Small steps for peace still forged in Mid-East

[hatzel]

A school in the Middle East and a new book by a British children's writer share a common vision of peace based on a new generation of Arab and Jewish children growing up together as friends.

At a demonstration I went to last week against evictions of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem there were more Jews chanting and holding up banners in support of the Palestinians than there were Arabs.

The banners were in Hebrew and in English. That is a change.

I remember going to an anti-occupation demonstration by a variety of peace activists in Tel Aviv a few years ago.

They had slogans entirely in Hebrew, which meant I had to clumsily ask a number of people what their posters meant.

There is much more contact now between Jews and Arabs who feel the same way about the occupation

I wondered why some of them were not in a more international language, like English.

"Ah," said one of the demonstrators, "I suppose you have a point."

Then I asked her, "Who do you think you are actually talking to at demos like these?"

After a long pause she said, "That's a very good question. I think we are just talking to ourselves."

That has changed too.



Playing together

There is much more contact now between Jews and Arabs who feel the same way about the occupation, and a lot of it is under the radar, so to speak - barely reported.

"We are successful," said Raida, a Palestinian teacher. "And that's why the government don't like us".

Raida teaches English and History to a class of 11-year-olds. She looked round the room at the children gathered at small tables.

"Two Jews at that table, one Arab," she told me. "Three Arabs, two Jews over there. And in the corner, two Jews and two Arabs."

The school is in Wahdat al Salaam/Neve Shalom (Oasis of Peace), a village where Arabs and Jews have lived together willingly as neighbours since it was established in 1970.

"But the children are spontaneously genuinely mixing, are they?" I asked.

"Yes, absolutely," Raida insisted. "They play together, they visit each other's homes, they go to the cinema together. They are friends."

The day I visited, the children were making kites in honour of their special guest, the British author of numerous books for young people, Michael Morpurgo.

He has just written a children's book about the Arab-Israeli conflict.



Mutual respect

It is a heartening story of a Palestinian boy who lets kites fly free over the concrete wall round an Israeli settlement, with "salaam" written on them.

When the wind changes, the kites come flying back with "shalom" written on them by the settlement children.

Michael Morpurgo believes peace can only come from young Jews and young Arabs living together, learning together and showing respect to each other.

"It's not going to start from the other end," he told me, "we've seen that." He means it will never come from the top.

But does the children's experience at Neve Shalom/Wahdat al Salaam endure?

Raida the teacher said yes, absolutely it does - it is rooted in them, after 11 years in an enlightened community like this.

She tells a revealing story about one of her Jewish students going on to secondary school and daring to challenge the teacher who was telling the class there was nobody living in what is now Israel when the state was created in 1948.

"If a Jewish child can stand up to an inaccurate teacher like that in a Jewish school," Raida smiled, "there is some hope."



Arab and Israeli 'brothers'

Rami and Mazen believe in hope as well.

They also visit schools, in Israel and in the occupied territories.

Their message is that violence will never solve the conflict.

They are very persuasive.

Rami is a Jew, Mazen a Palestinian Arab and they know what violence is.

Mazen's 62-year-old father was shot dead by an Israeli soldier.

Rami's 14-year-old daughter was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber on a bus in Jerusalem.

Rami and Mazen are now close friends - they call each other brother.

They are members of the Parents Circle and Families Forum.

It is not a psychological support group. It is a campaigning organisation with a very precise objective which is written on their smart business cards: "Bereaved families supporting peace, reconciliation and tolerance".



Negotiation

"Initiatives like these are essential 'baby steps'," Hind Kabawat told me.

Hind is a Syrian lawyer who specialises in conflict resolution.

In her fabulous, spacious, stone Damascus house - with a fountain in the courtyard and elaborately painted high ceilings - she proudly pointed to "the most important books on my shelf: the Bible, the Koran and the Sayings of Mahatma Gandhi".

Does she believe Israel and the Palestinians are reconcilable?

