Resisting Erasure — -Capital, Imperialism and Race in Palestine,
Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox, Rafeef Ziadah, Verso 2025
“Palestine is at its core a struggle against fossil capitalism — and the extraordinary battle for survival waged by Palestinians today…is inseparable from the fight for the future of the planet.” (97)
At only 97 pages this book is an important contribution to debates on Palestinian liberation. It argues for a reframing of how Palestinian supporters see the issue. It dispels several myths from an anti-imperialist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist viewpoint. The authors feel that these myths result in the erasure of Palestinian liberation.
The authors do not attempt to convert Zionists or even people neutral on the issue. Instead, they strengthen the understanding and arguments of the pro-Palestinian side. Criticizing false perspectives they say:
“such perspectives are not exclusively held by those opposed to or indifferent to Palestine; they can also surface, albeit inadvertently, among those seeking to act in solidarity.”(6)
The authors see the oppression of Palestine as an example of capitalist imperialism and colonialism. They reject the idea that ancient religious differences are at the root of the conflict.
Is Palestine just a question of human rights?
Likewise, they disagree with the human rights/humanitarian lens because:
“it cannot explain the persistence of the violence beyond the ideological extremism of Israeli leaders or specific right-wing parties. It fails to account for why this violence is systemic and why it continues decade after decade regardless of which Israeli party or prime minister is in power.” (4)
The book further rejects the humanitarian framework because it:
“tends to depoliticize the Palestinian struggle and leave a major question unanswered: why do Western states continue to back Israel unconditionally?”(5)
Related to the humanitarian framing is the reliance on international law that some activists accept.
“ international law tends to gloss over the vast asymmetry of power between the Israeli state and the Palestinian people… with both ‘sides’ treated with formal equal bearers of rights.”(5)
The International Law approach ignores the fact that both sides do not have valid equal claims to the land. The Israel is a colonial settler state based on the continual dispossession of the Palestinian people. Certainly, people interested in justice should support the colonized over the colonizer.
Class Dynamics of Colonial Settler States
The book contains an interesting discussion on the class dynamics of settler states. It uses this to explain why the Israeli Jewish working class supports Zionism and will not be a major force in Palestinian liberation:
“this class was typically deeply invested in the survival of the settler-colonial capitalism. (11)
This insight on the Israeli working class is vitally important. Too many on the left tailor their politics to winning over a class that is committed to Zionism. For some, this orientation to Israeli workers leads to rejection of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) which they worry will alienate workers. This rejection weakens the struggle against Zionism.
As interesting as the book’s discussion of settler-states is, it needs to be expanded for better clarity. The authors lump Israel in with other states that started out as settler-colonies: the U.S., Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The authors do not clarify if their analysis of the Israeli working class extends to these other states as well. That issue is of key strategic importance to pro-Palestine activists in these states and needs to be spelled out.
Class Divisions in Palestine
The authors also argue that there are important class divisions within the Palestinian population.
“Palestinian merchants…distribute Israeli produced commodities in the occupied territories, but these …also collaborated politically with the Israeli military. A complex military-bureaucratic apparatus emerged that tied a layer of the Palestinians to the Israeli military occupation.” (39)
The Material Basis of the Oppression of Palestine
The authors elaborate a material basis for the oppression of Palestine in the rest of the book. This basis is the imperialist domination of the Middle East for oil and the use of Israel for defending imperialist domination. They argue against
“obscuring the essential link between the dispossession and fracturing of Palestinian society and the dynamics of the wider Middle East region.” (6)
“The U.S. continues to back Israel because “Israel emerged as the chief bulwark of U.S. interests in the Middle East”.(25)
The Oslo “Peace Process”
The book has an excellent chapter on the Oslo Accords and their aftermath. The authors explain how the “peace process” did not bring peace, equality or liberation. Setting up the Palestinian Authority as a subcontractor of Israel strengthened Zionism and the U.S. position in the Middle East. This process continues today with the U.S. trying to integrate the Gulf states with the Israel/U.S. block through the Abraham Accords. This relies on normalization of Israel.
“ acceptance of its (Israel’s) legitimacy and existence has become a prerequisite for demonstrating the country’s willingness and ability to become ‘civilized’.. all the states to have formally embraced US-led normalization with Israel — …deploy the language of ‘security’ a ‘anti-terrorism’ to manage their own populations.” (77)
This connection of support to Israel and anti-terrorism reinforces repression against the Palestinian movement in Europe and the U.S. (80–81)
It is important for activists to recognize this connection and act in solidarity:
“Historically, anti-colonial struggles have been inseparable from the development of anti-racist and left-wing movements in imperialist countries — and this mutually dependent relationship has worked in both directions. To set up a dichotomy between freedom abroad and freedom at home is to weaken us all.” (83)
The Israel Lobby?
In stressing the economic, political and military reasons that the U.S. backs Israel, the authors make short shrift of the argument that the Israel Lobby is the source of that backing.
“The Lobby argument is an essentially a liberal one, which looks to the actions of an “interest group” to explain how states decide policies rather than approaching state institutions through their place in capitalism…these organizations .. are better thought of as a disciplining mechanism used to police and repress political movements and speech on Palestine.” (30)
This refutation of the Israel Lobby explanation for U.S. policy is important for the future of the Palestinian Liberation movement. Focus on the Lobby takes away emphasis from the forces that actually determine U.S. policy. It implies that a minor change such as removing the Lobby’s influence could fundamentally change U.S. support for Zionism. It diverts the movement from what should be its key task, challenging U.S. imperialism and capitalism. The emphasis on the Lobby also slides quickly and easily into antisemitism. This slide is wrong morally, but it also allows Zionists to attack the movement as antisemitic, weakening the movement’s support.
Anti-Palestinian Racism
Antisemitism is not the only form of bigotry related to Palestine. The authors also highlight racism against Palestinians. This is shown clearly in the ongoing differential treatment of the deaths of Palestinians compared to those of Israelis and Western citizens, especially whites. They note that race does not have a biological root. Instead “race is produced by racism.” (13) The need to oppress and displace Palestinians gives rise to racism to justify it.
“ the core institutions of contemporary capitalism were forged and shaped through a racialized confrontation with the rest of the world…racialized practices were systematized and became vital to protecting the interests of powerful capitalist states. In short, actually-existing capitalism is inconceivable without racism and vice versa.” (14)
This stress on racism is important. The authors present it as an ideological justification for the practices that the imperialists and Zionists are compelled by international capitalist competition to pursue. This flows from their materialist analysis.
However, they sometimes slip into seeing racism as the cause rather than the consequence of Zionist and imperialist actions:
“The racialization of the Palestinians enables the unbounded deployment of Israeli military force.”( 74)
Erasure
The authors argue that erasure of the Palestinians flows from the Oslo accords, normalization of Israel and especially the rejection of the right of return to Palestinians and their descendants. (93)
“normalization depends upon severing the fight for return from Palestinian politics, reducing refugees to a humanitarian issue.” (93)
Finally, the authors maintain that the issue of Palestine is crucial to forward progress for humanity as a whole:
“There can be no dismantling of the fossil order, nor any genuine Palestinian liberation without breaking apart these alliances. This is why Palestine is at its core a struggle against fossil capitalism — and why the extraordinary battle for survival waged by Palestinians today…is inseparable from the fight for the future of the planet.” (97)
This is a fascinating small book that will help sharpen the understanding of pro-Palestine activists!
