cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/15903

Jewish advocacy for a one-state solution represents a form of Zionism that centers Jews in Palestine's future. Instead, anti-Zionist Jews must aim to accelerate the dismantling of Zionism both in Palestine and worldwide.

The clarity and questions raised by Lara Kilani’s astute piece, “Liberation Is Not Integration: On liberal Zionism, one-state fantasies, and what Palestinians actually want” and Rima Najjar’s incisive response, “The Settlers Are Not Leaving: Decolonization, not coexistence,” place the discussion of the future Palestine where it belongs – among Palestinians. The questions both pieces raise affirm a long-standing opinion of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, of which I am a co-founder, that Jews do not and should not play a role in envisioning, directing, or participating in the designs of a liberated Palestine. Instead, as anti-Zionist Jews, our role lies in expediting the dismantling of Zionism – both its genocidal, colonial expression and expansion in Palestine and its fortification through organizations and institutions across the globe. As Najjar argues, such de-Zionization is a precondition of sorts for Palestinians to have the space and possibility to determine what liberation looks like and the society they want to build in its aftermath.

It is and has always been Palestinians who must determine the nature of “the state” and the society they want to live in once colonialism is dismantled. “Greater Israel” is closer to being secured than ever before – through collaboration and shared interests of the ruling elite in the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Turkey. As Najjar notes, calls for one state without a clear plan for decolonization and de-Zionization risk replicating rather than dismantling Zionism. Furthermore, discussions of a one-state solution that fails to assert the centrality of Palestinian self-determination – particularly the right to not be forced to integrate with those who have not only committed but celebrated genocide against you – is not only abstract, but damaging.

When Jewish academics, activists and organizations call for and lift up their vision of a one-state in Palestine, it is Zionism. One way or another, it is based on an investment in Palestine remaining a place in which Jews are central to the vision of the state and society. It is, therefore, our mandate to be unwavering in our support for the decolonization and de-Zionization of Palestine and the means necessary to shift the structural conditions in this direction.

At minimum, this includes engaging in the divestment and dismantling of all Zionist institutions and structures and BDS, and reinforcing, without hesitation, the Palestinian right to resist, right to return, and right to rebuild, as well as broader anti-imperial, anti-monarchy, anti-capitalist struggles in the region.

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