Does she believe - especially now, with talk of attacks on nuclear sites - that Israel and Iran can negotiate?

"Of course," she said. "In Ireland, peace only came after the British negotiated with the IRA."

Then she added: "Look at Europe. Millions of people died there in the Second World War. Millions! Did your parents or mine ever believe there would be peace in Europe?" she asked.

"Well there is," she went on, "because they did believe in it. We have to have hope."



Source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/9273866.stm)

[ComradeMan]

"Well there is," she went on, "because they did believe in it. We have to have hope."

Nice article!

Thanks....

We have to have hope! I agree....

[hatzel]

I'd like to know what opinion Palestinian national liberation organisations would have of these kinds of initiatives, though. I mean, whether they would support them for perhaps fostering peace, or oppose them for potentially pulling the teeth out of the nat-lib movement...so to speak...I think more information would be needed about the school in question, but I do believe it's bilingual teaching, which could be a contentious issue for some, while of course monolingual teaching would also be contentious...

In summary, it's a difficult issue to figure out precisely...

[ComradeMan]

I'd like to know what opinion Palestinian national liberation organisations would have of these kinds of initiatives, though. I mean, whether they would support them for perhaps fostering peace, or oppose them for potentially pulling the teeth out of the nat-lib movement...so to speak...I think more information would be needed about the school in question, but I do believe it's bilingual teaching, which could be a contentious issue for some, while of course monolingual teaching would also be contentious...

In summary, it's a difficult issue to figure out precisely...


Well I think that Hadash would support these kinds of initiatives...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9d/Hadash.jpg (http://www.revleft.com/wiki/File:Hadash.jpg)

[hatzel]

For sure they would! And rightly so...

Of course part of that is their more obvious support of a two-sided peace. I feel that there are some organisation who base their membership more about the necessity for the Palestinians to be oppressed, and this kind of initiative, fostering friendship between Jews and Arabs, may remove a generation of children who could potentially fight against the Israelis, as they don't consider themselves oppressed by or opposed to the Israelis / Jews. Instead, they consider them friends...this could even be an important step towards a one-state solution, but I'm sure that there are some organisations who would prefer for the Arab children to feel some resentment towards Israel, to give us the next generation of anti-Israel nat-lib fighters. These initiatives don't breed that resentment, so I wonder if some of the more extreme nat-lib organisations in the West Bank would happily allow similar initiatives to be set up there, and operate freely. This, of course, would be the most necessary place for these types of things, rather than in 'Israel proper'...

[ComradeMan]

For sure they would! And rightly so...

Of course part of that is their more obvious support of a two-sided peace. I feel that there are some organisation who base their membership more about the necessity for the Palestinians to be oppressed, and this kind of initiative, fostering friendship between Jews and Arabs, may remove a generation of children who could potentially fight against the Israelis, as they don't consider themselves oppressed by or opposed to the Israelis / Jews. Instead, they consider them friends...this could even be an important step towards a one-state solution, but I'm sure that there are some organisations who would prefer for the Arab children to feel some resentment towards Israel, to give us the next generation of anti-Israel nat-lib fighters. These initiatives don't breed that resentment, so I wonder if some of the more extreme nat-lib organisations in the West Bank would happily allow similar initiatives to be set up there, and operate freely. This, of course, would be the most necessary place for these types of things, rather than in 'Israel proper'...


Well I think the best initiatives are bottom-up, nothing is going to come much top-down. On all sides people who have "power" have their raison d'etre undermined by such things.

[Palingenisis]

Well I think the best initiatives are bottom-up, nothing is going to come much top-down. On all sides people who have "power" have their raison d'etre undermined by such things.

Do you realize how full of hatred the zionists are?

[hatzel]

Do you realize how full of hatred the zionists are?

Do you realise how full of hatred the palnatlib are?

That's...the point here...

[ComradeMan]

Do you realize how full of hatred the zionists are?

Err... sorry, but what's that got to do with this thread?

