By KD Tait
ON 4 NOVEMBER, thousands marched through London to commemorate the centenary of the Balfour declaration and demand an end to the British government’s support for Israeli apartheid and colonialism.
The 1917 Balfour declaration was the beginning of the British government’s support for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. That state would be born in 1948 amidst ethnic cleansing and the expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians from their homes.
At a gala dinner on Thursday with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Theresa May declared Britain was “proud of our pioneering role in the creation of the state of Israel”.
But for the thousands who came with Palestine solidarity campaign groups around the country, Britain’s legacy of colonialism in the Middle East and its support for Israel’s brutal oppression of the Palestinians is a crime that demands justice – not celebration.
“One day they will write that the Balfour Declaration failed because of the heroism and resilience of the Palestinian people and because of the solidarity”
Since 2009, a mass movement of solidarity with the Palestinians has emerged, provoked by popular revulsion at Israel’s siege and attacks on Gaza which have killed thousands of civilians and left the enclave’s residents starving, short of medicine and food, with a shattered infrastructure and economy.
In response the Israeli state and its Zionist supporters have stepped up their efforts to discredit their opponents by equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. This campaign reached a crescendo when Jeremy Corbyn became the first supporter of Palestinian rights to lead the Labour Party.
Israel, which prides itself on being the only democracy in the Middle East, demonstrated its real commitment to democratic values when government minister Gilad Erdan wrote to Sadiq Khan and the UK government, urging them to ban Saturday’s demonstration.
Corbyn sent a video message to the final rally, saying that the best way to mark the centenary of the Balfour declaration would be to recognise Palestine. Diane Abbott sent a message to say “Myself and Jeremy Corbyn have and always will stand for the rights of the Palestinian people”.
Fine words, but their absence and the absence of any significant Labour or Momentum presence, speaks volumes about the real priorities of the Labour Party left.
Ken Loach tried to excuse this dereliction by claiming that Corbyn “has to be tactical… because he is in a battle against the right of his party.” But this year’s Labour conference demonstrated that Corbyn and his Momentum praetorian guard are firmly in control. Corbyn’s refusal to maintain a leading profile in the solidarity movement is not a clever tactic, it is an unprincipled and unnecessary concession to the pro-Zionist right.
If even leaders of the Labour Party with a long record of standing up for the Palestinians can be intimidated into distancing themselves from joining the solidarity movement in the streets, then we must recognise that the party is a long way from being an effective ally of democracy, peace and socialism in the Middle East.
A clearer indication of Labour’s real policy was given by Labour’s Middle East spokesperson Fabian Hamilton MP who told the Times of Israel that the party’s policy to Israel wouldn’t change under a Labour government.
Emily Thornberry, who attended a Balfour centenary dinner in Corbyn’s place, said there “is no place in Labour for people who question Israel’s right to exist”.
Since Israel is by its own definition a state for Jews, those who advocate the creation of a single, democratic state with equal rights for Jews and Arabs, risk being labelled antisemites and expelled.
In reality, the offensive against Israel’s critics is timed to coincide with an escalation of illegal settlement building programme, whose barely-concealed goal is to deal a death blow to lingering hopes of an independent, viable Palestinian state.
This makes Labour’s commitment to recognising Palestine little more than a fig leaf to cover the nakedness of its continued de facto support for Israel’s colonial settler project.
Solidarity
Relegated to second class status, besieged and oppressed in their own lands, the worldwide Palestinian solidarity movement is vital to amplifying the voice of Palestinian resistance to colonialism and countering the propaganda pumped out by Israel and its backers.
Faced with a systematic effort to silence that voice, one that can call on the resources of much of the media and virtually the entirety of the western political mainstream, it is actions more than words that are needed.
In the words of Palestinian activist Mustafa Barghouti: “One day they will write that the Balfour Declaration failed because of the heroism and resilience of the Palestinian people and because of the solidarity.”
That spirit of resistance which has sustained the Palestinian resistance for 60 years should be an inspiration to Labour Party members as we renew the struggle to create a party that can take up the twin causes of Palestinian liberation and international socialism.
