A critical Palestinian shift worth watching

On this 68th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel and the exile and refugeehood of half the Palestinian Arab population of 1948, Israelis, Zionists, and their friends should be concerned. Because something significant is taking place in the mindset and political struggle attitudes of many Palestinians around the world that will increase the pressure on Israel to come to an honorable peace that allows both people to live side by side in security and sovereignty.

That something is simply the realization by most Palestinians and their supporters that the traditional mechanisms of struggle in this conflict are increasingly less valid; a whole new political battleground is taking shape, in which Palestinians and Israelis are much more evenly matched, which could one day spark reasonable and honorable compromises for the sake of both people’s long-term well-being.

The battle for the future of Israel and Palestine is shifting its center of gravity and main action means in four important arenas. In the years ahead we should see less military action and more political-diplomatic engagements; less bilateral discussions monopolized fruitlessly by an Israel-biased and diplomatically hapless United States, and more negotiations in neutral and inclusive international forums like the United Nations and UN-legitimized international peace conferences; less shaping of outcomes by military balance-of-power conditions on the ground, and more by the requirements of international law and conventions and UN resolutions that respect both sides’ rights; and, less deal-making behind closed doors in Western capitals among a handful of politicians, and more public and civic political action by masses of citizens around the world who seek equality and security for Palestinians and Israelis alike.

The Palestinian population of some 1.5 million in 1947-48 has now reached around 8 or 9 million; nobody knows the actual figure, given the occupied, dispersed, and disenfranchised nature of the Palestinian people since 1948. They are going nowhere except to their rightful goal of national reconstitution and rehabilitation, alongside a legitimate but non-expansionist Israeli state that comes to terms with the reality of Palestinian nationhood and the need to end Palestinian refugeehood.

The important new fact is that Palestinians and their allies are conscious today of the need for political struggle around the world by tapping the significant public support that exists globally for Palestinian-Israeli equal rights in adjacent sovereign states. The evolving Palestinian national struggle reduces emphasis on ineffective occasional military action, reliance on well-meaning but equally unproductive pan-Arab military and diplomatic action, and pleading petitions to international agencies and world powers, in favor of mobilizing global public opinion and, consequently, spawning political initiatives by major states.

The trend in these arenas has focused heavily on promoting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli human rights abuses of Palestinians in three domains: inside Israel, in the 1967 occupied territories, and among Palestinian refugees in exile. The BDS movement that was launched years ago by Palestinian civil society activists mirrors the successful international efforts half a century ago to pressure Apartheid South Africa to end its racist ways. It is the most dramatic and important sign of Palestinians everywhere engaging in non-violent, civil, political, and law- and ethics-grounded action to achieve Palestinian rights and push both sides to a negotiated, just peace agreement.

Zionists and Israelis howl in protest that BDS is a form of anti-Semitism, and their echo chamber minions like Hillary Clinton and others howl in unison, but to no avail, because they are lying, and the world knows it. There is only steady growth in the circle of activists around the world applying BDS actions to quell Zionist excesses and promote a just peace that equally respects the rights of both sides. From only leftist fringe groups a decade ago, BDS adherents today have expanded to include mainstream churches, labor movements, academic societies, and some major financial institutions and retail businesses in Europe that wish rightly to dissociate themselves from the colonial expansion and exploitation that Israel practices in the occupied territories.

Hardline colonial Israelis, Zionists, and their shrinking coterie of political echo chambers in Western capitals would do well to appreciate the growing worldwide realization by Palestinians everywhere that political activism is more effective than military action, and global public activism is more effective than private entreatments and pleas.

Arab and other supporters of the Palestinians and of justice and equality for all would do well to grasp the opportunity at hand and build on this important shift among Palestinians. This view is mirrored by only a minority of Israelis, but a growing number of politically sensible Jews around the world who see the global public opinion trends that rightly worry Israeli hardliners, who now have to face the consequence of their own colonial actions over many decades. These trends will only accelerate over time. Keep watching.