We all know there are people filled with hatred and nothing but hatred and bigotry on both sides, but we were talking about positive initiatives, coming from people on both sides.

Problem with that?

[Palingenisis]

Do you realise how full of hatred the palnatlib are?

That's...the point here...

Can an honest person blame them?

The only real solution is a one state Palestine from Jordan to the sea.

The zionist experiment has been an immense human disaster.

[ComradeMan]

Can an honest person blame them?

The only real solution is a one state Palestine from Jordan to the sea.

The zionist experiment has been an immense human disaster.

Is that really a solution? Is that really a socialist solution? Hmmmm I'm not sure.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/5089682145_28b2dbd93e.jpg
http://www.maki.org.il/he/english-mainmenu-106

http://www.maki.org.il/images/banners/1.png (http://www.revleft.com/he/component/banners/click/4)


Ten thousands protest loyalty oath bill and racist laws in Tel-Aviv Protest over the amendment to the Citizenship Act continues – some10,000 people on Saturday (October, 16) evening gathered in Tel Aviv's Gan Meir to protest of the loyalty oath bill, which was approved by the rightist Israeli government on Sunday. Protesters also voiced their opposition to the rising tide of fascism in Israel, as well as the growing legitimization of calls to transfer Arab-Palestinian citizens out of Israel. Entitled "Together against Racism – Jewish and Arab march for democracy", the march from Gan Meir park to the Defense Ministry headquarters brought together demonstrators from the Communist Party of Israel (CPI), the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash), the Communist Youth and Meretz , members of a number of NGOs and activists groups, and thousands of democratic protesters.

http://www.maki.org.il/he/english-mainmenu-106


I'd rather support people like this than the gangsters giving themselves fat pay-offs whilst their own people starve in the "ghettos".

[hatzel]

Oh...wow...so then what happens to the 53% of people who live between Jordan and the Med who happen to be Jewish? Do they...do they all have to go home...?

:confused:

[ComradeMan]

Oh...wow...so then what happens to the 53% of people who live between Jordan and the Med who happen to be Jewish? Do they...do they all have to go home...?

:confused:

And do these armed gangsters actually propose a socialist state? No, they don't.

[Palingenisis]

And do these armed gangsters actually propose a socialist state? No, they don't.

So the Palestinian resistance are "armed gangsters"?

You are so sensitive when it comes to the victims of the khmer Rouge yet you are supporting torture, theft and effectively genocide among a lot of other things when it comes to the Palestinians?

Why should they accept a peace deal with Zionazies?

[ComradeMan]

So the Palestinian resistance are "armed gangsters"?

You are so sensitive when it comes to the victims of the khmer Rouge yet you are supporting torture, theft and effectively genocide among a lot of other things when it comes to the Palestinians?

Why should they accept a peace deal with Zionazies?

You are so sensitive when it comes to the victims of the khmer Rouge

That's why I don't support organisations that were set up by the state they are supposed to oppose, errhum... Hamas, and organisations that cause misery to their own people... and err, shoot on striking Palestinian workers.... etc, etc, etc.

yet you are supporting torture, theft and effectively genocide

Just how am I doing that?

I suggest you do some research.

Moron.

[hatzel]

Why should anybody accept a peace deal with anybody? It's much more fun to just kill everybody...still, I ask again, what of those 6 million Jews in the Levant? Do they all have to leave? Or...do they get to stay? If they have to leave, I guess that's ethnic cleansing. On the other hand...well, considering they currently form a slight majority, as said, that would mean that if they weren't all kicked out, then they would presumably...kind of...execute majority control over the whole territory. And what exactly is this gaining anybody, other than just increasing the size of a Jewish-dominated state? Really, stop being such a Zionist :laugh:

[hatzel]

ANYWAY...trying to get this one anything like back on track, and having something to do with the article (which I didn't post for no reason, you know)...

