Collective Statement: Biden in Occupied Palestine and the “Jerusalem Declaration” – Our Response is Struggle and Solidarity

The joint declaration of U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid reveals not only the fundamental bankruptcy of the imperialist and Zionist systems they represent but also underlines the necessity to act and stand now in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their resistance, to liberate their land from the river to the sea. This strategic partnership of violence, warmongering, repression and colonialism must be met with our own anti-Zionist, anti-imperialist strategic partnership for justice.

Issued in occupied Jerusalem, itself a signal of the declaration’s alignment with impunity for ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity, the document boasts of “shared values and shared interests.” It is clear that the shared values referred to here are those of imperial domination, settler colonialism and the violent oppression of Indigenous peoples. We reject these “shared values and shared interests” and instead uphold the shared values of humanity: the dismantling of apartheid and settler colonialism, the liberation of the land, and the protection of peoples’ rights, not war profiteers’ greed and colonial land theft.

The declaration repeatedly attacks the Palestinian resistance and all forces and nations in the region that seek to defend their right to sovereignty and self-determination. It labels Palestinian resistance as terrorism while remaining silent on the ongoing extrajudicial killings of Palestinians, mass incarceration, land theft, siege, and the exile of millions of Palestinians denied their right to return home. Israel and the U.S. are waging colonial war. Their declaration asserts a right to unilateral war, the logic of the colonizer, and boasts of the over $3.8 billion in U.S. taxpayer money sent to further arm that war (while enriching U.S. arms developers). The Palestinian people, like all colonized people, have the right to defend themselves.

Biden and Lapid reinforce their attacks on boycott campaigns, the growing call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) and the “delegitimization of Israel,” and clumsily attempt to link campaigns for justice and liberation in Palestine with anti-Semitism. In reality, the campaign to boycott and isolate Israel is growing on our campuses, in our community centers, labour unions and academic associations, in our food co-ops and social justice organizations, in the streets of our cities and communities. Such statements do nothing to legitimize a fundamentally illegitimate project — the colonization of Palestine and the dispossession of Palestinians.

While Biden and Lapid trumpet their military alliance, we must respond with a peoples’ alliance: that is, an alliance that firmly rejects imperialism and Zionism, that builds the very boycott campaigns they seek to undermine or even criminalize, that supports the Palestinian people and their resistance by all means, and that stands together against the systems of domination, injustice, settler colonialism, and exploitation that they represent. Together, we organize and struggle until return and liberation, from the river to the sea.

Add your signature: https://bit.ly/bidenpalestine

Signed:

