Why Palestine: Context
لماذا فلسطين؟
PALESTINE: CONTEXT
Palestine or the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) are comprised of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Palestine has been under military occupation by the state of Israel since 1967, making it the longest military occupation in history1. There are an estimated 5.7 million Palestinians living in refugee camps in the oPt and in neighbouring Jordan, Lebanon and Syria2, being ‘by far the most protracted and largest of all refugee problems in the world today’3.
Ethnicity and religion are explored in more depth below, as these are often referred to when talking about the occupation of Palestine. Experiences and struggles are intersectional, and overlap between gender, class, sexuality, health and disability and age (among other characteristics), and there are sections to read more about these dimensions of experience in the reading list.
ETHNICITY AND RELIGION
In terms of religion in the oPt, the West Bank has a 80–85% majority of Muslim (Sunni), Jewish 12–14%, Christian 1.0–2.5%, (mainly Greek Orthodox) as well as Druze, Metawalis, and Palestinian Baha'is, and the Gaza Strip has a 98–99% Muslim (Sunni) majority. In the West Bank, ethnicity is described as 83% Arab (Palestinian) and 17% ‘Israeli Jewish’ or ‘other’, and in Gaza it is 98.7% Arab (Palestinian). Languages spoken are Arabic, Hebrew and English4.
In the English language and Western news media there is often an artificial cultural separation between the terms ‘Jews’ and ‘Arabs’; these terms conflate ethnicity and religion together and overlook the complex reality4 that there are Jewish Arabs such as Mizrahi communities (e.g. from Yemen, Iraq). Within Jewish communities there are Mizrahi Jews (Middle Eastern Jews), Sephardic (South European Jews, e.g., Spain, Portugal), and Ashkenazi (East European Jews), and Ethiopian Jewish, with a distinction between Sabras (born in Israel, 70.3 %) or immigrants. The majority Ashkenazi Israeli government systemically discriminates against these other Jewish groups in Israel/oPt. There are at least 70,000 non-Palestinian refugees from sub-Saharan Africa and many foreign workers living in Israel/oPt.
‘Arab’ can be a broad term for different Arabic-speaking communities originating from Middle Eastern and North African countries, with a global diaspora5. It is a wide, heterogenous ranges of communities; however, sometimes different terms are conflated in Western news media and culture, such as Arab countries described by geographical location or state politics (e.g. countries that are members of the Arab League), which may be different to Arab cultures (e.g. in contrast to Turkish, Persian or Kurdish cultures) or Arabic speaking countries (e.g. Sudan, Somalia), or political movements e.g. Pan-Arabism. While Middle Eastern countries are mostly Muslim-majority, they are often inaccurately conflated with the ‘Muslim world’, where the largest Muslim communities globally are in South and South-East Asia (e.g. Indonesia, Pakistan), and there are many different branches of Islam. The way ‘Arab’ is used in the context of Palestine assumes all Arab communities and their diaspora have the same perspective on or stake in oPt; historically there have been shifting alliances of Arab states that either support or oppose Israel, that change with socio-economic interests (e.g. benefitting from trade with Israel) and geopolitical context. Some Arab states e.g. the UAE, have normalised relations with Israel, whereas others refuse to, such as Qatar.
There were Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities living together within Palestine, until an increased separation of communities under the British Mandate (1922-1948), and formalised bifurcation with the establishment of an Israeli state in 1948. Hafrada (translating from Hebrew as separation) is the Israeli state policy of separating Israeli and Palestinian populations within the oPt, and which used to require everyone to carry an Israeli issued ID card stating their ethnicity.
Zionism is a settler-colonial political ideology with the aim of establishing a state in Palestine which favours Ashkenazi Jews6. To be anti-Zionist is to be against a state that favours one ethno-religious group over others; this is completely different from anti-Semitism, which is to act with prejudice and hate against Jewish people worldwide, though they are often conflated in popular culture and news media. Zionists do not speak for the entire global Jewish population, and many Jews are anti-Zionist. Not all Zionists are Jewish: there are Christian Zionists and political Zionists e.g. states with a foreign policy that favours Israel. Religion is often invoked as a reason to support Israel, even though a large portion of the Israeli population are secular (40%)7, and many religious communities are anti-Zionist (e.g. Neturei Karta Orthodox Jews).
WHY PALESTINE?
The occupation of Palestine is both a unique situation, but also follows a historical pattern of settler-colonialism (such as the UK in the US, or France in Canada) and apartheid (e.g. South Africa).
