Today Is Nakba--There Can't Be Peace Without Justice

Tweet "Palestinians, many of whom are already being forcibly
displaced by the cruel wall that snakes through the West Bank,
fear another 1948-like expulsion. At the last Israeli
election, parties that explicitly endorse ethnic cleansing of
Palestinians made major gains, including the one led by Deputy
Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

"Palestine/Israel is as unpartitionable as was South Africa and
Northern Ireland, where similar ethnic conflicts had also
defied resolution for generations. In both places, it was only
when the dominant group dropped its insistence on supremacy
that a political settlement could be reached. What was once
unimaginable happened: Nelson Mandela's African National
Congress and F.W. de Klerk's National Party joined hands in a
national unity government in 1994. Leaders in Northern Ireland
made similar progress this year.

"Neither political marriage came about through love, but
through necessity and with outside pressure. In time, social
reconciliation may come, but it has not been the prerequisite
for political progress in South Africa or Northern Ireland.
Such pressure on Israel as the strongest party is necessary,
which is why I support the growing movement for boycott,
divestment, and sanctions modeled on the antiapartheid
campaign. At the same time, we must begin to construct a
vision of a nonracial, nonsectarian Palestine-Israel, which
belongs to all the people who live in it, Israeli Jews,
Palestinians, and all exiles who want to return and live in
peace with their neighbors.