Israel – a beacon of freedom and democracy in the Middle East

Israel defines itself as a Jewish and democratic state, but in almost all aspects, Israel is a secular state, and freedom of religion is respected. The vision of Israel's founders was an open and democratic state with a Jewish majority in which non-Jews would enjoy full and equal rights. The principle of equality for all citizens was enshrined in Israel's Declaration of Independence and is protected by Israel's Supreme Court. All democratic freedoms familiar to a Western democracy are present in Israel. The country has a vigorous and diverse free press, a very well developed and active civil society and a highly respected judicial system protecting individual rights. This is affirmed by the international freedom and democracy watchdog Freedom House. In Israel, women have achieved substantial parity at almost all levels of society. Representatives of Arab and other minorities play a full and active role in the state, including as ministers in the government, justices of the Supreme Court, members of parliament, senior academics, ambassadors, members of the civil service, and in the military. The Arab-Israeli conflict makes particularly difficult the relationship between the Jewish majority and the Arab minority, and between Israeli Arabs and the state. There are ongoing efforts by governmental and non-governmental agencies to overcome inequalities between Jews and Arabs in Israeli society.

Israel and Peace

Israel has repeatedly engaged in efforts to make peace with its neighbours based on the principles of land for peace. Israel agreed to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in return for peace and recognition in 1979. Israel withdrew from Palestinian population centres in Gaza and the West Bank as part of the Oslo Accords with the PLO signed in 1993. It also made territorial concessions to Jordan as part of the 1994 peace treaty between the two countries. In 2000, Israel complied with Security Council resolutions relating to Lebanon by withdrawing all its forces from south Lebanon. In 2005, Israel withdrew uni- laterally from the Gaza Strip and part of the northern West Bank. Every Israeli government since 2000 has publicly committed Israel to the two-state solution as the best way to resolve the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. This solution, as defined by the Clinton parameters in December 2000, is a solution which results in, ‘the state of Palestine as the homeland of the Palestinian people and the state of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.' The principle of the two-state solution is that a Palestinian state will be created within the territory of Gaza and the West Bank, and will exist alongside and at peace with Israel. Re- peated polls indicate that a majority of Israelis and Palestinians accept this idea, though it involves difficult compromises on both sides. For Israel it means giving up control of territory in the West Bank which is of great his- toric, cultural and strategic importance for the Jewish people. For Palestinians it means accepting that the solution for the Palestinian refugee problem lies not in refugees returning to Israel but in returning to a new Palestinian state.

Why Boycott Calls Are Wrong

A boycott would do nothing to contribute to the advancement of a peaceful and just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Far from helping the Palestinians, a boycott would hinder the development of dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians on which prospects for future peace and security rely. The goal of peace depends on two sides, Israelis and Palestinians, working together with international support towards the mutual goal of a negotiated two-state solution. An environment of rejection and misdirected pressure targeted at Israel is counterproductive to an internationally- backed peace process premised on the development of mutual understanding and respect for both sides. An academic and cultural boycott, which has been promoted by various trade unions and other activists, contradicts the principles of scientific ethics and the open spirit of international cooperation between scientists, artists and others. It is particularly counterproductive to target Israel’s academic community, which has a proud record of promoting honest debate, criticism and self-examination within Israeli society. Israel’s universities have a significant Arab student intake and are important forums for interaction and cooperation between Jews and Arabs. Arab citizens of Israel have increasingly risen to high ranks within Israeli academia. Whereas Israel, an open and democratic state in which Jewish and Arab citizens enjoy equal rights, and which embraces free academic inquiry, has been threatened with a boycott, no other country is subject to such a campaign. Prominent Palestinian academics such as Sari Nusseibeh, President of Al Quds University in East Jerusalem, have been firm critics of the movement to boycott Israeli universities and academics. Similarly, an economic boycott cannot help the Palestinian people, whose future prosperity depends on creating an atmosphere of economic and political cooperation. Since Israel’s establishment, the Arab world has tried to use an economic boycott to isolate and weaken Israel economically, and thus make the state non-viable. Whilst Egypt and Jordan have direct trade links with Israel, most Arab states are reluctant to trade directly with Israel. The Roadmap peace plan specifically calls for the normalisation of relations between the Arab states and Israel, including the return of trade links.

