Palestine

The Socialist Alliance recognises the essential role that international, including Australian, imperialism plays in supporting the Israeli system of apartheid and occupation through massive political, economic and military aid. It condemns the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by the state of Israel and the denial of Palestinian rights by Israel throughout what was historic Palestine, both within the 1948 borders of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

This oppression takes different forms including ongoing colonisation of Palestinian land and theft of resources; hi-tech military attacks on the impoverished Palestinian population; the blockade, siege and regular military incursions into Gaza; the continued carving up and ethnic cleansing of the West Bank by Israeli occupation forces and illegal settlers including: the construction of the apartheid wall (which has been condemned by the International Court of Justice as illegal); the setting up of isolated ‘bantustans’; the construction of the construction of “Israeli only” roads; and the separation of Palestinians from their agricultural land and economic life; the systematic violence and discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel; and the denial of the right of Palestinian refugees to return.

The Socialist Alliance recognises the ongoing resistance of Palestinians to the Israeli occupation including the Palestinian-led campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) which urges various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law. Just as the anti-apartheid campaign against white South Africa was not against all white South Africans, BDS is not anti-Semitic.