What do we think of this as a potential road to peace? Effective? What are the problems with it, and the benefits? Could it even lead to a single-state solution without one of the groups having to totally wipe out the other? Would it be workable in the West Bank itself, or would it only function in Israel proper? How could the initiative be improved?

These are the kinds of questions I'm asking. They're actually pretty darn basic questions, hardly requiring an in depth knowledge of...well, anything, but if you don't anything to say on the actual matter, rather just incredibly vague statements about the overarching situation, then go and make your own forum. Preferably in learning. And come back when willing to actually think about the issue at hand, that is, the idea of fostering friendships between Jewish and Arab children as a means to achieve peace...

[ComradeMan]

ANYWAY...trying to get this one anything like back on track, and having something to do with the article (which I didn't post for no reason, you know)...

What do we think of this as a potential road to peace? Effective? What are the problems with it, and the benefits? Could it even lead to a single-state solution without one of the groups having to totally wipe out the other? Would it be workable in the West Bank itself, or would it only function in Israel proper? How could the initiative be improved?

These are the kinds of questions I'm asking. They're actually pretty darn basic questions, hardly requiring an in depth knowledge of...well, anything, but if you don't anything to say on the actual matter, rather just incredibly vague statements about the overarching situation, then go and make your own forum. Preferably in learning. And come back when willing to actually think about the issue at hand, that is, the idea of fostering friendships between Jewish and Arab children as a means to achieve peace...

Well I hope so, certainly better than training children to be suicide bombers or indoctrinating others with racist bigotry.

There must be a stop to the hatred before anything workable can ever happen.

It's just a shame that this kind of information doesn't appear on certain websites...

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

While I deeply sympathize with Palestinian refugees and victims, I have to say I would rather hope in integration between both sides as opposed to removing all the jews. And on that, if anyone has thought of it, share the details on how the jews are going to go away or, at the very least, no longer be in control of Israel.

But either way, like I said I'd rather push towards integration: all palestinians in the two territories and israel itself getting equal civil rights, handing over security to palestinians in those territories (like has already begun the west bank) and at least making it appear that there isn't such an economic drop off between jews and palestinians, and eventually expanding political ties. Well, one can always hope.

People who wish to see Palestinians violently confront Israel on a large scale have too little sympathy for life in my opinion.

[ComradeMan]

While I deeply sympathize with Palestinian refugees and victims, I have to say I would rather hope in integration between both sides as opposed to removing all the jews. And on that, if anyone has thought of it, share the details on how the jews are going to go away or, at the very least, no longer be in control of Israel.

But either way, like I said I'd rather push towards integration: all palestinians in the two territories and israel itself getting equal civil rights, handing over security to palestinians in those territories (like has already begun the west bank) and at least making it appear that there isn't such an economic drop off between jews and palestinians, and eventually expanding political ties. Well, one can always hope.

People who wish to see Palestinians violently confront Israel on a large scale have too little sympathy for life in my opinion.


Exactly the way I see it to. One state solution with equal rights for all.

It's the only acceptable solution from a socialist perspective.

Will, it happen in our lifetimes? I don't know... I am not hopeful.

People who wish to see Palestinians violently confront Israel on a large scale have too little sympathy for life in my opinion.

Especially Palestinian life, the results would be horrific and obviously the odds stacked in favour of the side with the arms, weapons and technology. Let's hope we never see that day.


At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality. Perhaps it is one of the great dramas of the leader that he or she must combine a passionate spirit with a cold intelligence and make painful decisions without flinching. Our vanguard revolutionaries must idealize this love of the people, of the most sacred causes, and make it one and indivisible.

[Dean]

Funny that I don't see anyone professing support for Hamas or Israel, the expulsion of Jews or the repression of Palestinians - and yet those are the points being argued against as if the others held them.

I think you guys agree on more than you disagree on.

One thing I do disagree with is the notion that the Israeli state - or any state for that matter - shouldn't be subject to a violent uprising of the people. Furthermore, when there is a situation of targeted oppression directed at a portion of the lower class, the oppressed class has every right to violent confrontation.

