UNAC: Free Palestine! Resistance is justified when people are occupied!

The United National Antiwar Coalition stands firmly behind the people of Palestine as they resist over 75 years of brutal and illegal occupation by the Israelis. We call on people and organizations across the United States to take to the streets to support the cause of a free Palestine and to demand an end to all US military and economic aid to Israel.

[A photo of a protest against the blockade of Gaza]

While the mainstream media will tell people this war began with rockets from Hamas on October 7, 2023, we know that the Palestinian people have been living in a constant state of war since the Israeli state was conceived in 1948 when historic Palestine was divided to create the current Zionist, Apartheid state and hundreds of thousands of dispossessed Palestinians were driven off their lands into internal and external exile. Violence against Palestinians by Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) and settlers has increased under the new Netanyahu government. This constant violence and oppression against a people and the failure of nonviolent methods of holding the Israeli state accountable lead to one, logical outcome: resistance.

For over seven decades, the Palestinian people have been subjugated to not only theft and occupation of their land, but constant violence, arbitrary detention and dehumanization. In the West Bank, multiple checkpoints restrict their movements and access to medical resources. Palestinians are denied basic necessities such as clean water, and the people face violent raids by the Israeli Occupying Force and murderous Israeli settlers, who constantly encroach on Palestinian land.

[Maps showing Arab versus Jewish majority areas in 1946 Mandate Palestine, the UN's 1947 Palestine partition plan, and the area of the Occupied Territories from 1967 to today]

Thousands of men, women, and children are locked inside of Israeli jails for years without charges or trials, Palestinians face legalized discrimination, and for two years in a row, the IOF and right-wing Israeli nationalists have attacked Palestinians worshiping at the Al Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, resulting in hundreds of Palestinian deaths. 

The people of Gaza, in particular, have been subject to some of the worst living conditions and indiscriminate Israeli bombings. Within the 140 square mile Gaza Strip, the largest open-air prison in the world, two million people live trapped and vulnerable to unannounced Israeli strikes.  Their human rights to water, food, electricity and movement are violated. According to the Euro-Med Monitor report, Pulling the Trigger is the First Resort, there was a “dramatic surge” in the number of Palestinians murdered in 2022 and more than 60% of those killed by the IOF were civilians who were not involved in any sort of conflict.

All of this violence perpetrated by the Israeli State is only possible with the political, financial, and military backing of the United States. Every year, the United States sends $3 billion in military aid to Israel, which is used to fund the occupation and constant bombardments of Palestinian territories. With that money, Israel also purchases equipment and technology from US weapons manufacturers. Israel is the largest recipient of US aid globally. 

UNAC condemns US wars for occupation, greed and resources. We recognize that under international law, Palestinians have the legal right to resist the Israeli occupation. The present violence between Palestinians and Israelis represents a decades-long struggle by an oppressed people for liberation. UNAC’s second point of unity states: 

“We support the right of all oppressed peoples, including colonized and formerly colonized countries, to determine their own road to liberation… We do not have to agree with a targeted country’s leaders in order to oppose U.S. aggression against that country. As political activists in the heart of the Empire, we have a responsibility to oppose U.S. imperialism. In the particular case of Palestine, we support the right of the Palestinian people to determine their own future and we oppose any U.S. aid to the colonial apartheid state of Israel.”

The Palestinian people demand and deserve freedom from Israeli apartheid, settler colonialism, and genocidal tactics. How they go about achieving victory in their struggle for liberation is for them to determine. 

UNAC demands an end to all US military and economic aid to Israel. We call on all members to express their support for a free Palestine through solidarity actions. Please send us any pictures and descriptions of actions in your city, so that we may circulate them.

Free Palestine!