Categories

Linking Liberation Struggles

Back Pack Talking Points

ETHNIC CLEANSING: Ethnic cleansing: the expulsion, imprisonment, or killing of an ethnic minority by a dominant majority in order to achieve ethnic homogeneity

  1. Native American/Palestinian parallels
    1. ‘Civilizers’ vs. ‘Savages’; use of the Old Testament; Netanyahu
    2. Exclusion from the narrative (manifest destiny & ‘a land without people for a people without land’; Golda Meir
  2. Walls & immigration
    1. Racial profiling
    2. Trump & Israeli walls
    3. Israel distinction between “citizenship” (ezrahut) and “nationality” (le’um)
  3. Nation State bill & Racist Nationalism

CRIMINAL JUSTICE:

  1. Israel’s Dual Criminal Justice System: Civil Courts for Israelis, Military Courts for Palestinians in the West Bank & Gaza
    1. Violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention
    2. West Bank settlers tried in civilian courts
  2. Israel’s unique juvenile military court system for Palestinian children
  3. Palestinians in Israeli prisons
  4. Administrative detention

US/ISRAEL POLICE COLLABORATION

  1. The U.S. and Israel both have systems of social control that uphold white supremacy and repress dissent by people of color. They are analogous in many ways, but they also are directly linked.
  2. JVP-Triangle is involved in a coalition of 10 groups that are campaigning to prohibit Durham Police from participating in exchange programs with Israel.
  3. JVP-Triangle participated in a campaign pushing the county to drop this contract. The demand was met in November 2014. This victory helped pressure G4S to announce its plans to end its business in Palestine, but G4S is still involved.
  4. Ongoing Militarization of the Police in the US
  5. (Ferguson response-tactics & equipment)
  6. ICE & Israel

LABOR

  1. Foreign control of Palestine has stifled development of its labor market, leading to persistence of low wages and high unemployment.
  2. Palestinian workers’ rights are continually eroded by Israeli policies.
  3. US labor unions have been slow to support Palestine and Palestinian workers, but the tide may be changing.

ENVIRONMENT: WATER:

  1. US Water problems: Detroit & Flint. Detroit has seen water rates rise and Flint has seen danger water contamination and both cities have lost political control, to remedy human rights abuses.
  2. The Atlantic coast Pipeline: The NC Atlantic Coast Pipeline permit runs through poor, people of color and Native American communities – the most disenfranchised and economically destitute.
  3. In Palestine, the Occupation has again left populations without water, robbing and diverting Palestinians water resources on their own land and/or restricting water access – a weapon of war and Israeli land control and population removal.

INEQUITIES IN HEALTH CARE & US COMPARISONS

  1. For Israel citizens, Israel offers its citizens universal health care with substantial government investment and a strong primary care system, resulting in positive health outcomes.
  2. In contrast, the system of Palestinian health care is constrained by lack of funding, staffing, and medicines while challenged by extreme poverty. As of 2015, life expectancy for Palestinian men and women was 10 years less than for their Israel counterparts.
  3. Mental health needs are severe for Palestinians and services are sorely lacking.
  4. Hospital shutdowns are becoming common in Gaza, due to shortages of fuel, personnel, and infrastructure.
  5. Restrictions on movement in the occupied territories and delays at checkpoints are also huge problems for patients and providers.
  6. The US has no guarantee of health care for citizens or residents; health indicators are inferior to those of other industrialized countries, and differentials based on race/ethnicity, income, and insurance status are quite extreme.
  7. Access to hospitals and other health facilities are often very limited in rural areas, and increasingly affected by hospital mergers and policies throughout the US.

OPPRESSION OF WOMEN

  1. Palestinian women suffer from constant threats to their personal security, lack of trust in government institutions, as well as inability to protect their children.
  2. As evidence by the MeToo movement, women in the US are physically vulnerable in multiple arenas without protection from the State, employers, academic institutions, and other organizations.

DETENTION AND ABUSE OF CHILDREN/ATTACKS ON FAMILIES

  1. In addition to restrictions on movement, home demolitions, and arbitrary arrest of parents and caregivers, Palestinian children are directly affected by detention and maltreatment by Israeli occupation forces.
  2. Systematic destruction of Palestinian schools further violates the human rights and stability of Palestinian children.

HEALTH IN GAZA SINCE GREAT MARCH OF RETURN: 2018

  1. Impact of Great March: 250,000 rallied; 30+ dead; 3000+ injured
  2. Challenges: shortages of medicines, international humanitarian aid; lack of protection for health workers; no accountability for Israelis