Outline: The speech raises the issue of military violence against Palestinians and proposes to organize the solidarity movement to convince American foreign policymakers to change their discourse on the war crimes of the Israeli army.
Introduction
American society in the 21st century has become accustomed to thinking of the modern world as a place where violence and military conflict are decreasing. However, the world is still full of violence, and “the terminal point of the modernization process <…> with market-based economies” proclaimed by Fukuyama is still far away (The ‘End of History’ Revisited 7:10) (attention gathering). Here I will focus on the ongoing discrimination and violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-Occupied Territories. Indeed, the problem really deserves attention because multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity were reported by human rights organizations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (Amnesty International) (credibility). However, there is only limited response from Western countries on these injustices (TAR statement). The main points of attention are the Israeli army’s perception of Palestinians as targets but not humans and the displacement of Palestinian settlers from places they possessed for hundreds of years (preview of main points). It may be achieved by organizing solidarity movements on university campuses to change the discourse about crimes against Palestinians to convince policymakers in the West to respond to these calls (thesis).
Problem
Military Violence
Inside Israel, there is a “state within a state”, that is, the territory of the West Bank, where Palestinians live in exceptional conditions. Scholarly and activist communities emphasized the unjust attitudes of the Israeli army toward Palestinian residents in these places and so-called checkpoints, special arrangements to control the movement of Palestinians (Rijke and Minca 970). The basic explanation for it is that settings of prolonged war tend to make people more violent and force them to dehumanize their opponents (Gazit and Grassiani 1). Gazit and Grassiani, scholars who researched military conflict, tried to describe such use of force against civilians. For example, one Israeli soldier in the interview said: “Sometimes it is enough that you are holding your weapon. You are given a weapon in order to use it” (Gazit and Grassiani 10). As a result, the legislation allows soldiers to use ‘incrimination’ as a right excuse for their aggression.
In addition, the spatial arrangements of divided land of Palestinians into the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the system of checkpoints also significantly contribute to the unjustified violence. Enclosed spaces and large crowds cause fear among the military of being injured by passing Palestinians. Consequently, Israeli soldiers try to be as cruel and cold-blooded as possible. For example, the Internet contains photos of soldiers pointing machine guns at civilians (Figure 1). The escalated atmosphere makes even a minor look as a reason for interrogation. As an Israeli soldier admits in an interview: “Some of them make a face at you and show you that they hate you <…>. You say to them: “Take off your shirt, show me what you have under that shirt” (Hammami 91). Thus, although it is a deeply local problem with its own features, the global community can influence it through united actions.
Solution
How can the American public contribute to reducing the level of violence in Israel, which is about 7,000 miles away? Many will be extremely pessimistic about the prospects of the public in democracy to influence the decisions of political elites. Donald Trump, in his first UN address, raised such public anxieties: “The United States <…> can no longer be taken advantage of or enter into a one-sided deal where the United States gets nothing in return” (Kamarck and Muchnick). However, in some critical and most salient moments, public opinion may directly influence decision-making (Scott and Rosati 335). The specific action described here will be the organization of the solidarity movement.
The American foreign policy is increasingly pro-Isralian, which allows the government in Israel to be fully legitimate and integrated into international politics. However, one of the effective methods to show solidarity with dispossessed and injured Palestinians is to engage in activism. For example, the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (DBS) movement is the leading organization that protects the right of Palestinians to be equal citizens. As part of the project, regular Israeli Apartheid Weeks (IAW) are organized as a grassroots mechanism to increase awareness of injustices in the Occupied Territories. Hazem Jamjoum, the co-founder of IAW, indicated that the agenda of these activities is to increase the “anti-deportation struggle and anti-racism struggle more broadly” (The Origins of Israeli Apartheid Week 1:05). Discussing the origins of this movement in Toronto in 2004, Abed Takriti, another co-founder of IAW, indicates that “we wanted to have a formula for something that could be replicated on other campuses” (The Origins of Israeli Apartheid Week 3:20). Therefore, the proposed action is to create special meetings and workshops in campuses to create the video, audio, and text materials to spread the information among communities on the violations of human rights in Israel.
Conclusion
To conclude, it is human nature to express compassion and solidarity with people who are discriminated against and excluded from the normal life (brake light). A bright example is the dispossession of land and violence against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories of Israel. The solution is to use the vast experience of activism of the DBS movement to build similar university structures. These new organizations may emphasize social inequalities and transform the discourse from “not everything is so clear” to evidence-based reports (thesis and main points). Thus, engaging in such solidarity movements is crucial to addressing the university administration about the students’ intentions to create such clubs and movements inside campuses (call for action).
Works Cited
Amnesty International. “Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories 2021,” Web.
Gazit, Nir, and Erella Grassiani. “Liquid Legitimacy: Lessons on Military Violence from the Israeli Occupation in the West Bank.” International Political Sociology, vol. 17, no. 1, 2023, pp. 1-22. Web.
Hammami, Rema. “Destabilizing Mastery and the Machine: Palestinian Agency and Gendered Embodiment at Israeli Military Checkpoints.” Current Anthropology, vol. 60, no. 19, 2019, pp. 87-97. Web.
Kamarck, Elaine, and Jordan Muchnick. “One Year into the Ukraine War — What does the Public Think about American Involvement in the World?.” Brookings, 2023, Web.
Rijke, Alexandra, and Claudio Minca. “Inside Checkpoint 300: Checkpoint Regimes as Spatial Political Technologies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” Antipode, vol. 51, no. 3, 2019, pp. 968-988. Web.
Scott, James M., and Jerel A. Rosati. The Politics of United States Foreign Policy. CQ Press, 2020.
“The ‘End of History’ Revisited | Francis Fukuyama.” YouTube, uploaded by Long Now Foundation, 2020, Web.
“The Origins of Israeli Apartheid Week.” YouTube, uploaded by BDS Movement for Equality & Palestinian Rights, Web.
Appendix A
