We were talking about language this afternoon, about how you can be led astray by accepting the wrong words for things, or by allowing yourself to be persuaded to reject words that others find uncomfortable hearing.
The event was a talk by Ghada Karmi and I assure you, listening to a Palestinian whose family were hounded out of Palestine to make way for Zionists clears up any remaining doubts you may have – doubts we all have at times, thanks to the deceptive wordsmithery of our politicians and media, about the words we need to describe the State of Israel.
To say that Karmi is a veteran campaigner for a free Palestine is to undersell her contributions. She was the founder of the original Palestine Action back in the 1970s, and has written extensively on the topic. Her best-known title, In Search of Fatima was about her personal experience of the Nakba.
For me, this afternoon was a very interesting gauge of how the tide is turning on the topic of Palestine. Listening to Karmi slice through the remaining diffidence was to experience the death of that last and most pathetic excuse of politicians, “it’s complicated.”
Karmi says what is happening in Gaza is in many ways not unique. Western colonialism in particular has instigated many acts of genocide against indigenous peoples. The reasons recent events in Palestine feel unique are firstly that Israel’s actions and their consequences are filmed, and come to everyone’s eyes via social media; and secondly, that the people of Gaza and the West Bank cannot run away, as many of the victims of the imperialist powers of the past did.
They are caged, starved, bombed and shot, and any attempts they make to resist are called terrorism.
Karmi reminded us that Gaza has been under siege for years. She reminded us that the Palestinians live with a prospect of violence without end, an insufferable military occupation that intends to continue indefinitely. She reminded us that Israel could not have achieved anywhere near the level of destruction they have without the complicity of Europe and the US in their decision to make their violence and repression permanent. She reminded us that the “two state solution” that pious western politicians claim to be diligently working towards entails giving 4/5 of Palestine to Israeli settlers.
What struck me most deeply this afternoon was Karmi’s explanation of the rage and disbelief we experienced from Israel’s supporters after October 7th.
Israelis had, she said, consciously or unconsciously, accepted the permanent beating down and containing of Palestinian Arabs as their essential security strategy. When they saw that the world was not going to politely ignore their murderous beating back of Gaza after October 7th, they knew – consciously or unconsciously – that they were witnessing the end of their ruthlessly defended comfort zone. They could not and would not believe it.
That is where the language bit comes in. When I was a Labour Party officer a few years back, you weren’t allowed to say “Zionist” because it upset the Zionists. Now, after the world has actually paid attention to what Zionists are doing and why, we no longer accept their claims that anything we say or do in support of Palestinians is antisemitic.
Even the BBC is becoming, very, very slowly, just a little bit more willing to accept Israel may not have been er… entirely, um… and even in the United States, the latest “nice” Presidential candidate has tiptoed near enough to say that yes, she’s noticed Palestinian kids dying and it’s not nice. Pathetic, isn’t it. A couple of years ago, the Labour Party was jumping on anyone who said “adult human female”. This year, they told conference event organizers they mustn’t say ”genocide” or “apartheid”.
The result was that large crowds of people with Palestinian flags marched on conference this weekend saying “genocide” and “apartheid” at the tops of their voices.
Accept it, Labour, please. Beyond a certain point, you cannot prevent people thinking a thing by trying to stop them saying it.
The One State Solution
I think the last thing they seriously tried to stop the public at large saying on the topic of Palestine was “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. That’s because to colonialists, freedom of movement for Palestinians translates as the death or removal of Israeli Jews. That’s the way they are used to thinking – but they have failed. Most of the people, right across the world – most of the people on this planet know from their own experience that states can exist with several peoples, with different cultures and religions. One people being free does not automatically result in another people being chucked in the sea.
In addition, most of the people on this planet also know that the age of settler-colonialism is over. We forced the end of apartheid South Africa, and we are not going to accept the so-called “two state solution” because, on its present terms, it entails maintaining the settler-colonialist, apartheid state known as Israel.
Now this bit *is* complicated
Karmi is no dreamer. She says that she has no idea how long it might take to get from here to a one state solution. She says we’ve seen that Israel cannot continue as it is – partly because it has burned its own bridges. It has made enemies of all its neighbours in the region, and persuaded the best of its citizens to either leave or join the resistance. The State of Israel is crumbling. But also, the rest of the world has now seen Israel clearly, and knows it’s a colonialist throwback. We want to see a final end to apartheid.
But at the same time, says Karmi, no one knows a simple way forward from where we are now. Israel is dead set on continuing the appalling violence that it considers its only source of security, and its own citizens are so crazed by fear, belligerence or both, that there would be no way of persuading them there is a peaceful way.
Meanwhile, the last twelve months have put vast numbers of Palestinians into such a traumatized condition that we have no idea how long it will take for them to settle into any kind of organization with an eye on an integrated future.
Can we even imagine – can I, can you? Can you imagine your mental state, if your family were not just refugees once, but refugees who’d been violently displaced two or three or more times, during which time some family members were shot by snipers, others kidnapped, tortured, then released as shadows of their former selves, then you were all corralled, still within your own country, into densely populated, high-rise townships that were constantly being bombed, whilst you were slowly starved…
Can you imagine how soon and how well they will be able to organize and negotiate integration plans? It’s going to take time, and for the duration of that time, it’s going to need all of us constantly pushing our governments and other organizations to step up and help. Seems to me, if there was ever a role for UN peacekeepers, this is it.
Read the book
Read any of Karmi’s books – I intend to work through them, I’ve heard people so heartily recommend them today but above all, read One State, in which she discusses the nature of the problem, the kinds of things we need to do to move towards the solution, and makes studies of different countries around the world where peoples have been integrated into one space, with discussions of what works, what doesn’t, and why…
Again, Karmi pulls no punches. She says the Palestinians do not want the acquisitive, gun-toting settlers – they never invited them, but they are there. They are lumbered with them. It’s one of the many issues that has to be confronted.
The only other solution is to allow Israel to wreak its ever-more-insane violence until – and this is the only possible end to that road – until it destroys itself, the Palestinians and quite possibly a lot more people besides because Israel is that ultimate nightmare our politicians used to talk about in the last century – a rogue state with nuclear weapons.
Which is why my message to you is, please get hold of a copy of One State and help us all do some serious thinking here.
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Dear Reader,
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Cheers,
Kay
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Kay Green 