The Oscar-winning movie "No Other Land" documentary on the destruction of Masafer Yata was directed by two Palestinians and two Israelis. This led many to ask whether this was joint struggle or normalization, with conflicting and polarized opinions. When having debates like this, it is crucial to be clear about what we are talking about—what is normalization and what are its features?
First, what it is that we should not normalize? In one word: Settler colonialism, which is the essence of Zionism. Settler colonialism includes three main tenets:
1) Getting and keeping natives out, such as the Nakba and denying the right of return.
2) Bringing settlers in, which the colony does by granting citizenship to non-Palestinian Jews.
3) Segregating between settlers and natives within the land, from the colony's having different curricula for Jews and non-Jews to its genocide in Gaza.
None of these aspects should be normalized, or "treated as normal", either explicitly by justifying them or implicitly by failing to center them.
Rather than asking: "Does this involve working with Israelis?"
Ask: "Does this involve working with people who normalize settler colonialism?"
Rather than asking: "Did they criticize what the settler state is doing?"
Ask: "Did they question what the settler state is?"
Rather than asking: "Did they call for peace and love?"
Ask: "Did they make it clear that dismantling the settler state and establishing a democratic state was the path to peace?"
Rather than asking: "Did their speech mention Palestinian rights?"
Ask: "Did they normalize settler colonialism with 'two sides' rhetoric?"
Ask: "Did they normalize settler colonialism, occupation, apartheid and the genocide by failing to mention them?"
Ask: "Did they normalize settler colonialism by mentioning only the occupation and apartheid in the 1967 territories?"
Ask: "Did they normalize settler colonialism by criticizing only the Israeli government or regime rather than the settler state itself?"
And rather than asking: "But either way, isn't what happened good?", remember that even the genocide helped awaken millions to the horrors of the colony—Yet it can hardly be called "good". And remember that we are not art critics. We are not spectators that rate and review, but political actors. Our aim to organize to dismantle the colony. Although our political words and actions may include criticism of what others did, they should first and foremost be an action plan of what we will do to replace the racial settler state with a democratic Palestinian state. This is the struggle that we call on Israelis to join us in.
