Black-Palestinian solidarity refers to the decades-long history of political solidarity between Palestinian people and Black people. African-American support for Palestine has been an element of the Black Panther Party and the Black Lives Matter movement. In South Africa, the African National Congress supports the Palestinian cause. For decades, many Black and Palestinian activists have believed in a "joint struggle" against racism and imperialism, including a shared opposition to Zionism.
Nelson Mandela expressed support for Palestinian liberation on multiple occasions. In February 1990, shortly after his release from prison, he embraced Yasser Arafat in Lusaka, Zambia. In 1997, he stated that "we [South Africans] know our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.Unpack the past: Mandela, the keffiyeh and South Africa’s Palestine embrace
In 2023, the African National Congress reiterated its support for Palestine and called for a ceasefire. President Cyril Ramaphosa referred to Israel as an apartheid state, called for a two-state solution, and said that "We suffered under apartheid, we show support for Palestine." [1]
Black Lives Matter UK declared that "we loudly and clearly stand beside our Palestinian comrades" as part of a "united front against colonialism." [2]
In 1940s, the African-American diplomat and United Nations mediator Ralph Bunche expressed hesitation about the creation of the State of Israel due to the anticipated dispossession of the Palestinians. [3]
In the 1950s, Malcolm X was one of the earliest major African-American figures to support the Palestinian cause. In a 1958 press conference, Malcolm X stated that Black Americans "would be completely in sympathy with the Arab cause." Several months before his 1965 assassination, he visited the Gaza Strip and Palestinian refugee camps. [4] The Nation of Islam, has often criticized Israel. [3]
In 1967, the civil rights activist Ethel Minor wrote a column for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee titled Third World Roundup: The Palestinian Problem: Test Your Knowledge. The influential column described Israeli "colonialism" in Palestine and linked the Black American struggle to the Palestinian struggle. [5]
Founded in 1966, the Black Panther Party supported the Palestinian cause. The Black Panthers regarded African-Americans as an "internally colonized" people and considered both Black Americans and Palestinians to be "Third World" peoples oppressed by colonialism and imperialism. [6] The Black Panthers developed relations with the Palestinian Liberation Organization. [7]
In 1970, a group of 56 African-American activists published a statement titled "An Appeal by Black Americans Against United States Support for the Zionist Government of Israel" in The New York Times . The statement declared that Black Americans should have "complete solidarity with our Palestinian brothers and sisters, who like us, are struggling for self-determination and an end to racist oppression." [8]
In the 2014 Ferguson uprising, Palestinians sent advice to protesters via Twitter for resisting tear gas and other military tactics. Palestinian flags and a chant gained prominence in the protests: "from Ferguson to Palestine, occupation is a crime!" [9] In 2016, the Movement for Black Lives published their policy platform describing Israel as an apartheid state committing genocide. In response, they experienced backlash from funders, cancelled events, and accusations of antisemitism. [10]
During the 2023 Israel-Hamas war the response from Black Americans was divided. While Black Lives Matter Chicago displayed strong support to the Palestinians, [11] the National Newspaper Publishers Association declared they "firmly in solidarity with Israel." [12]
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379, adopted on 10 November 1975, "Determines that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination" with 72 votes in favour, 35 votes against, and 32 abstentions. It was revoked by Resolution 46/86, adopted on 16 December 1991 with 111 votes in favour, 25 votes against, and 13 abstentions. The vote for Resolution 3379 was held nearly one year after the adoption of Resolution 3236 and Resolution 3237: the former recognized the "Question of Palestine" and invited the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to participate in international diplomacy; and the latter designated the PLO as a non-member Assembly observer following the "Olive Branch Speech" by Palestinian political leader Yasser Arafat.
Ronald Kasrils is a South African politician, Marxist revolutionary, guerrilla and military commander. He was Minister for Intelligence Services from 27 April 2004 to 25 September 2008. He was a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1987 to 2007 as well as a member of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party (SACP) from December 1986 to 2007.
Israel's policies and actions in its ongoing occupation and administration of the Palestinian territories have drawn accusations that it is committing the crime of apartheid. Leading Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights groups have said that the totality and severity of the human rights violations against the Palestinian population in the occupied territories, and by some in Israel proper, amount to the crime against humanity of apartheid. Israel and some of its Western allies have rejected the accusation, with the former often labeling the charge antisemitic.
