In our blog of yesterday on this subject we omitted to include any reference to last year's Statement of "Black Solidarity with Palestine." Thus, today, we want to correct that omission.
In 2015 a "Black Solidarity Statement with Palestine" was signed by more than 1000 activists, artists and literary persons. Part of the Statement says:
"We know Israel's violence toward Palestinians would be impossible without the US defending Israel on the world stage and funding its violence with over $3 billion annually. We call on the US government to end economic and diplomatic aid to Israel. We wholeheartedly endorse Palestinian civil society's 2005 call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel and call on Black and US institutions and organizations to do the same. We urge people of conscience to recognize the struggle for Palestinian liberation as a key matter of our time."
It ends with a reminder that "none of us are free until all of us are free".
Mindful of this, nevertheless, in yesterday's post we asked:
"(H)ow, politically and strategically is building such a coalition of support of BLMM's demand for police accountability of shooting black men in our respective communities enhanced or achieved by asking such potential supporters to also condemn Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian lands?"
We asked this question not because of the above referenced 2015 "Black Solidarity Statement with Palestine" but we know the issue of the 49-year-old occupation by Israel of Palestinian lands continues to be a major issue of dispute and discussion within American Jewish communities.
We are and were suggesting only that very careful forethought be exercised before incorporating a demand for the end of Israel occupation in Palestine with the demands for immediate cessation of the police killing of so many of our Black children and grandchildren in communities across our country.
Additionally, our question is prompted by the memory that the Jewish Community was historically that part of the larger white community in the United States that so readily and actively committed itself in support of our earlier struggle for Civil Rights and ending racial segregation. Knowing that the continued presence of Israelis on Palestinian lands remains a hotly contested issue within Jewish communities, we felt it reasonable to ask the strategic question recited above.
If it is the decision and wisdom of the collective leadership of the BLMM that incorporating a demand for the end of Israeli occupation should remain a constituent part of their demands going forward, then elders like me will respect that decision, but, still asks that our question, recited above, be considered and appropriately addressed in due course.