).

5. For The Democratic Constitution (2007), see: http://www.adalah.org/eng/democratic_constitution-e.pdf; for The Haifa Declaration (2007), see: http://www.mada-research.org/archive/haifaenglish.pdf; and for The Future Vision (2006), see: http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/dec06/tasawor-mostaqbali.pdf/.

6. See http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10497.shtml/.

7. See http://www.BDSmovement.net/.

8. For more on this, see http://www.palestine-studies.org/journals.aspx?id=6804&jid=1&href=fulltext/.