YDS Statement Adopted by the Coordinating Committee on May 26, 2002

On April 20, nearly 80,000 people marched on Washington, DC to protest many things, from IMF/World Bank policies to US military action in Colombia to an end to the current war. But one issue stood out above all others: solidarity with the people of Palestine against the aggression of Israel. As ideological as well as practical activists, it is vital that we not let the desire to unite the largest numbers possible obscure the need to make some vital political demarcations within the emerging movement for Palestinian sovereignty. As the violence in the Middle East shows few signs of abating, the Young Democratic Socialists (YDS) feel the need to organize our politics on this issue, for it has real implications at home and abroad.

Since September 11, US foreign policy has almost completely centered on the War on Terrorism. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon seized on this new focus and immediately painted the al-Aqsa Intifada as a part of this stated universal war. Ironically, it was, in fact, Sharon himself who helped provoke the Intifada by his cynical visit to al-Aqsa, a Mosque in Jerusalem. After a horrific suicide attack in Netanya on the first night of Passover this year, Sharon decided to send Israeli troops into the West Bank and Gaza Strip to arrest all suspected terrorists as well as to crush the terrorist network. These murky goals stand unaccomplished, as there is a new suicide bomber it seems every day. Since that step in the war, untold numbers of Palestinians have been killed, with the most graphic loss of life occurring at the Jenin refugee camp, where scenes of charred bodies and destroyed buildings stand as testament to folly of Sharon's policies. The military moves of his administration can be considered war crimes under the Geneva Convention.

Members of Fateh Youth, the fraternal organization of the YDS in Palestine, are imprisoned or missing. Untold numbers of families are split up, water supplies are cut off, and the fragile infrastructure built by Palestinians after fifty years of living in camps stand destroyed in Ramallah, Nablus, and all other cities in which Israel intervened.

Though Sharon and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yassir Arafat recently agreed to end the siege on PA headquarters, Israel still continues its attacks in Palestinian territory and balks at allowing the United Nations fact-finding mission to enter Jenin, breaching international law.

This injustice cannot persist. The YDS supports the Palestinians' struggle for self-determination and liberty as is affirmed in the resolution passed by the Coordinating Committee in March 2001. Resistance to Israeli security forces occupying Palestine is worthy of the support of all socialists. We call for negotiations for two states—one Israeli and one Palestinian—that share Jerusalem as their political and cultural capital, with the partition of the two based on pre-1967 boundaries and achieved through political compromise within the boundaries of international law as determined by the appropriate UN resolutions.

The YDS calls on the Israeli government to cease its military operations in Palestinian territory and to take a proactive step and withdraw from the Occupied Territories. Peace can only be realized when justice has been achieved.

The United States must stay involved in the peace process. As the country that gives more military aid to Israel than any other country in the world, we have a special responsibility to work for peace and justice. With these principles in mind, the YDS calls for an end to US aid to Israel until withdrawal from the Occupied Territories is complete. The YDS also supports the notion of a boycott of Israeli, not Jewish, goods as another means of securing withdrawal. It should be clear that this is not by any means an attempt of pushing the Israeli economy into a deeper recession, but a method of bringing the Israelis back to the negotiating table in earnest.

Though we support the principles of the Intifada against Israeli Apartheid, we must be very clear in our recognition of Israeli citizens' right to live and work in peace. Just as we cannot expect peace and justice to be realized while Israel attacks Palestinian targets and engages in political assassinations, neither can it be realized while Israelis fear for their lives each and every day. The YDS condemns anti-civilian violence from any side, with any objective and at any time. The targeting of Israeli civilians by Palestinian militants must stop now.

Furthermore, we stand opposed to the anti-Semitism displayed by some within the Intifada as well as those US activists who compare the Star of David to the Swastika and, therefore, Jews to Nazis. Though Ariel Sharon may attempt to falsely claim victimhood while his country receives more US aid than any other country in the world and has the best military in the region, this does not make the reality of anti-Semitism any less apparent. The attacks on Synagogues and Jews in Western Europe and the United States need to be called by their true name, base racism.

As long as the movement to free Palestine caters to those who want to see Israel wiped off the face of the map, it has no hope. Israel has a right to exist within safe and stable borders with its own political and social institutions, just as any other nation does. The movement must recognize this and work from this basis. Only then can calls for a free Palestinian state be realized.

Concretely, the YDS calls on its activists to: