Why CPJC stands with Palestine

Why, some ask us, does the Chico Peace and Justice Center place itself so squarely in solidarity with “one side” in the ongoing conflict between the state of Israel and the Palestinian people? The answer harks back to the choice many of us and/or many of our parents were called to make during the height of apartheid in South Africa.

There can be no basis for peace in a context of violent subjugation. We stand with the oppressed, the dehumanized, the occupied, because their liberation is the prerequisite for any outcome that can even begin to approximate real peace. Our solidarity with Palestine does not signal that we are against the people of Israel. On the contrary, we hold, along with a growing number of Israeli peace and justice activists, that liberation for the Palestinians is in the very best interests of all.

We oppose the actions of the state of Israel and the complicity of the United States. The Israel/U.S. compact is responsible for such an egregiously disproportionate amount of violence that solidarity with Palestine represents our only conscientious choice. The recent and treacherous bombardment of Gaza is only one facet of this horrific violence. The other is Israel’s continuous and brutal military occupation of Palestine, which, again, mirrors apartheid South Africa.

We remain steadfast in our commitment to nonviolence and do not condone the violence of any party. And we unapologetically assert that Israel and the U.S. bear the great measure of responsibility for sowing the seeds of the seemingly perpetual violence and suffering in the conflict.

CPJC stands with Jewish Voice for Peace and a growing number of organizations throughout the world in concluding that, in the case of Israel/Palestine, “The only peace process that will work is one that recognizes and compensates for the massive power imbalance of the occupier and the occupied.”

We urge our fellow Chicoans to abandon the myth that Israel and Palestine are opposing parties facing each other down with any semblance of equality. No such equation exists. One party in this conflict has its boot on the neck of the other party, and has for decades. This is no context for peace. So it is that our commitment to peace, and to nonviolence, brings forth our call for justice—which is and must be a call for an immediate and unequivocal end to Israel’s U.S.-sponsored occupation of Palestine.