On this day, the 29th of November, we commemorate the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The day is extraordinarily important because, on this day in 1947, the UN General Assembly passed the “Partition Resolution,” which separated historic Palestine and laid the foundations for the establishment of the State of Israel. Palestinians have gone through tremendous trial, hardship, and catastrophe since then. Today marks a day of remembrance for their hardship. It also marks a day of celebration for their unyielding spirit of resistance against brutal occupation, colonisation, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid. Our solidarity efforts are inspired by the heroic resilience of Palestinians around the world.

The 1948 Nakba that facilitated the creation of the state of Israel forcibly displaced 750,000 Palestinians from their homes. Today, there are over seven million Palestinian refugees scattered across the world. Despite UN Resolution 194, which guarantees their right of return, Israel still bars them from re-entering their homeland today. Israel has the strength to do so because it is enabled by some of the most powerful nations and companies in the world. 

The United States, which has by far the largest military in the world, provides $3.8 billion to Israel in military aid. Israel is also backed by some of the largest companies in the world. Just last year, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud executives signed a $1.22 billion contract to provide cloud technology to the Israeli government and military. They signed this contract in May, when Israel launched an all out attack on Palestinians, from the river to the sea. 

At the time, thousands of people were threatened to be dispossessed from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, and other areas of occupied East Jerusalem. Concurrently, the Israeli military bombed homes, clinics, and schools in Gaza - killing 238 people, including 54 children and 38 women. That violence continues today. Since the start of 2022, Israeli forces have killed at least 200 Palestinians, including 47 children, in the West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. 

Israel’s extraordinarily inhumane violence in 2021 did not stop Google and Amazon from signing the deal with the Israeli state. And so it is no surprise that these companies continue to invest in the zionist state, despite its ongoing brutality today. These companies profit from the ongoing military occupation of Palestinians, and are proud to do so.

Google and Amazon’s cloud services support data collection for the Israel Land Authority (ILA). The ILA uses discriminatory policies to expand segregated Jewish settlements, and trap Palestinians in ghettos. These tech conglomerates also have their technology used in the illegal military checkpoints, Israeli surveillance systems, and many other weapons of oppression.

As Palestinian solidarity activists, we see the effects of these tools on a near-daily basis. Every other day, there are stories of how Israeli occupation is ruining lives - tearing families apart, entrenching migrant labour systems, segregating economic markets, and creating a system of underdevelopment, hardship, and fear for the Palestinian people.

But through this, there are also stories of resistance. We take great courage from the fighters from The Lions’ Den, the young armed resistors in Nablus, with networks across political factions separated territories, and ideological affiliations. Young people from Jerusalem to Ramallah, to the Gaza Strip, and beyond have grown fed-up with the ongoing state of occupation and apartheid. They’ve grown fed-up with the unattainable two-state solution, and the corrupt, collaborationist practices of the Palestinian Authority. They want freedom and they want it now. As do we.

Even mainstream discourse around Palestine is changing rapidly. International NGOs who are notorious for towing the Western line, are finally taking more bold steps when it comes to Palestine. B’tselem is an Israeli human rights organisation who have boldly, and in great detail, shown how Israel’s systematic dispossession, segregation, domination, and occupation constitute apartheid. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have done the same thing. So even the most liberal, depoliticised, western NGOs have realised that they can no longer ignore the atrocities going on in Palestine, and they have decided to take a stand and label the Israeli state as the pariah that it is.

This is a major victory for the Palestinian people, but it is only the beginning. We know liberal organisations are what they are, and there are several limitations involved therein. Nonetheless, we can use these reports as weapons in the international arena, where we can mobilise material forces to win freedom for the Palestinian people.

We know from the South African experience, that the struggle against political apartheid involved a multipronged approach, where internationalist movements played no small role. Boycotts, divestments, and sanctions were an instrumental tool among others, that brought the apartheid regime to its knees. In Palestine, we are on our way there as well.

While the South African government’s support for Palestinian liberation deserves stringent criticism, they have at least been consistent at the level of the UN. South Africa has strongly supported Palestinian efforts to achieve international recognition and hold Israel accountable for its crimes. Currently, Palestinian civil society organisations are lobbying for Israel to be officially recognised as an apartheid state, which would allow the UN to impose sanctions upon the state of Israel, until it is held to account for its human rights atrocities and violations of international law. As international solidarity activists, it is important that we support these efforts.

