I support the Palestinian struggle for liberation because of multiple reasons. I will name some of those here, not all of them because that would take all day.

First, as a queer, working-class person in the US, I understand the dynamics of oppression based on sexual orientation and class, and I identify strongly with people who are disenfranchised from normative flows of privilege (whether that is class, race, gender, ability etc).

The Palestinian people living in the West Bank and Gaza are a stateless people - left completely in legal limbo by the international community. The Oslo Accords - the "peace process" of the mid-90s - was a disaster for the Palestinian people - leaving the Zionist and exclusive state of Israel almost complete hegemony in the region and billions in US aid for weapons and economic prosperity. The Palestinian people got paternalistic statements about controlling militants - despite the fact that Israel specifically and en masse targets civilians and that the death rate is often 1 Israeli killed for every 30 or 40 Palestinians.

Second, in looking at the history of the state of Israel, we find Western Imperialism written into the very genesis! Israel - founded by the US and the UK in the aftermath of the holocaust committed its own holocaust, ethnically cleansing the local Palestinian people from their homes, villages and towns - often using lethal force. The creation of Israel was a direct response to the Soviet Union - the US and UK wanted to establish a client state in the region capable of countering the USSR. And Zionists who founded Israel clearly are racists - as is the state - wanting to maintain a "Jewish democracy" - what an oxymoron - a "democracy" based on the exclusion of people because of their race. In order to maintain this exclusive democracy - like Jim Crow or South Africa - Israel has banished the Arab-Palestinian population into two ghettos: the West Bank and Gaza Strip, two impoverished regions with no voting rights in Israel and no support from the international community.

The issue is not complex to me - Israel is a tool of the Western, white, system of imperialism, and the Palestinian people are simply in the way.

I didn't go in depth, but I hope that this proves helpful. One other thing to note is that Hamas is the only democratically elected government in Arab world, even after being opposed by Israel and CIA in a concerted campaign to ensure a victory for the US-backed Fatah party. The people of Gaza voted based on hope and not fear - I respect that, and I fully support Hamas and its use of force against the state of Israel.

In Unity,

Tony