About Israeli trade unionism

The General Federation of Labour in Israel (The Histadrut) is the largest labour union and voluntary organisation in the country. Founded in 1920, the Histadrut is the most important economic and social body in the state and its activities extend beyond the traditional concerns of trade unions. It wields enormous influence on the government's wage policy, labour legislation, working conditions in the private sector and is influential in political, social, and cultural spheres. Although it sold most of its holdings to private investors before the mid-1990s it is still the owner, or joint owner, of a wide range of industries and is one of the largest employers in Israel, currently accounting for more than 20 percent of the national income. The Histadrut unites thousands of union members in one organisation regardless of religion, race or gender. Arab workers have been admitted to the organisation with full membership since 1960 and it currently has over 200,000 Arab members. The Histadrut maintains a good relation- ship with the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) as well as labour movements in other countries and is affiliated to the International Confederation of Trade Unions (ICTU).

The Histadrut and the PGFTU

In a landmark agreement, the Histadrut (Israeli TUC) and the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) signed an agreement in August 2008 to base future relations on negotiation, dialogue and joint initiatives to advance “fraternity and co-existence.” An example of cooperation between the Histadrut and PGFTU was in October 2007 when the Histadrut successfully petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice for Israeli labour law to be applied in the occupied territories, something they were previously denied. Nine judges ruled that Palestinians working for Israeli employers in West Bank settlements should be given the same work benefits provided by Israeli law. The ruling set an important precedent that benefits thousands of Palestinians working for Israelis and Israeli companies throughout the West Bank. Cooperation between the PGFTU and the Histadrut is now better than ever. The 2008 agreement should defend the rights of Palestinian workers; lead to improvement in their day-to-day lives and pave the way for continuous cooperation. All financial issues have been settled, and as well as providing Palestinian workers with trade union services and representation fees, the new agreement encourages participation in educational and vocational training workshops.

Trade Union Boycotts weaken the prospects for peace

Calling for boycotts of Israel is not the right approach for trade unions for a number of important reasons:

• The economic relationship between the Palestinian and Israeli economies is vitally important to the peace process: economic boycotts against Israel can only damage this.
• Both the Histadrut (Israeli TUC) and the PGFTU (Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions) do not want boycotts but want to continue working together for peace. Trade unionists have a duty to support them; to show solidarity with their positive efforts rather than call for disruptive boycotts.
• Simplistic and non-constructive efforts in the form of misguided resolutions is not the right approach for trade unions to help, especially when there are a number of positive measures that can express practical solidarity with- out calling for a boycott.
• Advocates of the boycott of Israel repeatedly invoke the boycott of South Africa. The paral-lel they draw between Israel and apartheid South Africa is false and a misrepresentation of the facts.
• Rather than divestment from Israel, we believe that investment of time, energy and material aid in the peace process is the way to meaningful progress towards achieving a lasting settlement.

Israel is the only Jewish state in the world. It is made up of survivors of the Nazi Holocaust, Soviet anti-Semitism, and over 800,000 Jews ejected from Arab lands. Yet it offers full political and religious rights to its Muslim and Christian citizens. Israel is only one-half of one per cent of the land mass of the Arab world, about the size of Wales, and only 9 miles wide at its narrowest point. Yet it has made territorial compromises in the interests of peace. It returned the Sinai to Egypt as part of the Camp David Peace accords, withdrew completely from Gaza in 2005, and offered Palestinian statehood to Yasser Arafat as part of the deal promoted by President Clinton in 2001, only for Arafat to reject the deal and launch a terrorist campaign called the intifada.

Israel offered more than I expected it would or indeed I believe it should. President Clinton on Israel’s offer of peace to the Palestinians in 2001, rejected by Yasser Arafat.

The Jewish connection to the land of Israel is recorded over 3,500 years of history - by the Bible and by secular historians alike. Israel is the only state mandated by the United Nations and is threatened with utter annihilation by some of its neighbours. In 1948, 1967 and 1973 the State of Israel had to fight for survival against its much larger neighbours, including Egypt and Syria. Today it is surrounded by forces pledged to destroy it, Hezbollah to the north, Hamas to the south and Iran just over the horizon. Israel remains committed to a two-state solution, an Israel and Palestine existing side by side in peace. In contrast Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran demand all the land for an Islamic state and openly call for the expulsion or murder of Jewish Israelis. Why Israel? Ten Nobel laureates; mind-boggling technical innovations in medicine and communications; more refugees per capita absorbed than any country on earth; a democratic secular state which is a centre for three world religions.

Why was Israel created?