Settler-colonialism is a term for invading and colonising a foreign country, which has specific features of mass displacement of the indigenous population, the expansion and acquisition of land for the settler population, often through violent military means, as well as building institutional, legal infrastructures and a cultural ideology or narrative to support these processes (e.g., racial ‘superiority’, ‘right’ to land). The resistance of those colonised or displaced people is often labelled ‘terrorism’, whereas the new colonial institutions are described as upholding ‘security’. Zionism—as distinctly separate from Judaism8— follows a settler-colonial logic. However, Palestine has a slightly different context to the USA or Canada, in which there were clearer distinctions between indigenous and colonial populations. In Palestine-Israel there is a contested indigeneity9as pre-1948 there were Palestinians that were Muslim, Christian and Jewish, but this right to land was contested by the Zionist movement claiming the territory as being solely for Jewish people. However, many people see this Zionist claim to indigeneity as a pretext for colonial control in the region. The support of the state of Israel by Western governments can be linked to regional access to the Middle East and its natural resources (oil, gas), and that it is a strategic geopolitical move rather than the sole motivating factor being the well-being of the Jewish people. The use of the terms ‘Jews’ and ‘Arabs’ often frames the situation as arising from ethno-religious differences rather than a dynamic of settler-colonialism. These terms are often used to serve specific narratives in Western news media, decontextualising it from a British colonial history and US neo-colonial present. Apartheid is defined by United Nations international law as ‘an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime’10. The situation in Palestine is not a short-term ‘event’ or conflict, it is long-term, structural and institutionalised in its inequalities. It is not a byproduct of a situation, it is ‘intentional and systematic’11. It is not a disagreement between equal states, it has a highly asymmetrical power dynamic where Israel occupies and controls Palestinian land, resources, energy (electricity, water) and can intervene in legal and government structures. Israel is a military state which receives funding from global allies, that occupies and controls a territory where the majority of Palestinians live in poverty.
WHY IS THIS RELEVANT TO PEOPLE IN THE UK?
The UK has a long history of colonial intervention in Palestine, ruling during the British Mandate of Palestine between 1922-1948. During World War One (1914-18) the UK promised Palestinian independence from the Ottoman empire in exchange for fighting for Allied forces. In 1916 the UK and French governments agreed to divide the Middle East between them (the Sykes-Picot agreement), without the consent of the populations living there. After World War One the UK and France governed Palestine (1918-22), after which the UK ruled during the British Mandate of Palestine (1922-1948). This was a colonial administration on occupied territory, where Palestinians were denied the right to self-determination, and which was allowed by the League of Nations. During this period of time, the UK government promised the occupied Palestinian land to Zionist groups, resulting in the 1948 formation of the state of Israel. In 1948 the ‘Nakba’ (Catastrophe) occurred in which Zionist militia displaced 80 percent of the Palestinian population making them refugees, and killing 13,000 Palestinians. The UK was pivotal in the creation of the state of Israel while betraying a promise of Palestinian independence. The UK’s continued military and economic support of the state of Israel suggests this is following a historical pattern of colonial ‘divide and rule’ tactics in the Middle East. The UK is a major ally of the US, the main political and economic supporter of Israel12.
FOOTNOTES
- According to United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories (Michael Lynk)in 2019, and previous United Nations special rapporteur John Dugard (2007).
- UNWRA(United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East)
- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) The State of the World’s Refugees (2006) Chapter 5
- Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and CIA FactBook
4.B. Updated May 2021. This is addressed in an article on problematic terms used by news media about Palestine in the context of the May 2021 events in Sheikh Jarrah and Israeli bombing of Gaza - Or South-West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), to re-frame the region outside of Western colonial language
- More information via Visualizing Palestine
- Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
- Please see 'Fighting Anti-semitism: Transnational Solidarity' Reading List
- ‘Systemic Racism in the US and Israel: Analogies and Disanalogies’
Nadia Abu El-Haj, Johanna Fernández, Maha Nassar, and Nahla Abdo-Zu'bi, Institute of Palestine Studies, July (2020). Talk available here: https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1650311 - According to the United Nations 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, and by the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
- UK Palestine Mental Health Network(UKPMHN) Mental Health Worker Pledge.
- As well as oppressing Palestinians, Israel undertakes ‘exchange’ programs with the US police force ('Deadly Exchange' by Jewish Voice for Peace), and the Israeli company (Elbit) provides the technology for US-Mexico border surveillance, both of which disproportionately impact POC communities.