[ComradeMan]

Funny that I don't see anyone professing support for Hamas or Israel, the expulsion of Jews or the repression of Palestinians - and yet those are the points being argued against as if the others held them.

Well, we were talking about a positive and progressive non-ethnocentric movement when a Palingenesis stormed in with "Zionism" all over the place. I think this is vaguely anti-Semitic too, seeing as anything remotely Jewish and connected to Israel is branded as Zionism.


One thing I do disagree with is the notion that the Israeli state - or any state for that matter - shouldn't be subject to a violent uprising of the people. Furthermore, when there is a situation of targeted oppression directed at a portion of the lower class, the oppressed class has every right to violent confrontation.

Indeed in principle yes, but then look what the results would be if that ever happened and came to fruition.

The point that was trying to be made is that there is a need at grassroots level for people to come together and overcome the hatred, wihout that anything else is futile.

How can you have peace accords between people who hate each other?

In my opinion the "extremists" on either side are one as bad as the other- two sides of the same medal if you like, just one has the upperhand and the historical alliances as an advantage. But I am not interested in them to be honest, I am more concerned in the ordinary people just trying to live their lives in peace.

[RGacky3]

This is great stuff, and its nice to see barriers come down, as far as national liberation struggles, I don't know what they would have against this, their struggle is'nt against Jewish people, its against the Isreali state the the occupations and blockaids.

THe problem with the peace accords has nothing to do with Arabs and Jews hating each other, thats an easy cop out, the reason is much more material and its based on the Isreali states desire to essencially control all of palestine, peace is untimately gonna have to come from the Isreali people pressuring their government.


Exactly the way I see it to. One state solution with equal rights for all.

It's the only acceptable solution from a socialist perspective.

Will, it happen in our lifetimes? I don't know... I am not hopeful.

People who wish to see Palestinians violently confront Israel on a large scale have too little sympathy for life in my opinion.

Especially Palestinian life, the results would be horrific and obviously the odds stacked in favour of the side with the arms, weapons and technology. Let's hope we never see that day.


In theory I'm be more inclined to be for something like this, but when you look at the reality of the situation theres no way thats gonna be possible, you have to look at the situation and find the best way to improve things, I think step one, end the blockaid and occupation, step 2 recognise palestinian autonomy and democratic rights.

[RGacky3]

dont' get me wrong I'm thing this sort of thing is wonderful and can lead to very positive things.

[hatzel]

the reason is much more material and its based on the Isreali states desire to essencially control all of palestine, peace is untimately gonna have to come from the Isreali people pressuring their government.

Of course there is always the inverse, that there are some organisations in Palestine who also seem to have as their aim control over the whole land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean. And it is these organisations, the more extreme on the spectrum, who I thought might raise issues with these types of initiatives.

If I may explain again as clearly and thoroughly as possible the potential objection I see...national liberation comes from suffering, and from feeling like second-class citizens, and feeling as outsiders. We could look to the other side, and ask why Zionism, as a Jewish national liberation current, ever emerged. Of course if there had been no discrimination against Jews, if they had been like any other citizen (if they were lucky enough to be citizens, that is), then there would be no call for national liberation. This we can accept. We can also look at any national liberation movement, and notice that it arises, predominantly, for the same reasons. Of course there are a great variety of other reasons, but many of them link back to it. For instance, a nation may want its own land for capitalist gain, so that it can exploit the natural resources for itself, but this is still reliant on the people of the nation having a feeling that they are somehow 'disadvantaged' in the current system, and that they do not have fair and equal opportunities and access to the natural resources and the capital this can generate.