There are of course, other channels which are important for international solidarity activists to pursue. The direct action of thousands of workers in various labour movements has been crucial in getting their companies to divest from operations in Israel and the Occupied territories, or cutting government contracts with complicit companies. We know that large tech conglomerates rely on the exploitation of their workers, and of people's data to function. Campaigns like #MakeAmazonPay, #NoTechForApartheid, and the Liesbeek Action Campaign are directly opposing these companies’ for desecrating sacred indigenous land and treating their workers with cruelty.

Our task is no easy one. And reactionaries will complain - how can we fight for the rights of Palestinians when there are bread and butter issues to be fought here where we are? But it is important that we understand that our struggles are interconnected, and that solidarity is a two-way street. The people of Palestine support South African struggles for land restitution, decent employment, and economic freedom today; just as they did in the past when the PLO trained alongside South African cadres in the struggle against Apartheid. The words of Samora Machel live in our respective struggles today: ““International solidarity is not an act of charity: It is an act of unity between allies fighting on different terrains toward the same objective. The foremost of these objectives is to aid the development of humanity to the highest level possible.”

This year’s FIFA World Cup kicked off in Qatar, amidst widespread controversy surrounding its human-rights record including its treatment of migrant workers and the LGBTQ+ community. Western media outlets were voracious in their complaints against the country, but the way the tournament has played out has exposed their concern for human-rights to instead be thinly-veiled neocolonial rhetoric. Fans and players at the tournament have highlighted Western hypocrisy by raising the Palestinian flag, and speaking out against colonial atrocities that the West continues to ignore. 

The West’s apparent concern for human rights during this World Cup starkly contrasts their general approach to injustice, about which they are silent at best and perpetrators at worst. The Israel Football Association is directly complicit in the ongoing ethnic cleansing and illegal occupation in Palestine, but Fifa closes its eyes to all of this, insisting on maintaining a “neutral” and “apolitical” stance. Of course, this is a mere guise to cover-up Israel’s crimes. Football is deeply intertwined with politics. Professional athletes are turned into commodities for the beauty, betting, and branding industries; but ignored as people with moral and political agency.

As the late Latin American historian and journalist, Eduardo Galeano, wrote: Fifa and its "monarchs", including the capitalist industry that produces sports paraphernalia, are the ones “guilty of transforming every player into an advertisement in motion, while prohibiting them to wear any message of political solidarity”. It is they, he added, "who lust after the commodification of passion and identity". Galeano poetically documented how football mirrored society and politics through the ages in his book, Football in Sun and Shadow. In his words, it is an “homage to soccer, celebration of its lights, denunciation of its shadows.”

Amidst all the shadows of the Qatar World Cup, the activist actions of fans and players have radiated immense light. Unlike the selective lip-service of Western media, theirs is an activism to be proud of and one deserving of amplification. It is a resounding victory for ordinary people, who represent power from below. In front of the entire world, the people have loudly rejected the normalisation efforts of autocratic regimes like Morocco, Bahrain, and the UAE.

Qatar’s stadiums have bellowed with chants in solidarity with the people of Palestine. From the joyful sight of Palestinian flags on global TV screens, to brazen tirades against Israeli media outlets, fans from all walks of life have stood up for the freedom of Palestinians in front of the entire world. Moroccan football players’ waving of the Palestinian flag after their victory against Spain was especially inspiring to see.

On December 22, 2020, the Kingdom of Morocco signed a joint declaration with the state of Israel, pledging to direct flights, promote economic cooperation, and reopen liaison offices with the apartheid zionist state. When Moroccan players waved a Palestinian flag rather than their own after beating Spain in the round of 16, they represented the true voice of the people by thunderously rejecting their colonial government’s efforts to cosy up to their fellow colonial occupier.

