Perhaps the most frustrating and insulting thing about speaking up for the oppressed Palestinians is that it is inevitable that pro-Israel, pro-occupation activists will smear you as an anti-Semite.We all know that this is a deliberate tactic to silence dissent and to “change the subject” away from talk of Israel’s abuses.  We also know that the pro-occupation crowd are themselves the real racists, because they believe that one ethnic group has a god-given right to dominate another.

In writing letters for PMW – or simply in day-to-day discussions with friends and co-workers about the conflict in Palestine – there are two simple means to preempt any accusation of anti-Semitism and to take the offensive for the Palestinian cause.

Here’s how:

(1)  Use of terminology:  Avoid referring to supporters of Israel and the occupation as “Jews,” “the Jewish lobby,” or “Jewish groups.”  Even though these terms are generally innocuous, and even though the pro-Israel groups like to claim that they speak for “Jews,” it is better not to use terms that refer to an entire ethnic group.

Instead, use terms like “pro-Israel, pro-occupation activists,” or “the pro-Israel lobby.”  Doing so makes clear that you don’t mean to attack Jews in general, and it also helps drive home the point that the pro-occupation groups don’t speak for all Jews.

(2)  Turning the Tables:  There’s no reason to be defensive about ethnic prejudice when it is the other side that has racist beliefs.  Thus, the following is a set of “yes or no” questions that you can incorporate into letters and use in debates.  The point of each is to put supporters of Israel on the defensive, and to make clear that they practice an ethnocentric belief system:

     (a)  Do you agree that Palestinians and Jews have an equal right to life, liberty, and property?

     (b)  Do you believe that a god deeded Palestine to one ethnic group, but not to the other?

     (c )  Do you believe that a state that contains two ethnic groups should be explicitly dedicated to only one of them?

     (d)  Do you believe that Israel should continue to grant Jewish immigrants from elsewhere instant citizenship, but that it should continue to deny Palestinian refugees an opportunity to return to their homeland?

     (e)  Do you believe that one ethnic group should be able to claim ancestral title to Palestine, even against other Semitic peoples who have lived there continuously for thousands of years?

     (f)  Do you believe that Israel should be permitted to expropriate Palestinian land for settlements and settlement access roads in the Occupied Territories, and for military and other uses within Israel itself?

     (g) Do you agree that as of 1880, the indigenous Jewish community of Palestine was small and that they lived in only four towns?

     (h) You concede that some 700-800,000 Palestinians fled during 1947-48, don’t you?  You concede that the Hagadah, Irgun, and Lechi attacked Palestinian cities that were outside the proposed UN Jewish state in the spring of 1948, don’t you?  You concede that the Arab states did not attack until after the Zionist forces had swept through and emptied out many Palestinian towns and villages, don’t you?