As we approach the first anniversary of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), we remember the anniversary of Sabra and Shatila and over 61 years of Palestinian struggle against ethnic cleansing. We are reminded that the latest siege and blockade of Gaza is part of this ongoing colonization of Palestine. Through our actions over this anniversary we intend to honor the second intifada, which reignited the international solidarity movement from which our network emerged.

The anniversary also falls during the Jewish High Holidays. For some of us, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are a time for reflection and atonement for the individual and collective injustices we have committed or that happen in our name. Through taking collective responsibility we seek greater justice not only in Palestine, but throughout the world as well.

Much has changed since the release of the founding Charter of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network on 29 September 2008. The Palestinian call for boycott of, divestment from, and sanctions against Israel (BDS) is gaining in presence and impact, both internationally and inside Israel. Israel's barbaric assault on Gaza has inspired humanitarian efforts to break the siege, calls for prosecuting Israeli war criminals, and the breaking of diplomatic ties by Venezuela, Bolivia, and Mauritania.

Inside Israel, an unapologetically racist government was elected into power. The state continues it assault on Palestinian identity by calling for "loyalty oaths" to the Jewish state, replacing Arabic location names with Hebrew, and continuing its denial of the Nakba and Palestinian Right of Return. Dissenters inside Israel, both Palestinian and Jewish, are subjected to public demonization and repression as never before. At the same time, Israel continues to confiscate land, demolish homes, and imprison political leaders in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem.

Against the backdrop of this increased oppression, we are witnessing efforts to resume a negotiated ‘peace' brokered by the United States. The alleged ‘peace plan' picks up where the Oslo Accords left off.  That project was successfully interrupted by second intifada, and it must not be permitted to reemerge in the form of a series of separate and caged Palestinian bantustans on 22 percent of historic Palestine.

Nor should we be silent while the U.S. and Israel exploit and expand internal Palestinian divisions by supplying, training, and supervising Palestinian Authority security forces to quell Palestinian resistance in the West Bank. As the US Palestinian Community Network notes, liberation struggles throughout the world have been subject to these same imperialist tactics. And, like solidarity activists before us, our responsibility lies in attempting stop history from repeating itself.

The work ahead is to hold our own governments accountable for their support and funding of Israeli apartheid and colonization, and to mobilize public opinion to achieve this goal. To this end, the increasingly successful BDS campaign is our most powerful tool.

In our second year, IJAN hopes to continue its work with those committed to the liberation of the Palestinian people as part of the broader struggle against racism, colonialism, and imperialism worldwide.

 

IJAN's First Year of Palestine Solidarity Work

The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) was founded to:

• Strengthen and broaden participation in the Palestine solidarity movement
• Shift the debate to address the colonial nature of the conflict and the discriminatory nature of the Israeli state
• De-center Zionism in Jewish histories, cultures, philosophies, spiritual practices, identities, political participation, and
• Participate in and support joint struggle against racism, xenophobia, class exploitation, colonialism and imperialism

After releasing its founding Charter on September 29, 2008, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) is now active in Argentina, Canada, England, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and various cities in the United States.  Over the last year IJAN has:

• participated in numerous local BDS efforts and supported the building of BDS campaigns in cities across Europe and the U.S. and in Canada
• participated in the shut downs of three Israeli consulates in North America
• participated in efforts to defend people and organizations falsely targeted as anti-Semitic for taking a stance on Palestine
• formed study groups and provided workshops that challenge and deconstruct people's relationships to Zionism
• had two petitions read in Canadian Parliament and one Early Day Motion introduced in the British Parliament
• co-sponsored the Israel Review Conference in Geneva, Switzerland-a conference reviewing demands from the 2001 Durban Conference against Racism for an end Israeli institutionalized racism and apartheid
• launched an international campaign against the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in partnership with the Palestinian BNC, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Committee, and Habitat International Coalition

In the year ahead we will continue to deepen our work in existing locations and our participation in BDS and the JNF campaign. We also hope to support the building of chapters in new locations and to formalize partnerships with other Palestine solidarity organizations and networks. IJAN will launch its student and labor organizing and continue to develop its study groups. In January, 2010, we will organize a "Never Again-For Anyone" tour across Europe and a US-Canada anti-Zionist Jewish convening in conjunction with the US Social Forum taking place in June 2010. Over the course of the year we intend to partner on organizing a series of forums in Europe to contribute to the building of strong movements against current forms of xenophobia, racism and Islamophobia in solidarity with Palestine.