PALESTINE: CONTEXT
Palestine or the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) are comprised of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Palestine has been under military occupation by the state of Israel since 1967, making it the longest military occupation in history1. There are an estimated 5.7 million Palestinians living in refugee camps in the oPt and in neighbouring Jordan, Lebanon and Syria2, being ‘by far the most protracted and largest of all refugee problems in the world today’3.
Ethnicity and religion are explored in more depth below, as these are often referred to when talking about the occupation of Palestine. Experiences and struggles are intersectional, and overlap between gender, class, sexuality, health and disability and age (among other characteristics), and there are sections to read more about these dimensions of experience in the reading list.
ETHNICITY AND RELIGION
In terms of religion in the oPt, the West Bank has a 80–85% majority of Muslim (Sunni), Jewish 12–14%, Christian 1.0–2.5%, (mainly Greek Orthodox) as well as Druze, Metawalis, and Palestinian Baha'is, and the Gaza Strip has a 98–99% Muslim (Sunni) majority. In the West Bank, ethnicity is described as 83% Arab (Palestinian) and 17% ‘Israeli Jewish’ or ‘other’, and in Gaza it is 98.7% Arab (Palestinian). Languages spoken are Arabic, Hebrew and English4.
In the English language and Western news media there is often an artificial cultural separation between the terms ‘Jews’ and ‘Arabs’; these terms conflate ethnicity and religion together and overlook the complex reality that there are Jewish Arabs such as Mizrahi communities (e.g. from Yemen, Iraq). Within Jewish communities there are Mizrahi Jews (Middle Eastern Jews), Sephardic (South European Jews, e.g., Spain, Portugal), and Ashkenazi (East European Jews), and Ethiopian Jewish, with a distinction between Sabras (born in Israel, 70.3 %) or immigrants. The majority Ashkenazi Israeli government systemically discriminate against these other Jewish groups in Israel/oPt. There are at least 70,000 non-Palestinian refugees from sub-Saharan Africa and many foreign workers living in Israel/oPt.
‘Arab’ can be a broad term for different Arabic-speaking communities originating from Middle Eastern and North African countries, with a global diaspora5. It is a wide, heterogenous ranges of communities; however, sometimes different terms are conflated in Western news media and culture, such as Arab countries described by geographical location or state politics (e.g. countries that are members of the Arab League), which may be different to Arab cultures (e.g. in contrast to Turkish, Persian or Kurdish cultures) or Arabic speaking countries (e.g. Sudan, Somalia), or political movements e.g. Pan-Arabism. While Middle Eastern countries are mostly Muslim-majority, they are often inaccurately conflated with the ‘Muslim world’, where the largest Muslim communities globally are in South and South-East Asia (e.g. Indonesia, Pakistan), and there are many different branches of Islam. The way ‘Arab’ is used in the context of Palestine assumes all Arab communities and their diaspora have the same perspective on or stake in oPt; historically there have been shifting alliances of Arab states that either support or oppose Israel, that change with socio-economic interests (e.g. benefitting from trade with Israel) and geopolitical context. Some Arab states e.g. the UAE, have normalised relations with Israel, whereas others refuse to, such as Qatar.
There were Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities living together within Palestine, until an increased separation of communities under the British Mandate (1922-1948), and formalised bifurcation with the establishment of an Israeli state in 1948. Hafrada (translating from Hebrew as separation) is the Israeli state policy of separating Israeli and Palestinian populations within the oPt, and which used to require everyone to carry an Israeli issued ID card stating their ethnicity.
Zionism is a settler-colonial political ideology with the aim of establishing a state in Palestine which favours Ashkenazi Jews6. To be anti-Zionist is to be against a state that favours one ethno-religious group over others; this is completely different from anti-Semitism, which is to act with prejudice and hate against Jewish people worldwide, though they are often conflated in popular culture and news media. Zionists do not speak for the entire global Jewish population, and many Jews are anti-Zionist. Not all Zionists are Jewish: there are Christian Zionists and political Zionists e.g. states with a foreign policy that favours Israel. Religion is often invoked as a reason to support Israel, even though a large portion of the Israeli population are secular (40%)7, and many religious communities are anti-Zionist (e.g. Neturei Karta Orthodox Jews).
WHY PALESTINE?
The occupation of Palestine is both a unique situation, but also follows a historical pattern of settler-colonialism (such as the UK in the US, or France in Canada) and apartheid (e.g. South Africa).
