Israel/Palestine - solidarity yes, boycott no: Workers' Liberty 3/12

Why supporters of "two states" should not join the "smash Israel" boycotters— Solidarity, yes! Boycott, no!

Comrades: You, I believe, support a boycott as something to help bring about “two states” in Israel/ Palestine — Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories, and the creation of a sovereign, independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. On the goal of “two states”, I agree with you. But I believe the boycott will harm rather than help that cause, and in this Open Letter I want to explain why. The mood for boycott is backed by strong feelings of indignation and outrage against Israel, and by a powerful and unanswerable sentiment that something must be done by the British labour movement...

Trade unionists for two states

These basic policies on Israel-Palestine — policies which allow a way forward through building working-class unity across the divides — were adopted by the Executive of the Communication Workers’ Union in 2002. Trade Unionists For Two States: Palestine Alongside Israel works to win support for these policies in the labour movement. It seeks affiliations from trade union branches, and organises practical activities to help promote the cause of Palestinian rights: an independent Palestinian state with the same rights as Israel. • We are for the immediate withdrawal of the Israeli state from the...

What you can do

If not boycott, what? There is a wide range of positive activities by which we can make solidarity with the Palestinians without the drawbacks of boycott. In fact, the boycott demand often serves a diversion, directing people towards token or downright counterproductive activities instead of what they could do positively. 1. Demonstrations, lobbies, pickets, petitions, trade-union resolutions, focused on positive demands for “two states”, rather than on increasing generalised hostility to Israel. One of the plagues of much of current “pro-Palestinian” activism is that, because it is in...

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