So we agree that a people who do not view themselves as unfairly disadvantaged within any given state is highly unlikely to be willing to give their life fighting for their own state, as this gives no advantage to them. People don't die to preserve the status quo, unless they feel the situation will deteriorate, though in this case we consider them dying for an improvement in the long term. One could argue that these children, if they are brought up amongst Jews, in cooperative settlements, where there mere status as Jew or Arab does no confer any innate advantage or disadvantage, where nobody considers themselves second-class citizens...well, why then would these young Arabs grow into people who are willing to fight and die against an Israel that they have experienced positively, that they consider to have done them no wrong?

The more widespread these types of initiatives become, the more young Arabs we will see who consider their Jewish counterparts brothers, comrades. And, of course, the same is true in the opposite direction. For those specific extreme organisations which are fighting for national liberation on the Palestinian side to include complete control over the whole area, with or without Jewish expulsion, these types of initiatives pose a potential threat, in that they could reduce the number of Palestinian freedom fighters in the next generation. And the more widespread such initiatives are, the more freedom fighters might be lost, and these freedom fighters could even be replaced by a generation of Arabs who see a bright future for Israel, and in fact merely strive to reform the Jewish state, rather than fight against and overthrow it.

Of course in this case, within Israel proper, there is less chance of extreme national liberation organisations holding much sway. But imagine if an initiative of this type were set up where it is, arguably, most needed, that is to say in the West Bank, difficult as it may sound. Of course having the so called 'settler' children and their Arab neighbours educated together, in this way, seems to us almost impossible (though this may be an inaccurate conclusion), but the contribution it could potentially give towards peace and cooperation between the two communities, which is an eternal stumbling block thrown up against a one-state solution, as well as even a two-state peace, is undeniable. I ask, though, whether the more extreme elements of the Palestinian resistance may not decide to intimidate or even target such threats to their movement, for the here-cited reasons...

One might argue why I direct this only at the Palestinian side. Why do I not address extreme Zionists who wish to merely march across and take the whole land for Israel? Of course there are many right-wing Jews in Israel who support this type of one-state solution, why do I not consider them to directly oppose these types of movement? Well...I am personally acquainted with Israelis from a wide spectrum of political beliefs, so I may be able to give some insight beyond what one merely reads about in articles about this or that. The inside scoop, so to speak. So what is the primary concern of these types of Zionist?

Initially, their primary objective is to, as said, merely march across the land, all the way to the Jordan. Of course in this respect they differ, in that some advocate the settlement route, to slowly annex pockets of land, eventually constricting the Palestinians to an ever-smaller parcel of land. There are others, though, who advocate merely sending the troops through, claiming it all as Israeli territory. For both of these groups, though, there is one main obstacle: Palestinian resistance. Both of these groups would agree that Palestinian resistance is counter-productive to their aims, as it means they may prevent settlement expansion, or prevent the troops from achieving their objectives.

In this question, a weakened Palestinian nationalism is advantageous. It would of course be a good thing for this brand of Zionist if every single Palestinian in Israel and the West Bank considered the Israeli people as their brothers, their friends and, most importantly, their equals. Why then would they not wish to form a nation with them? Or, we might say, to become a part of this nation? "We do not need our own state," they would surely cry, "as we can thrive in Israel!" These types of initiative support this. The potential disadvantage, that there may be more and more Jews who would refuse to fight against the Arabs, if the land were to be conquered, if of no concern to the settlement orientated, as this technique doesn't require a strong army that can overwhelm and conquer a whole area. As Israeli influence and control would merely inch across the land, bit by bit. For those who instead support a rapid military operation across the land, bring it and its people under submission, a strong military also isn't particularly necessary, if the people have already been convinced of the benefits of joining Israel, rather than fighting. The more people who choose to welcome their brothers into the land, the fewer will need to be fought directly, meaning fewer troops with be needed. I am aware, by the way, that this last scenario is hugely unlikely, but it could, presumably, be the result of the widespread application of such initiatives in Israeli and Arab territory.

