[Pnews] David Gilbert: The Palestinian struggle is a matter of the most urgent and fundamental solidarity

[Prisoner News]

*This is a new letter by longtime Political Prisoner David Gilbert 
published in a pamphlet of US political prisoner writings for a recent 
delegation to Palestine.

**

Solidarity was forged as former political prisoners in Palestine and 
former US-held political prisoners in our delegation discussed parallel 
experiences. Palestinian audiences at both conferences were moved by the 
messages we brought with us in a collection of letters from currently 
incarcerated US political prisoners some of whom have already served 40 
years and more €”to their Palestinian sisters and brothers. Our 
colleagues at Birzeit University'€™s Institute for Women'€™s Studies 
translated the letters into Arabic. The solidarity was palpable during 
the final plenary of Birzeit's conference, when the phone rang and we 
heard the voice of US political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal 
<http://www.bringmumiahome.com>. Mumia was calling from Pennsylvania to 
express solidarity with and love for the people of Palestine.

*
*The entire pamphlet can be read here * 
<http://www.freedomarchives.org/Pal/PP%20Booklet%20Ar%20and%20Eng%20Web.pdf> 



*The Palestinian struggle is a matter of the most urgent and fundamental 
solidarity*


As a Jew born at the end of World War II, the event that loomed over the 
very formation of my consciousness was the Holocaust. For me, for many 
of us, there was a paramount lesson carved deeply into the twin tablets 
of morality and history: racism is the greatest evil that leads to the 
most hideous inhumanity. Others drew the opposite conclusion and 
embraced Zionism on the basis that Jews need a state of our own 
_regardless_ of the cost to others. While Jews had good reasons to build 
a foundation for survival and development, the necessary concessions 
were due from the imperial anti-Semitic powers. Never should such 
security be achieved by oppressing other people. Never. Identifying with 
the West, Israel, from its inception, has served as an aggressive 
forward military base for U.S. imperialism in the oil-rich Middle 
East--a spearhead for keeping reactionary regimes in power and promoting 
chaos and divisions throughout the region.

Zionism has been an ongoing process of occupation and colonization of 
Palestine. As the examples of the U.S. and apartheid South Africa show, 
settler colonialism generates the most fulsome forms and practices of 
racism. For Palestine that includes the over 5 million persons, half of 
their nation, living in exile; the thousands of people killed and 
wounded by the Israeli military; the criminal strangulation of the 
Palestinian economy and public health infrastructure; the turning of 
Gaza into essentially an open-air prison for 1.8 million people; the 
widespread illegal practice of preventive detentions; and more.

I can't even begin to grasp the results in terms of pervasive and 
mounting humanitarian crises that are so horribly painful. At the same 
time Palestine is an incredible inspiration as people have found 
creative and courageous ways to build resistance, including the brave 
resilience of the youth; the local demonstrations to tear down the 
apartheid wall erected to cut off Palestinian villages; and the 
resonating call by some 175 organizations of Palestinian civil society 
that initiated the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (EDS) of Israeli 
colonialism. This now global campaign includes demands to stop Israeli 
racism, end the occupation, and uphold the right of all Palestinians to 
return to their homeland.

The Palestinian struggle for self-determination and sovereignty is a 
matter of the most urgent and fundamental solidarity; it is also a 
front-line struggle for justice for all of us.

David Gilbert

(anti-imperialist political prisoner)


*The Delegation statement can be read here. 
<http://www.freedomarchives.org/Pal/Delegation.We.Stand.docx>*
-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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