While the deaths of thousands of migrant workers in Qatar are yet to be fully investigated, and debates carry on about the state of labour reform and the reparations owed to workers, it is important that we call for accountability holistically. The way in which fans and players have done so at this World Cup is admirable. Despite pressure to do otherwise, they have challenged powerful elites, and stood firm in their solidarity with the Palestinian people and oppressed people all over the world. The light they brought to the World cup’s shadows has equally brought light to our hearts.

The Lion’s Den and the West Bank

2022 marks the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2006 with the death toll rising to over 100 Palestinian people including civilians and children. Within the last year, there has been a significant increase in violence, particularly in the northern parts of the West Bank, resulting from Israeli military raids and a lack of security control from the Palestinian Authority – which has notably restricted governorship over Palestinian areas. 

While being victim to the physical violence of the Israeli militia remains an imminent threat to Palestinian people, their persecution is multidimensional – often manifesting in the limitation of their rights on an institutional level. Israeli forces have instated severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinians leaving the civilians effectively imprisoned. Furthermore, the violent acts of extremist Israeli settlers have resulted in the Palestinians having diminished access to livelihoods, natural resources, and education.

The emergence of a armed Palestinian organization called ‘The Lion’s Den’ in the Israeli-occupied West Bank followed the killing of Ibrahim al-Nabulsi – an eminent militant from Nablus who was nicknamed ‘the Lion of Nablus’ – by Israeli forces. The group primarily consists of young men. While the members have individual ties to the traditional Palestinian political parties – Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – the group is cross-factional. Thus, they are recognised as separate from these parties and their focus lies in opposing Israeli occupation rather than factional conflicts. 

The Lion’s Den is notorious for their attacks on Israeli checkpoints, settlers, and soldiers and  have claimed responsibility for numerous shootings targeting Israeli soldiers. As tensions continue to increase in the West Bank, the group has acquired a growing amount of support.

As a result of the establishment of armed resistance groups in Nablus and Jenin, Palestinian civilians have seen a massive influx of arrests, raids, and killings by Israeli forces. In an attempt to inhibit these groups in an operation code-named “Break the Wave” (Al Jazeera, 2022), Israeli militia have engaged in near-daily raids and killed dozens of Palestinian civilians. Furthermore, Israeli forces have strengthened the restrictions on the movement of 420 000 Palestinians – placing Nablus under Israeli siege. Thus, the cycle of the oppression of Palestinian civilians continues and they are being placed in an increasingly dangerous and restrictive environment.

Dania Nour the Palestinian Olympian

Dania Nour is a nineteen-year old Palestinian swimmer who competed in the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo. Qualifying for the olympic games was an especially formidable feat, considering the extent to which Israel’s occupation hinders the development of sportswomen in Palestine. Nour’s struggle to fulfil her dreams, and those of her people, makes her a hero to all Palestinians, and indeed, to everyone in the world. While Israel has hindered Nour’s progress as a swimmer, they have not hindered her spirit.

Nour’s development as a swimmer has been stunted by various institutional obstacles put in place by Apartheid Israel. Palestine has no olympic-sized swimming pool. Nour has to train in a 25m pool located in Jerusalem, several kilometers away from her hometown of Bethlehem. She has to wake up in the dark hours of the morning and travel without safety of passage through military checkpoints, in the hopes that she will get a chance to practice her craft. Even then, Nour is prevented from swimming in winter, when facilities are closed. Lockdown measures further prevented her from swimming for over a year. Through all these trials and tribulations, she was still able to qualify for represent Palestine at the Tokyo Olympic games.

Dania Nour waved the Palestinian Flag at the games’ opening ceremony, noting it to be one of the most memorable moments of her life. Palestine was first represented in the Olympic games as late as 1996. As much as the International Olympic Committee tries to remain apolitical, it cannot distance itself from politics. Palestinian representation at the Olympic games is an important symbolic victory in the struggle for Palestinian self-determination, just as Israeli representation serves to sportswash and legitimise the settler-colonial regime.

It is important for us as solidarity activists to remember that there can be no normal sport in an abnormal society. When we highlight the stories of heroes like Dania Nour, we highlight the all-encompassing nature of Israeli Apartheid. While we salute her victories and commend her outstanding achievements, we cannot but be cognisant of how many more Palestinian heroes there could be if they did not have to face the brutality of the zionist regime.