Settler-colonialism is a term for invading and colonising a foreign country, which has specific features of mass displacement of the indigenous population, the expansion and acquisition of land for the settler population, often through violent military means, as well as building institutional, legal infrastructures and a cultural ideology or narrative to support these processes (e.g., racial ‘superiority’, ‘right’ to land). The resistance of those colonised or displaced people is often labelled ‘terrorism’, whereas the new colonial institutions are described as upholding ‘security’. Zionism—as distinctly separate from Judaism8— follows a settler-colonial logic. However, Palestine has a slightly different context to the USA or Canada, in which there were clearer distinctions between indigenous and colonial populations. In Palestine-Israel there is a contested indigeneity9as pre-1948 there were Palestinians that were Muslim, Christian and Jewish, but this right to land was contested by the Zionist movement claiming the territory as being solely for Jewish people. However, many people see this Zionist claim to indigeneity as a pretext for colonial control in the region. The support of the state of Israel by Western governments can be linked to regional access to the Middle East and its natural resources (oil, gas), and that it is a strategic geopolitical move rather than the sole motivating factor being the well-being of the Jewish people. The use of the terms ‘Jews’ and ‘Arabs’ often frames the situation as arising from ethno-religious differences rather than a dynamic of settler-colonialism. These terms are often used to serve specific narratives in Western news media, decontextualising it from a British colonial history and US neo-colonial present. Apartheid is defined by United Nations international law as ‘an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime’10. The situation in Palestine is not a short-term ‘event’ or conflict, it is long-term, structural and institutionalised in its inequalities. It is not a byproduct of a situation, it is ‘intentional and systematic’11. It is not a disagreement between equal states, it has a highly asymmetrical power dynamic where Israel occupies and controls Palestinian land, resources, energy (electricity, water) and can intervene in legal and government structures. Israel is a military state which receives funding from global allies, that occupies and controls a territory where the majority of Palestinians live in poverty.
WHY IS THIS RELEVANT TO PEOPLE IN THE UK?
The UK has a long history of colonial intervention in Palestine, ruling during the British Mandate of Palestine between 1922-1948. During World War One (1914-18) the UK promised Palestinian independence from the Ottoman empire in exchange for fighting for Allied forces. In 1916 the UK and French governments agreed to divide the Middle East between them (the Sykes-Picot agreement), without the consent of the populations living there. After World War One the UK and France governed Palestine (1918-22), after which the UK ruled during the British Mandate of Palestine (1922-1948). This was a colonial administration on occupied territory, where Palestinians were denied the right to self-determination, and which was allowed by the League of Nations. During this period of time, the UK government promised the occupied Palestinian land to Zionist groups, resulting in the 1948 formation of the state of Israel. In 1948 the ‘Nakba’ (Catastrophe) occurred in which Zionist militia displaced 80 percent of the Palestinian population making them refugees, and killing 13,000 Palestinians. The UK was pivotal in the creation of the state of Israel while betraying a promise of Palestinian independence. The UK’s continued military and economic support of the state of Israel suggests this is following a historical pattern of colonial ‘divide and rule’ tactics in the Middle East. The UK is a major ally of the US, the main politico-economic supporter of Israel12.
FOOTNOTES
- According to United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories (Michael Lynk)in 2019, and previous United Nations special rapporteur John Dugard (2007).
- UNWRA(United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East)
- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) The State of the World’s Refugees (2006) Chapter 5
- Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and CIA FactBook
4.B. Updated May 2021. This is addressed in an on problematic terms used by news media about Palestine in the context of the Sheikh Jarrah protests and Israeli bombing of Gaza middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-aqsa-sheikh-jarrah-media-coverage-problematic-glossary - Or South-West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), to re-frame the region outside of Western colonial language
- More information via Visualizing Palestine
- Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
- Please see 'Fighting Anti-semitism: Transnational Solidarity' Reading List
- ‘Systemic Racism in the US and Israel: Analogies and Disanalogies’
Nadia Abu El-Haj, Johanna Fernández, Maha Nassar, and Nahla Abdo-Zu'bi, Institute of Palestine Studies, July (2020). Talk available here: https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1650311 - According to the United Nations 1973 International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, and by the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
- UK Palestine Mental Health Network(UKPMHN) Mental Health Worker Pledge.
- As well as oppressing Palestinians, Israel undertakes ‘exchange’ programs with the US police force ('Deadly Exchange' by Jewish Voice for Peace), and the Israeli company (Elbit) provides the technology for US-Mexico border surveillance, both of which disproportionately impact POC communities.