CompassPoint stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle for freedom.
As we write this, Gaza is under siege, feeling the full force of Israel’s settler war. What's at stake is the lives of over 2 million Palestinians who have been held hostage in their own homeland by Israel's violent regime, with backing from the US and other Western imperial powers.
Why is CompassPoint speaking out about this? We believe that liberation is not just a “flavor” of leadership within organizations–it's structural and political. Moving toward liberation requires moving in solidarity with oppressed peoples fighting to change their material conditions so that life, dignity, and self-determination can thrive.
The Palestinian freedom struggle is one of the most important social justice issues of our time and this is a moment that calls upon us to, at the very least, raise our voices in protest against settler-colonialism, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.
We’re fortunate to count on the participation of many organizations organizing for liberation in our training programs and want to use our platform to spotlight their analyses and calls to action.
Arab Resource Organizing Center recently shared some crucial context in this moment:
“Over the past 75 years, Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence. From systematized land seizures to routine airstrikes, from arbitrary imprisonment to military checkpoints, enforced family separations to targeted killings. Palestinians have been forced to live in a state of death, both slow and sudden. All forms of resistance—peaceful and otherwise—have been brutally repressed by the Israeli regime. Even the most moderate international human rights organizations have labeled Israeli apartheid’s structural and military violence as genocidal. Here in the US, Palestinians in diaspora—along with our allies—have been met with hate violence, slander, criminalization, and blacklisting.“
And as Critical Resistance points out, it’s also important to draw connections between the US abolition movement, Black liberation, and the Palestinian liberation struggle to build international solidarity.
We join Critical Resistance in echoing the calls by the Palestinian people's liberation movement to:
1) End the apartheid-Israeli military occupation and colonization of Palestinian lands, and dismantle the apartheid walls
2) Recognize the basic and fundamental human and civil rights of all Palestinians across all of historic Palestine
3) Respect and allow the internationally recognized right for Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and indigenous lands, which includes restitution and reparations
CompassPoint is committed to reflecting on the larger historical context of this moment; we recognize the escalation in Gaza is a product of Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestine, and affirm the right of the oppressed to defend themselves and resist structural violence enacted against them.
We refuse to amplify propaganda and misinformation that feeds into further dehumanization of Palestinian and Muslim peoples. We urge others also to resist the false narrative that this is a conflict between two equal powers and to find the courage to take a stance of solidarity with the people of Palestine.
This is a moment for us to consider how we can truly live according to our values and commit our voices and actions to turning the tide toward freedom for all oppressed peoples across the globe.
Additional resources for learning and action:
- Arab Resource and Organizing Center
- Endorsement for Rising Majority call to action in solidarity with Palestinian resistance against apartheid and occupation
- Jewish Voice for Peace calls on all people of conscience to stop imminent genocide
- US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
- Statement from 18 Million Rising
- Decolonize Palestine
- Free Ebooks for a Free Palestine
- Funding Freedom: Philanthropy and the Palestinian Freedom Movement - Solidaire
In solidarity,
CompassPoint
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