The land of Israel has always been integral to Jewish religious, cultural and national life and remains so to this day. Zionism is the national movement of the Jewish people, calling for sovereign Jewish life in the land of Israel. Zionist leaders hoped that the fulfilment of such aspirations would end centuries of anti-Jewish persecution and allow for the renewal of Jewish culture, language and traditions.

How was Israel created?

Zionists sought to end the status of Jews as a persecuted minority, by re-establishing a majority in Palestine through immigration, settlement and peaceful agreement with the local Arabs. Most of the Jews who moved to Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel came not as colonisers, but as refugees fleeing persecution in various parts of Europe. Jews did not enter Palestine by force, but purchased land and built new communities. The objective of establishing a Jewish homeland in Israel gained strong international support with the Balfour Declaration, issued by the British government in 1917. The British government's decision to support the foundation of a national home for the Jewish people was made known in the form of a letter written by then-foreign secretary Lord Balfour to Zionist leader Lord Rothschild. In September 1922, the League of Nations granted Britain a Mandate over Palestine, noting the ‘historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine' and the ‘grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.' Under the British Mandate, three-quarters of the territory east of the Jordan River formed the Emirate of Transjordan (later the Kingdom of Jordan) and was closed to Jewish immigration. The remaining territory remained open to Jewish immigration until this was blocked by Britain in 1939. By 1936, the Jewish population of Palestine was approaching 400,000, close to 30% of the total. By 1945, the Nazi Holocaust had exterminated approximately six million Jews in Europe. After the war, tens of thousands of survivors attempted to bypass the British blockade to enter Palestine. This led to illegal Jewish immigration and a direct confrontation between the British government and the Jews of Palestine. In 1947, the British turned the question of the future of Palestine over to the United Nations, which established the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) to determine its future. The UN recommended partition into a Jewish and an Arab state, with Jerusalem under international control. The plan would have created a Jewish state with a Jewish majority on the Mediterranean coast, western Galilee, and Negev Desert. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly voted in favour of Resolution 181, to approve the UNSCOP plan, by 33 votes to 13. The Jewish Agency accepted the plan, but the Arab Higher Committee, the Palestinian Arabs' political representatives, rejected it. As the British Mandate formally ended, on 14 May 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel in line with the UN resolution.

What happened in Israel’s War of Independence?

As the State of Israel's establishment was declared, the armies of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria invaded the former Mandate territory with additional forces from Saudi Arabia. The Jewish forces fought with very limited resources. The conflict was a disaster for the Arab population of Palestine, who left in large numbers for neighbouring Arab states. At the same time, Israel faced the challenge of absorbing hundreds of thousands of Jewish immigrants. These were not only refugees from the Holocaust, but from Jewish communities fleeing persecution in Arab countries. The war came to an end at the beginning of 1949, with Israel signing armistice agreements with each of its Arab neighbours. The borders of Israel now somewhat exceeded those defined by the UN Partition Plan. What remained in Arab hands was the West Bank, which was annexed by Jordan in 1950, and the Gaza Strip, which was held under Egyptian military rule. Neither Jordan nor Egypt made any attempt to establish an autonomous Palestinian Arab state as mandated by the UN. Estimates of the numbers of Palestinian Arab refugees created as a result of the conflict range from 600,000 to 850,000. The refugee crisis came as a result of the war, and there was no deliberate, coordinated Jewish policy to expel the Arabs. In the absence of a peace agreement, those Palestinian Arabs who fled to neighbouring Arab states were not able to return.

What happened in the Six Day War?

In the years following Israel's establishment, pan-Arab nationalism gathered force under the leadership of President Nasser of Egypt. One of the main unifying features of Arab nationalism was hostility towards Israel and opposition to its existence. In May 1967, after a period of increasing tension, Nasser illegally ordered UN peacekeeping troops to leave the Sinai Peninsula which borders Israel, and replaced the UN troops with his own forces. The Arab states, led by Egypt, declared their intention to destroy the State of Israel. Israel mobilised its forces but delayed action in the hope that international mediation would defuse the conflict. When this failed to materialise, fearing an all-out assault, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on Egypt. Jordan and Syria joined the war on the Egyptian side. The War led to the occupation by Israel of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Old City, and the Golan Heights. Whilst the war was a military triumph for Israel, it created long-term challenges that Israel still deals with today. In the immediate aftermath of the war, Israel hoped that the Arab states would seek peace, in return for Israeli withdrawal from territory it had captured. Israel accepted the principles of UN Security Council Resolution 242, which proposed this ‘land for peace' formula. But in Septem- ber 1967, at a conference in Khartoum, the Arab League made its ‘three noes' declaration, rejecting peace, recognition and negotiation with Israel. As a result, Israel found itself in control of the Palestinian Arabs living in Gaza and the West Bank.

