On Sunday 19th January, the Gaza ceasefire came into effect, finally ending 15 months or more of deadly nightmare for the people of Palestine, following the horrendous attacks on Israeli citizens by Hamas on 7th October 2023. On Wednesday 15th January, the day before the ceasefire was first announced Al-Jazeera reported that 46,707 Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli armed forces since October 7th 2023, after 1,100 Israeli citizens had been killed by Hamas on the dark day that triggered the latest round of bloodletting in that troubled land.
Whether the ceasefire can hold remains to be seen. And what comes next? Will there just be another round of recriminations, leading to another heartbreaking outbreak of hostilities? Or will another future develop instead; one which can see a safe and secure Israel, while at the same time Palestinians are allowed to live with all the dignity that should be the natural birthright of any human.
There are many organisations, which are working hard to that end. One of them is Standing Together.
Standing Together
According to its own website, “Standing Together is a progressive grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel against the occupation and for peace, equality, and social justice. We know that the majority have far more in common than that which sets us apart and only a tiny minority benefits from the status quo. The future that we want — peace and independence for Israelis and Palestinians, full equality for everyone in this land, and true social, economic, and environmental justice — is possible. To achieve this future, we must stand together as a united front: Jewish and Palestinian, secular and religious, Mizrahi and Ashkenazi, rural and urban, and people of all genders and sexual orientations. As the largest Jewish-Arab grassroots movement in Israel, we are committed to creating an alternative to our existing reality and building the political strength to make this transformation possible.”
This is surely the only sensible way forward out of the seemingly never-ending cycle of violence, which has now blighted generations of both Palestinians and Israelis, since the formation of Israel in 1948.
Standing Together is bringing people together in Israel, Jewish and Arab, Israeli and Palestinian, in their sorrow of what is happening and in their hopes of a better future. In doing so they are creating an alternative future.
Why is this important?
For any conflict to end, there has to be a time when people come together and stop seeing fellow humans as the ‘other’; and in doing so dehumanising them.
In his seminal 1999 book Humanity, Professor Jonathan Glover explores what turns a peaceful society into a broken, divided, death-filled place. As Glover says:
“The approach was to start from the moral resources we have. What, in everyday life, restrains people from doing horrible things to each other? Obviously, part of the answer is social pressures and the threat of legal punishment.” He then proceeds to show how those restraints are dismantled in certain circumstances and the worst side of humanity, in all its brutality and destruction is then unleashed. This has clearly happened both in the Hamas attacks of 7th October 2023 and the response from the Israelis.
Bringing people together, from what can be seen as opposite sides and deadly enemies and exploring their common humanity can be very powerful and life-affirming. It is also the first step towards peace and reconciliation, to a time when all people in the region, Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs, can finally get on with living fulfilled lives.
And in case anybody is reading this and not believing that such a situation is possible, I would gently remind them that similar cross-community grassroots work went on for years in Northern Ireland, largely ignored by the media, patiently laying the groundwork for the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 to be built upon. No conflict is inevitable. No conflict has to go on forever.
However, Standing Together is not merely a “coexistence” project. While bringing people together in shared spaces is a big part of what they do practically, their philosophy is not simply that if you get people together to talk to each other they’ll overcome their differences. Rather, they believe that both peoples can be mobilised to engage in shared struggle against power structures which, while currently privileging one people over the other, are ultimately in the interests of neither. Standing Together leaders sometimes talk about “co-resistance, not just coexistence” to encapsulate this idea.
The work of Standing Together
Standing Together is an Israeli organisation, which does an enormous amount of work in terms of demolishing barriers between Jewish and Palestinian people in Israel and in opposing the occupation and latterly the war in Gaza.
Standing Together has grown over recent years to incorporate a wide range of issues, techniques, and strategies. There are now eight regional chapters – Upper Galilee, Western Galilee, Yizrael Valley/Nazareth, Haifa, Triangle/Sharon, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Jerusalem, and the Negev; six student chapters – Ben-Gurion University, Tel Aviv University, Haifa University, Hebrew University, Sapir College, and Rupin College. There is also a nation-wide climate justice chapter.
Standing Together organise protests across the country demanding an end to the occupation, climate justice and economic equality. They also hold workshops on getting the vote out in elections and grassroots power and run candidates for student union elections. Additionally, Standing Together runs Rosa Media, an alternative media outlet, which produces Hebrew and Arabic podcasts highlighting underrepresented political perspectives, voices and stories from across Israeli society. Standing Together combat extremist voices and promote hope through a strong presence on Israeli social media.
Australian broadcaster ABC recently promoted a tour of Australia by two activists from Standing Together, one Jewish and one Palestinian, describing it as this: “It’s a time of deepening division in Australia over the Israel-Gaza war. Just this week, there’ve been attacks on synagogues in Melbourne and Sydney. But the efforts at dialogue persist, despite the challenges. Members of a Jewish-Palestinian organisation called Standing Together toured Australia recently. Two activists spoke to audiences about a future of peace and equality for all people in the region. ABC reporter Andi Yu went along to their event in Melbourne.” You can hear the broadcast here.
Responding to the war
Standing Together responded to the war in Gaza in a number of ways:
They held the biggest demonstrations calling for a ceasefire agreement and hostage deal since October 7th, drawing tens of thousands to the streets across the country.
They have organised public campaigns promoting partnership, solidarity and long-term peace, as well as the “importance of condemning the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel.”
They collected at least 400 trucks of food aid for people in Gaza from across Israel and also organised a humanitarian guard, bringing activists to the “Tarqumiyah checkpoint to guard aid trucks headed to Gaza from extremist settlers that come out to attack the trucks.”
Standing Together also opened 12 solidarity networks across the country, as soon as war broke out in October 2023. In these networks, over 5,000 Jewish and Palestinian activists took part in a wide range of actions promoting de-escalation and solidarity.
Standing Together has given practical support for those in Israel suffering discrimination as a result of the war and also supported students on campuses in Israel.
Friends of Standing Together in the UK
Standing Together has a network of supporters throughout the UK and a number of support groups, throughout the country, including a newly-formed group covering Northeast England. The group intends to offer practical support from our region for Standing Together in Israel, in their vital work of promoting peace and equality between people in and around Israel.
Now a ceasefire has finally come, the rubble needs to be cleared from the streets of Gaza and homes need to be rebuilt. But something else needs to be rebuilt; our common humanity, our understanding that we share so much, not least a fragile and vulnerable planet. It is time to rebuild.
For more information about Standing Together please click here.
You can learn more about UK Friends of StandingTogether here.
To register your interest in a potential NE group please send an email to editor@northeastbylines.co.uk with the header FOST
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