...this picture could be taken:
(All photos taken by Dahlia Scheindlin for+972 Magazine)
See, it has been 20 years since Israeli-Jews and Palestinians have marched together, in solidarity, calling for the establishment of a self-determining Palestinian state.
And that is what happened on Friday, as over 2,000 people, in the first joint Jewish-Arab initiative of its kind in far too long, marched along the Green Line in Jerusalem, peacefully.
Israeli Jews marched. Palestinians marched. Israeli Knesset members marched. People passing by, watching the procession, joined in spontaneously to march.
(Translation: Israel-Palestine / 2 States for 2 Peoples)
And it's finally happening – these joint protests – for several reasons...
The confluence of four factors are finally bringing progressive Israelis back to the streets to publicly protest with Palestinians for the creation of two states for two peoples:
1. The rightward movement of Israel's ruling class – with passage of anti-democratic laws and anti-Palestinian laws coupled with Netanyahu's obstructionist stance toward renewing peace talks with the Palestinians – has inspired Israel's progressive left to publicly take to the streets and express their displeasure with Israel's direction and express their solidarity with the Palestinians' right to have a self-determining state.
2. The Palestinians' move to declare statehood through the U.N. in September if no progress is made in peace talks with Israel is galvanizing support in Israel's progressive community. As they watch Israel's Prime Minister simultaneously stall in restarting peace talks and engage in diplomatic efforts overseas to convince Western nations to reject the Palestinians' U.N. bid, Israelis are being moved, finally, to peacefully demonstrate against their government's stance.
3. As the Arab Spring continues to bloom, and as the countries around Israel continue to convulse with freedom- and democratic-based movements, progressive Israelis are finding a way to shift from being spectators to being participants. They see the fight for a Palestinian state within this context, particularly as Israel's government, in response to the Arab Spring, is behaving in some ways like those governments against which Arabs across the region are revolting against. Progressive Israelis are now becoming a part of the Arab Spring, and this participation is showing itself to be liberating.
4. As U.S. President Barack Obama simultaneously pressures Israel to return to the negotiating table and publicly rejects the Palestinians' effort to seek statehood through the U.N., progressive Israelis are beginning to target their frustrations and messages toward the United States, calling upon Obama to support the Palestinians' right to be recognized in the U.N. Security Council if Netanyahu balks at restarting talks.
More and more voices, both within and without Israel, are calling for the formation of a Palestinian state. Take, for example, the former American Jewish Congress chief, who is demanding that the United States get out of Palestine's way.
The Israel left is finally, after years of quiet, being awoken by the actions of the Israeli government.
And it's up to the American progressive left to support them, to serve as an amplifier and turn the volume up such that their calls are not only heard in Israel – influencing the body politic there – but are heard here in America as well such that they can influence a body politic here that is highly invested in what occurs in Israel and has great influence.
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Author's Note: Thanks to Flyswatterbanjo, who passed along the words of a participant, Jerry Haber, who was in the march:
For the first time ever, Israeli Jews and Arabs marched together in Jerusalem to affirm support for Palestinian statehood. Well, that was the official motto of the Solidarity Movement march. Judging from the signs and the chants, the real message was the liberation of the Palestinians from the 67 occupation, And there were a lot of chants and signs, in Hebrew, English, and Arabic, simply calling for the freedom of the Palestinians.
Stickers and posters seen: “Bibi, Recognize Palestine!” “67 lines – a Palestinian State Alongside a Jewish State” and my favorite one, “Only Free People Can Negotiate.”