The reasons for its potential benefit to the one-state Zionists are, if we look, exactly the same as the reasons it could potentially harm one-state anti-Zionists. This is no coincidence. One could argue that such initiatives could be considered as double-positive for the extreme Zionists and double-negative for the extreme anti-Zionists. By double-positive, I mean it strengthens the extreme Zionist position whilst simultaneously weakening the extreme anti-Zionist position, and by double-negative, I mean exactly the same thing, but with the clauses reversed, and viewed from the anti-Zionist, rather than Zionist perspective.

I should be sure to clarify that I don't personally hold the above opinions, as I feel that this is a very admirable development towards peace, and should be replicated as widely as possible throughout the territory. I merely felt obliged to outline a potential argument that could be given against this type of initiative by extreme anti-Zionists, to explain why exactly I considered the possibility that intimidation and targeting by these groups, and those of such opinions, could stand in the way of the wider application of this type of model across the region.

[ComradeMan]

Of course there is always the inverse, that there are some organisations in Palestine who also seem to have as their aim control over the whole land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean. And it is these organisations, the more extreme on the spectrum, who I thought might raise issues with these types of initiatives.

that there are some organisations in Palestine who also seem to have as their aim control over the whole land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean

This is the problem, no compromise, "us" or "them" and no recognition of the fact that you can't turn the clock back historically.

[ComradeMan]

Class Struggle against Nationalist struggle (http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2010-09-15/the-national-question-today-and-the-poisonous-legacy-of-the-counter-revolution-0)


The ICT (14) (http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2010-09-15/the-national-question-today-and-the-poisonous-legacy-of-the-counter-revolution-0#fn14), of which the CWO is a part, argues that nationalist struggles are simply disguised imperialist struggles and the wars they provoke are imperialist wars.
The only response communists can give to imperialist wars is the adoption of the politics of revolutionary defeatism. That is:

Opposition to the war on the basis of class
No support to either side in the struggle
Workers should continue the class struggle against their own bourgeoisie
Workers should give solidarity to workers from the opposing side in their struggle against their own bourgeoisie.
The orientation of this policy is towards turning the imperialist war into a civil war and the overthrow of bourgeois power. This was the policy adopted by the Bolsheviks during the First World War which was a decisive step towards the October Revolution. Today it remains the only proletarian response able to open the way to a communist world.
http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2010-09-15/the-national-question-today-and-the-poisonous-legacy-of-the-counter-revolution-0

[Dean]

How can you have peace accords between people who hate each other?

In my opinion the "extremists" on either side are one as bad as the other- two sides of the same medal if you like, just one has the upperhand and the historical alliances as an advantage. But I am not interested in them to be honest, I am more concerned in the ordinary people just trying to live their lives in peace.

It's really only the extremists that pose a problem to this "populist peace."

At the moment, Hamas, Israel, Fatah and Hizb Allah all stand to benefit from continued aggression. We all know who benefits the most. But the commoners in each region - including most of those involved with running these organizations - would almost certainly have no problem getting along in the absence of these power structures.

[balaclava]

Playing together, Mutual respect, Arab and Israeli 'brothers' etc., all those things are great and worth doing for their own sake; how much of an impact they have on solving the problem is another question. I have never been to Israel or Palestine but I have experienced real hatred. I lived in Cyprus for while and I was shocked out how much to Greek Cypriots hate the Turks and vice versa. When I say hate, I mean unless you experience it first hand you have no idea how deep it can be and you know that there is no way in the next 100 years that they will ever sit together. I suspect that the Palestinians hate the Jews to the same degree. And when the hate is so deeply imbedded into their whole being, sadly, a few well meaning banners isn’t going to do much.

[IronEastBloc]

Peace in the Middle East is compromise. Fuck compromise. Fuck peace. Some things are worth struggling for.

[balaclava]

Peace in the Middle East is compromise. Fuck compromise. Fuck peace. Some things are worth struggling for.

What are you suggesting? Are you suggesting that the Israelis should not compromise, that they should just push the Palestinians into the sea and occupy the whole of Canaan?