April 27, 2020
Israel is racing to complete its project of institutionalizing a colonial apartheid regime over all of historic Palestine. The next step is planned for July, when the coalition government of Benjamin Netanyahu intends to formally annex large swathes of the West Bank. The expansion of Israel onto 85% of historic Palestine leaves the Palestinian majority imprisoned in dozens of impoverished enclaves on just 15% of the land, under permanent Israeli rule, bereft of any civil or national rights. This is apartheid, pure and simple.
Having “given” occupied East Jerusalem to the Israelis, Trump’s “Deal of the Century” allows Israel to take possession of the rest of the West Bank. Israel’s unilateral annexation of its massive settlement blocs has been waiting on a green light from the Trump Administration, the only international authority Israel cares about. In a public statement on April 21st, American Secretary of State Pompeo gave that green light. “As for the annexation of the West Bank,” he said in a public statement, “the Israelis will ultimately make those decisions. That’s an Israeli decision.”
A single apartheid state already exists de facto between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River: Israel. There is only one possible response, one “solution,” one way out. That is to replace the apartheid regime with a democratic state of equal rights for all its inhabitants, including the returning refugees.
We call on you, the people of the world, to support our struggle for democracy in historic Palestine. Our vision is a democracy that will give all the inhabitants of our country equal rights, will finally bring home the refugees and will respect the cultures, religions and identities of all the peoples that comprise our society – a return to the tolerant multi-culturalism long characterizing the Arab world, the Middle East, and Palestine in particular.
Governments, unfortunately, are not the friends of peoples struggling for their rights. We, Palestinians and progressive Israeli Jews alike, call on you, the international civil society, to mobilize in support of a democratic state between the River and Sea. True solidarity with the Palestinian people means supporting a political program that liberates historic Palestine from colonialism, occupation and apartheid – a democratic state for all between the River and the Sea, and a return of the refugees. Raise your voices against apartheid! Support our struggle for liberation, democracy and peace for all!
One Democratic State Campaign (ODSC) Contact: contact@onestatecampaign.org
