We were preparing to attend the Watertown Zine Fest, and noted that there were not yet zines on what has been happening in Palestine.
Here in so-called greater boston, there have been actions and marches held in support of Palestinians. Elbit Systems, the maker of 80% of israeli drones, some of whom are bombing Gazans right now, has an “Innovation Center” in so-called cambridge. It has now been vandalized three times in the past four days.
As zines are a good way to spread information and viewpoints, and we wish to do so for those fighting the State of Israel, we felt it was important to put out this text as a zine, as it mentions the thoughts of Jonathan Pollak on this situation, an excerpt of which we will put here:
“Some of the terms I use in this context might be confusing to people who somewhat follow Palestine, and are used to the term Israeli settlements being reserved to those in the areas Israel occupied in 1967. However, I feel that it is necessary to understand Israel as a whole as a settler-colonial project, and Zionism as a colonial movement for Jewish supremacy. We would be remiss to ignore the long history of Israeli ethnic cleansing, which resulted in the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israel, known as the Nakba. The Gaza Strip today, a fraction of the pre-1948 Gaza district of Palestine, is home to refugees from 94 villages and towns in the historic district that were completely depopulated. Today, 80% of the Strip’s residents are refugees, besieged in the world’s largest open-air prison. The towns that were taken or attacked by Palestinians at the beginning of the current fighting are some of the depopulated towns that some of these refugees were dispossessed of.
In the international corporate media, the story is mostly portrayed either as a bilateral war between Israel and Gaza, or as one-sided, senseless Palestinian aggression devoid of any context. The missing context, of course, is that the Palestinian people have endured ages of colonial subjugation, especially Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
…
The context of struggle here is between a nuclear military superpower and a dispossessed people. Colonialism does not relent. Colonialism will not step back of its own accord, not even if you ask nicely. As outsiders, we must consider that decolonialism is a noble cause, but the path to achieve it is often ugly and tainted by violence. In the absence of any realistic alternative to achieve liberation, people are often pushed into carrying out unjustifiable acts; this is a fundamental reality of the disparity of power. Even if, at some turns, the struggle takes specific turns we cannot condone or will not stand behind, we must always stand in support of liberation. To demand that the oppressed always act in the purest of ways is to demand they remain forever in servitude.”
As we prepared this post, crimethinc put out another writing, this time from a Palestinian in the Galilee, the north of Palestine. Palestinians first and foremost can describe the Palestinian conditions and fight for liberation. It is only right that this formatting take priority, so word can be spread.
“During the second intifada, after the events of 9/11 in 2001, the Palestinian hip-hop band “DAM” released the song “Meen Erhabi?”—”Who is the terrorist?” During this period, sentences like “death to the terrorist Arabs” were being shouted by Israeli settlers all over occupied Palestine. I remember listening to this song every day. It shaped my consciousness as a child. Today, 22 years later, the global system is pushing the narrative that “the Palestinian is a terrorist” like never before, and we say again and again: the colonizer is the terrorist, the settler is the terrorist, every government supporting Israel is a terrorist, Israel is the terrorist.
…
Today, every effort to bring the truth into the light matters. Every Palestinian flag raised matters. Every expression of solidarity matters. Every effort of organizing for Palestine matters. Every “from the river to the sea” matters.
Yes, these days are painful beyond comprehension but we know today more than ever, that liberation is inevitable.
It’s only a matter of time. Palestine will be free.”
The right to resist occupation and oppression are anarchist values. An anarchist world is a world without colonialism. An anarchist world is a world where Palestinians are free.
Nuclear Power Dispossessed People Imposed Printing PDF
Galilee to Gaza Imposed Printing PDF
To get educated on Palestine, we suggest starting with decolonizepalestine.com
We also suggest reading this conversation from Palestinian Anarchists in 2013
To keep up with anarchists fighting the israeli state in the west bank, check out the telegram channel of Palestinian anarchist group Fauda