    1. Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition (PRRC)
    2. Al-Awda-NY
    3. Alkarama (Palestinian women’s movement)
    4. ANSWER Coalition
    5. Anti Imperialist Action Ireland
    6. Asociación Americana de Juristas
    7. Association France Palestine Solidarité 63 (Clermont-Ferrand)
    8. Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees
    9. Australia Solidarity with Latin America
    10. BACBI
    11. BAYAN Canada
    12. BDS Boston
    13. BDS Turkey
    14. BDS Vancouver – Coast Salish
    15. Behind Enemy Lines Anti-Imperialist Resistance
    16. Birmingham Palestine Action
    17. Cambiare rotta
    18. Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat
    19. Canada Palestine Association
    20. Canada-Philippines Solidarity Organisation (CPSO)
    21. Canadian BDS Coalition
    22. Canadians for Peace and Justice in Kashmir
    23. Center for Study and Preservation of Palestine
    24. Centre for Counter-Hegemonic Studies
    25. Christian-Jewish Allies for Justice and Peace
    26. Collectif Palestine Vaincra
    27. Communist Workers League
    28. CIG – Confederación Intersindical Galega
    29. Coordinación por Palestina – Uruguay
    30. Crystal Palace Friends of Palestine
    31. CUNY4Palestine
    32. Dallas Palestine Coalition
    33. Dar al Janub – union for antiracism and peace policy
    34. DSA BDS & Palestine Solidarity Working Group
    35. Early Childhood Development Intercultural Partnership
    36. Edmonton Small Press Association
    37. Éirígí – For A New Republic
    38. Falastiniyat
    39. Free Palestine Maastricht
    40. Free Palestine Movement
    41. Freedom Road Socialist Organization
    42. Frente Antiimperialista Internacionalista
    43. GABRIELA BC
    44. Glasgow Palestine Human Rights Campaign
    45. Global Peace Alliance BC Society
    46. GreaterTorontoArea4BDS
    47. Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War
    48. Human Rights for All ( HR4A) Saskatchewan
    49. Human Without Borders Organisation
    50. Humanity for Palestine
    51. IDPAL – Indonesia Palestine Alliance
    52. Independent Left (Ireland)
    53. India Palestine Solidarity Forum
    54. Inminds Human Rights Group
    55. International Action Center
    56. International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
    57. International Jewish Antizionist Network UK
    58. International League of Peoples’ Struggle – Canada (ILPS)
    59. International League of People’s Struggles (ILPS) US Chapter
    60. International Movement for a Just World (JUST)
    61. International Solidarity Movement, Northern California
    62. Internationalt Forum Palestine
    63. Jewish Network for Palestine
    64. Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
    65. Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste
    66. Justice for Palestinians, Calgary
    67. Käthe Kollwitz Collectief
    68. Kings Bay Plowshares
    69. Knocknacarra Palestine Network
    70. Labor for Palestine
    71. Let Kashmir Decide
    72. Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
    73. Louisiana Workers Voice Socialist Movement
    74. Madison for Palestine
    75. Manchester Palestine Action
    76. Marxist – Leninist Party of Canada
    77. Masar Badil – Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement
    78. Media Review Network
    79. Minnesota Anti-War Committee
    80. MST – Landless Workers Movement
    81. National Lawyers Guild
    82. National Students for Justice in Palestine
    83. National Students for a Democratic Society
    84. Nederlands Palestina Komitee (NPK)
    85. Nevadans for Palestinian Human Rights
    86. New York Boricua Resistance
    87. Niagara Movement for Justice (NMJPI)
    88. North America Nakba Tour
    89. North New Jersey DSA BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group
    90. North New Jersey Democratic Socialists of America
    91. Northern New Jersey Jewish Voice for Peace
    92. Not In Our Name: Jewish Antizionist CUNY Coalition
    93. NYC Jericho Amnesty Movement
    94. Oakville Palestinian Rights Association
    95. Occupy Bergen County
    96. One State Assembly
    97. PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity)
    98. Palästina Antikolonial
    99. Palestine Action
    100. Palestine Children’s Welfare Fund
    101. Palestine House – Palestinian Canadian Community Centre
    102. Palestinian American Women’s Association
    103. Palestinian Youth Movement
    104. Party of Communists USA
    105. Pax Christi Toronto
    106. Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association
    107. Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine
    108. QUIT! (Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism)
    109. Red Banner Anti-Imperialist Collective
    110. Regina Peace Council
    111. Resumen Latinoamerico
    112. Revolutionaire Eenheid
    113. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
    114. Samidoun-Albuquerque
    115. Seattle University Students for Justice in Palestine
    116. Secours Rouge Montréal
    117. SELFOP – South-East London/Lewisham Friends of Palestine
    118. Serena Shim Award
    119. SJP UT Dallas
    120. Socialist Action
    121. SPHR McGill
    122. SPHR UBC (Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights UBC)
    123. St. Louis Friends of Bethlehem
    124. Students for Justice in Palestine @ The Ohio State University
    125. Students for Justice in Palestine at UW-Madison
    126. Students For Palestine (NL)
    127. Sulong UBC
    128. SUPER — UW
    129. SUPER PSU
    130. Syria Support Movement
    131. The Mapping Project Collective
    132. Tlaxcala, international translators’ network for linguistic diversity
    133. Toronto Raging Grannies
    134. Tunisian League for Defense of Human Rights, Section of Ariana
    135. U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
    136. United National Antiwar Coalition
    137. Upstate Drone Action
    138. Utahns for a Just Peace in the Holy Land
    139. V-SB Flemish Socialist Movement
    140. Whanganui Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa
    141. Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine
    142. Workers World Party
    143. Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi, Director and Senior Scholar, Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies, San Francisco State University

 

 

 

 

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