The Green Party has put the conversation back on track: the problem is not the lack of creative solutions to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The problem is Zionism itself.

To appreciate the significance of Motion A105, adopted by the Green Party of England and Wales on 4th October, consider its basic tenets.

The party is now formally anti-Zionist. It endorses the Palestinian right of return, supports one democratic state throughout historic Palestine, reaffirms its commitment to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, distinguishes anti-Zionism from antisemitism, and calls for a full arms embargo against Israel.

The party is now formally anti-Zionist. It endorses the Palestinian right of return, supports one democratic state throughout historic Palestine, reaffirms its commitment to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, distinguishes anti-Zionism from antisemitism, and calls for a full arms embargo against Israel.

Though the decision may seem revolutionary within British politics, it is hardly revolutionary when examined against the history of Palestinian dispossession, beginning long before the Nakba of 1948.

Indeed, the Greens were not the first to equate Zionism with racism. That history owes much to Africa’s anti-colonial movements and their struggle against apartheid.

In 1975, the Organization of African Unity, meeting in Kampala, Uganda, drew explicit parallels between the racial systems governing South Africa, Rhodesia and occupied Palestine, identifying their common imperialist origins.

This position helped lay the groundwork for UN General Assembly Resolution 3379, adopted on 10th November 1975, which determined that Zionism was a form of racism and racial discrimination.

Under intense American and Israeli diplomatic pressure, the UN eventually reversed that determination on 16th........

© Middle East Monitor