56 Years Later, Let’s De-Normalize the Occupation

How many Palestinians and Israelis remember life before the occupation, 56 years ago?

If we assume that a person only develops a sociopolitical consciousness after the age of ten, then we should check the proportion of both populations that are 65 or older. In Palestinian society, the proportion is a mere 3%. In Israel it’s higher (around 11%). But given the fact that many of the Israelis in that age group immigrated from the former Soviet Union only during the 1990s, it is safe to assume that in Israel too, the proportion is somewhere in the single digits, or less than one in 10.

Think about it: we have two entire societies – almost three generations – that have been conditioned to perceive their relationship as one of occupier and occupied. 

Think about it: we have two entire societies – almost three generations – that have been conditioned to perceive their relationship as one of occupier and occupied. Three generations that exclusively experienced this “temporary situation” as the only way of life they know. Beyond that, majorities in both societies do not remember life before the second intifada, which put Israelis and Palestinians on a perpetual collision course of on-again-off-again violence.

What happens to two societies in conflict, which internalize occupation as a way of life, the only way of life they know? What happens to the occupiers and what happens to the occupied? You don’t need a degree in sociology to answer this question. It’s enough to read the papers, or, even better, visit Israel and Palestine. Many Israelis and Palestinians cannot even imagine life differently.

I often talk to Palestinians about what life is like for them, having experienced more than half a century of suffering, oppression, humiliation and hopelessness under a brutal military occupation. I can only imagine and express empathy and solidarity.

I am more than familiar with Israeli society’s reaction to the occupation, particularly in the past 23 years, since the beginning of the traumatizing violence of the second intifada. Most Israelis have stopped believing in the viability of an Israeli-Palestinian political settlement. 

On the other hand, I am more than familiar with Israeli society’s reaction to the occupation, particularly in the past 23 years, since the beginning of the traumatizing violence of the second intifada. Most Israelis have stopped believing in the viability of an Israeli-Palestinian political settlement. Shalom (peace), a word that once dominated Israeli election campaigns and aspirational political speeches, has become synonymous with weakness and naiveté and all but disappeared from political discourse. Disappointed and disillusioned, many Israelis ceased to care about the plight of their Palestinian neighbors and about the prospects of living in peace with them. For our friends in Israel’s peace movement and, by extension, for my organization in the United States, the chief challenge has been battling apathy and nihilism.

The 56th year of the occupation has ushered in an Israeli government that, disastrously, is determined to infinitely perpetuate the occupation, that is unless they move ahead with their stated goal of annexation and kill any chance for a future compromise-based peace.

But it also saw the rise of a protest movement, the likes of which Israel has never seen.

I know, the protest is not focused on the occupation. Demonstrators are there to defend democracy and justice for Israelis, not for Palestinians. Still, I see the protest as the most promising development in recent memory in the struggle against the occupation. The movement has transformed hundreds of thousands of Israelis from apathetic cynics to political activists. It has exposed them to anti-occupation messaging by the tenacious demonstrators who insist on infusing the demonstrations with their chants and billboards. The protest movement went from shunning to tolerating and even embracing the Anti-Occupation Bloc (Ha-Gush Neged Hakibush, sounds catchier in Hebrew), a vociferous coalition of anti-occupation organizations that has mainstreamed the slogan “There is no Democracy with Occupation.”

No, protest will not reverse the occupation, certainly not under the current Israeli government. But it is already disrupting the Israeli public’s complicity toward the reality that they have otherwise ignored for decades.

And while this complicity disruption is far from ending the occupation, it is an essential first step and a powerful change. We think it’s essential, not just in Israel, but also in the United States.

We won’t allow the US government – either the administration and Congress – to talk the ritualized talk about a two-state solution without walking the walk to implement it. We won’t let our government talk about Palestinian statehood as a US strategic goal without helping lay the foundation for a state. And we won’t let fellow Jewish groups pay lip service to the damage that West Bank settlements cause to prospects of future peace without acting against settlement expansion and settler violence.

Fifty-six years later, the immediate imperative is to denormailze the occupation. It’s an ongoing effort. And the more we commit to it, the more likely we are to keep the path open for future peace.

Hadar Susskind is the President and CEO of Americans for Peace Now.