Israel–South Africa relations refer to the current and historic relationship between the Republic of South Africa and the State of Israel. During the 1950s and 1960s, Israel became an open critic of the apartheid regime in South Africa, hoping to establish good relations with black-majority countries in Africa. However, most African countries severed ties with Israel in 1973 while increasing their ties with Arab countries. This situation led Israel to deepen its diplomatic ties with South Africa throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Up to 1986, Israel had a vibrant economic relationship but was forced to sanction South Africa in 1987, mainly as a consequence of American pressure.
Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is an annual series of university lectures and rallies held in February or March. According to the organization, "the aim of IAW is to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns as part of a growing global BDS movement." Since IAW began in Toronto in 2005, it has spread to at least 55 cities, including locations in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Botswana, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Palestine, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Eugene Puryear is an American journalist, writer, activist, politician, and host on BreakThrough News. In 2014, he was a candidate for the at-large seat in the DC Council with the D.C. Statehood Green Party. In the 2008 and 2016 United States presidential elections, Puryear was the vice presidential nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL).
Avraham "Miko" Peled is an Israeli-American activist, author, and karate instructor. He is author of the books The General’s Son: The Journey of an Israeli in Palestine, published in 2012, and Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five, published in 2017. He is also an international speaker.
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a nonviolent Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's obligations under international law, defined as withdrawal from the occupied territories, removal of the separation barrier in the West Bank, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, and "respecting, protecting, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties". The movement is organized and coordinated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee.
Omar Barghouti is a founding committee member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and a co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. He received the Gandhi Peace Award in 2017.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) is an activist organisation in England and Wales. It was founded in the UK in 2004 and incorporated that year as Palestine Solidarity Campaign Ltd. In 2023, The Guardian described it as "Europe’s largest Palestinian rights organisation".
BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within, commonly known as Boycott from Within, is an association of Jewish and Arab Israelis who support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Founded in 2008, it describes itself as following the guiding principles and sharing the goals of the Palestinian BDS movement, as delineated by Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).
Fayez Sayigh (1922–1980) was an Arab-American diplomat, scholar and teacher. He was one of the most significant scholars who developed various analyses on the Palestinian resistance movement against Zionism.
Jews for Urban Justice (JUJ) was a Jewish-American left-wing activist organization based in Washington, D.C., and its suburbs. The organization was founded to oppose anti-black racism within the predominantly white Jewish community of Washington, D.C.
Dorothy "Dottie" Miller Zellner is an American human rights activist, feminist, editor, lecturer, and writer. A veteran of the 1960s civil rights movement, she served as a recruiter for the Freedom Summer project and was co-editor of Student Voice, the student newsletter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. She is active in the Palestinian solidarity movement.
Mohammed el-Kurd is a Palestinian writer and poet, who has gained prominence for his description of Palestinians' lives under occupation in East Jerusalem, the rest of the West Bank; el-Kurd has referred to evictions as a form of ethnic cleansing, and has also accused Israel of imposing apartheid-style laws and regulations onto Palestinians in the occupied territories. He has also spoken out about the oppression in the Gaza Strip, notably the Israel–Hamas war.
Relationship between the Kingdom of Morocco and the State of Palestine has been historically deep, yet complicated. Morocco has a consulate in Gaza while Palestine has an embassy in Rabat.
Anti-Palestinianism or anti-Palestinian sentiment, also called anti-Palestinian racism, refers to prejudice, collective hatred, and discrimination directed at the Palestinian people for any variety of reasons. Since the mid-20th century, the phenomenon has largely overlapped with anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia due to the fact that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians today are Arabs and Muslims. Historically, however, anti-Palestinianism was more closely identified with European antisemitism, as far-right Europeans detested the Jewish people as undesirable foreigners from Palestine. Modern anti-Palestinianism—that is, xenophobia with regard to the Arab people of Palestine—is most common in Israel, the United States, and Lebanon, among other countries.
The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), formerly known as the US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation, is a pro-Palestinian advocacy group advocating for the rights of Palestinians. The organization was founded in 2001 after the second Intifada and is now made up of more than 300 member groups in the US working for Palestinian advocacy. USCPR was created with the goal to focus on "denied human rights" instead of focusing explicitly on Palestinian statehood.
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