Detroit, Mich.—The second annual People’s Conference for Palestine, convened by the Palestine Youth Movement, brought 4,500 Palestinian and U.S. student-activists and their allies together in Detroit under the banner, “Gaza is the Compass.” Driven by the urgent need to stop Israel’s war on Palestine and to end the suffering in both Gaza and the West Bank, the conference welcomed those who exposed the systems enabling genocide and a variety of ideas, organizations and campaigns dedicated to defeating it.
POWERFUL PRESENTATIONS, SPEAKERS, WORKSHOPS
The nine plenaries brought speakers from Gaza, the West Bank, the U.S., Chile, and Europe. They addressed “Zionism and Imperialism,” “The People Demand an Arms Embargo,” “Gaza Resists, Gaza Remains” “The Fight for Palestine in North America” and “The Palestinian Struggle Behind Bars.” Workshops zeroed in on “Documenting Genocide,” “Unmasking Genocide Enablers in the U.S.,” “One Year Later: The Student Movement,” “The Global Movement for Palestine,” as well as on food sovereignty, medical care, and legal accountability.
A powerful exhibit of photo portraits of prisoners and murdered civilians alongside their words expressed the huge loss of their lives and voices. Performances of magnificent Palestinian music and dance uplifted and inspired the audience.
Students had organized workshops to reflect on their actions, review obstacles and accomplishments in the movement, and express their visions and goals going forward. Two international speakers, Lela from Italy and Felipe from Chile, expanded a view of the global movement for Palestine. Lela described contradictions between the U.S. and Europe, and within Europe, the center of arms trade. The EU has never sanctioned Israel and imports nearly ten times the $72 billion it has invested there. Europe is preparing for war and its main partner is Israel. France has advanced military production capacity; Germany is asking should it produce $8 billion in arms or buy them from Israel? The movement needs to understand the connections within arms industries, support worker involvement, and support arms embargo campaigns.
Felipe described the Catholic Palestinian community in Chile, numbering around 500,000, which has been part of that country for a century. Palestinian student organizations are growing; protests range from mass marches to greeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with fireworks and paint. Some grassroots organizations want to bridge Arab and Chilean society, especially organizing among the variety of social and fútbol clubs. “We have a window of opportunity now, but we need help and ideas because the Right is rising.” (For more see: “Voices from ‘One Year Later: The Student Movement Workshop.’”)
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY CONDEMNED
In the final plenary, “Palestine Today; Struggle, Resistance and the Path Forward,” the speakers differed in their specific views of a future Palestine. All agreed, however, that the Palestinian Authority (PA) was a reactionary element that had collaborated with Israel on maintaining internal repression in both Gaza and the West Bank.
Fadi Quran, the founder of Thiqa, described Israel’s Far Right plan for Palestinians: “Be foreigners [in our own land], emigrate, or die.” The PA collaborates with Israel to commit brutal internal repression. Both in Gaza and the West Bank people are asking, “How do we transform a century of Nakba [the violent displacement of masses of Palestinians at the founding of Israel] into a decade of liberation? We need financial and international support. Our youth have skills, energy and resources. We’ve rebuilt roads, created motorcycle ambulances. Can we be the second wave of decolonization? But if we don’t seize the moment we won’t exist. We need a competent collective leadership. The genocide won’t stop until we develop more revolutionary legitimacy instead of people profiting off it. This is a transformational moment—we have to maintain the tsunami of revolt and look to transform Zionist erasure and partition into liberation.”
Journalist Mariam Barghouti from Ramallah said the dramatic 2021 escape of six Palestinian prisoners led to increased armed repression from the PA against the camps in the northern West Bank. “There is a divide between the Palestinian diaspora and Palestine. Some romanticize our struggle, but would they risk their lives and comforts?… We need to increase the boycott from abroad of Israeli products…. Where to begin to rebuild? We need banking and social systems—in short, to take back society.”
Omar Assaf, former Palestinian prisoner and a coordinator of the Popular Conference, spoke in Arabic, saying: “Gaza has split the world in two… The West Bank cities are fragmentized into towns—Bantustans—surrounded by settlers. We would be better off without the PA leadership, which has been the barrier to change since 1987…. Right now 400 people are being tortured in PA prisons… The PA is complicit in forcing 60,000 people out of the camps…. near Nablus, Israel recently bulldozed 12,000 olive trees…
“Popular Work has regressed due to repression. We want to expand BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] on the way to preparing for a general strike and civil disobedience. We need to rebuild popular unions, initiate international legal challenges and popular diplomacy. First: stop the genocide, starvation and war crimes. Stop settlements and land theft. And bring the factions together without corruption…the most important change will be an increasing collective consciousness in civil society. We need an economy of survival through small projects and to replace the PA with an elected leadership—people elected to administer the camps and cities.”
The moderator added that the refugee camps and political prisoners are the most revolutionary elements, rejecting political and diplomatic compromises.
RESPONSIBILITY TO CRITIQUE AND QUESTION
This conference brought out the vibrant energy and determination of young fighters for Palestine, the land and its culture. How can U.S. anti-Zionists support the struggle, in its multi-faceted actions and varied ideas for a future? We shall continue to insist that supporting an end to genocide in Palestine, fighting the militaristic, authoritarian corrupt government of Netanyahu is not antisemitism. We will not allow the Trump administration or AIPAC or Congress to use antisemitism as an excuse to deflect our movement. We envision rights to self-determined life and liberty in the State of Israel/Land of Palestine for Jewish and non-Jewish peoples, in charge of their own society.
We also have a responsibility to critique and question, along with the Palestinians laughing bitterly at Europe’s recognition of their state: “What state? What do we have to eat? Where is our shelter? Our jobs? Water?” Or the fiction that the Palestinian Authority has proved it should lead a genuinely free Palestinian state!
We also need serious discussion of ideas raised within the conference. What does it mean that there was little or no mention of the brutality of Hamas? What are the specifics? How can the general goal of bringing all factions together be realistically carried out? Surprisingly, why was there little discussion of Syria, either its revolution beginning in 2011 or its current struggle to become a democracy and achieve a viable economy? How can strong bonds be built with both religious and secular Jews, especially links with the mass protesters inside Israel?
–Jewish Conference Participant
See also Young Voices from the Second People’s Conference for Palestine