Israel – a beacon of freedom and democracy in the Middle East

Israel defines itself as a Jewish and democratic state, but in almost all aspects, Israel is a secular state, and freedom of religion is respected. The vision of Israel's founders was an open and democratic state with a Jewish majority in which non-Jews would enjoy full and equal rights. The principle of equality for all citizens was enshrined in Israel's Declaration of Independence and is protected by Israel's Supreme Court. All democratic freedoms familiar to a Western democracy are present in Israel. The country has a vigorous and diverse free press, a very well developed and active civil society and a highly respected judicial system protecting individual rights. This is affirmed by the international freedom and democracy watchdog Freedom House. In Israel, women have achieved substantial parity at almost all levels of society. Representatives of Arab and other minorities play a full and active role in the state, including as ministers in the government, justices of the Supreme Court, members of parliament, senior academics, ambassadors, members of the civil service, and in the military. The Arab-Israeli conflict makes particularly difficult the relationship between the Jewish majority and the Arab minority, and between Israeli Arabs and the state. There are ongoing efforts by governmental and non-governmental agencies to overcome inequalities between Jews and Arabs in Israeli society.

Israel and Peace

Israel has repeatedly engaged in efforts to make peace with its neighbours based on the principles of land for peace. Israel agreed to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in return for peace and recognition in 1979. Israel withdrew from Palestinian population centres in Gaza and the West Bank as part of the Oslo Accords with the PLO signed in 1993. It also made territorial concessions to Jordan as part of the 1994 peace treaty between the two countries. In 2000, Israel complied with Security Council resolutions relating to Lebanon by withdrawing all its forces from south Lebanon. In 2005, Israel withdrew uni- laterally from the Gaza Strip and part of the northern West Bank. Every Israeli government since 2000 has publicly committed Israel to the two-state solution as the best way to resolve the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. This solution, as defined by the Clinton parameters in December 2000, is a solution which results in, ‘the state of Palestine as the homeland of the Palestinian people and the state of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.' The principle of the two-state solution is that a Palestinian state will be created within the territory of Gaza and the West Bank, and will exist alongside and at peace with Israel. Re- peated polls indicate that a majority of Israelis and Palestinians accept this idea, though it involves difficult compromises on both sides. For Israel it means giving up control of territory in the West Bank which is of great his- toric, cultural and strategic importance for the Jewish people. For Palestinians it means accepting that the solution for the Palestinian refugee problem lies not in refugees returning to Israel but in returning to a new Palestinian state.

Why Boycott Calls Are Wrong

A boycott would do nothing to contribute to the advancement of a peaceful and just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Far from helping the Palestinians, a boycott would hinder the development of dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians on which prospects for future peace and security rely. The goal of peace depends on two sides, Israelis and Palestinians, working together with international support towards the mutual goal of a negotiated two-state solution. An environment of rejection and misdirected pressure targeted at Israel is counterproductive to an internationally- backed peace process premised on the development of mutual understanding and respect for both sides. An academic and cultural boycott, which has been promoted by various trade unions and other activists, contradicts the principles of scientific ethics and the open spirit of international cooperation between scientists, artists and others. It is particularly counterproductive to target Israel’s academic community, which has a proud record of promoting honest debate, criticism and self-examination within Israeli society. Israel’s universities have a significant Arab student intake and are important forums for interaction and cooperation between Jews and Arabs. Arab citizens of Israel have increasingly risen to high ranks within Israeli academia. Whereas Israel, an open and democratic state in which Jewish and Arab citizens enjoy equal rights, and which embraces free academic inquiry, has been threatened with a boycott, no other country is subject to such a campaign. Prominent Palestinian academics such as Sari Nusseibeh, President of Al Quds University in East Jerusalem, have been firm critics of the movement to boycott Israeli universities and academics. Similarly, an economic boycott cannot help the Palestinian people, whose future prosperity depends on creating an atmosphere of economic and political cooperation. Since Israel’s establishment, the Arab world has tried to use an economic boycott to isolate and weaken Israel economically, and thus make the state non-viable. Whilst Egypt and Jordan have direct trade links with Israel, most Arab states are reluctant to trade directly with Israel. The Roadmap peace plan specifically calls for the normalisation of relations between the Arab states and Israel, including the return of trade links.