Only joint Jewish-Arab struggle can stop Israel
Dear Friend,
Omri here. I was imprisoned when I was just 18 years old for refusing to serve in the occupation forces. Today, I co-lead the Peace Partnership, the largest joint Jewish-Palestinian group organizing against war, occupation and genocide, born from a dedication to co-liberation. We are extremely grateful to you, who are reading this, for your support and solidarity in the past few months. Your help means the world to us: thank you!
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Politics were part of my youth. I became politically active in middle school during the Second Intifada. I had just heard about five war refusers who were trialed and imprisoned for refusing to serve in the occupation army, which deeply inspired me. At the same time, I was profoundly impacted by the extreme forms of racism I saw being normalized around me. I knew I had to do something radical and a shock to the system. Alongside 250 other high scoolers, I declared I would refuse to serve the occupation forces in an open letter I organized as a teen. In 2006, I was tried in a military tribunal and sent to military prison. In prison, I refused to wear a soldier uniform and was sent to solitary confinement without any clothes. I was not allowed to bring my books. Of course, I fought for my books and for clothes and my struggle paid off.
Today, I co-lead the Peace Partnership, which came as a direct reaction to the war in Gaza. It was formed in December 2023, at a time where the anti-war movement in Israeli was largely demobilized.
It was impossible to act publicly in dissent against the slaughter in Gaza. Before the Peace Partnership was formed, there was only one legal protest against the war. It was clear to us that no organization alone could act on its own against the brutality that was going on inside Israel. It was clear that we had to work together in order to have any ability to operate against the war from within.
In December 2023, the representatives of several dozen organizations met together and decided to form the peace partnership on the basis of agreement on core principles: an end to the war in Gaza, an exchange deal for hostages and prisoners and an end to racist and political repression of anti-war activists and Palestinians. We all started organizing together. There were always coalitions and coordinating bodies on the left in the past.
But what was unique about the Peace Partnership was that it was formed as a genuine Jewish-Palestinian partnership. In a society that is structurally asymmetrical and repressive towards the Palestinian community, forming this kind of partnership is not just a technical issue. It means a very profound commitment in principle and in practice for this kind of partnership that actually confronts structural asymmetry.
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This is the Peace Partnership's strength, which allowed it in all of its organizing, to connect joint Jewish-Palestinian forms of resistance and mobilization, in ways that did not happen before. I come from a very radical left tradition. Since I was a teenager, I would go to Arab Palestinian communities and participate in political activities there. For the majority of Jewish leftists, because Israeli society is so segregated, it's not obvious to go protest in Umm al-Fahem, Nazareth or Sakhnin. Because of the Peace Partnership, we were able to bring Jewish and Palestinian activists together to resist the war, genocide and occupation. It would not have happened otherwise. I am one of the Partnership’s co-coordinators. As a Jewish-Palestinian partnership, I work alongside our Palestinian co-coordinator Sulafa Makhoul.
During the initial stages of the Israeli-American war on Iran, there was a widespread consensus of Israeli society that supported the war. Nationalism and militarism made it difficult for smaller groups to mobilize. That’s why the Peace Partnership was such a central actor that led resistance to the war from within. Each week, our demonstrations grew. Our first demonstrations were smaller, dispersed by the police within minutes. It was difficult to mobilize, but our demonstrations grew as more people joined, in parallel with growing resistance to the war. Soon we were thousands. And it’s because we are a coalition, we bring together the masses to break the glass ceiling of repression.
A big part of our work is to target wider society, not just stay in our ranks. Much of our demonstrations and educational efforts are targeted towards a big chunk of Jewish Israeli society that is not ideologically opposed to war and occupation, is inundated by militaristic rhetoric, and yet still opposes the current fascist regime of Netanyahu and his allies. We target this opening to expand our camp. Last month, we held a massive demo against settler terrorism, which much of the Israeli public has become open to hearing about. We partnered with organizations who oppose the current government who generally do not speak on the occupation, bringing them into our orbit in order to spread our message: that the occupation is the root. At the same time, many of our activities are aimed at the Palestinian Arab public as well, particularly backing them in opposition to the extreme repression we saw of Palestinian communities after October 7th.
Ultimately, we are not just opposed to war and genocide. Our partnership is committed to joint struggle and co-liberation in the face of a supremacist system. We organized the largest joint mobilizations the country has seen in years, breaking the wall of fear imposed by Israeli society. Our demonstrations against the war saw tens of thousands show up, both Jews and Palestinians, because they know we are building real bridges without the illusion of symmetry. We thank RSN for supporting our work, and we thank you, Friend, for your solidarity. Your support allows us to carry out this work.
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In solidarity,
Omri Evron
Co-Coordinator
The Peace Partnership