Today's Palestine suffers from a settler colonial project that has weaponized the Jewish identity to establish an occupation and apartheid system that is ethnically razing millions. Tomorrow's Palestine must be its antithesis: One secular and democratic state, for all its citizens. On November 7-8, 2025, the One Democratic State Initiative organized a political conference titled "Tomorrow's Palestine: One Democratic State for All Its Citizens" with the aim of progressing toward turning this decolonial vision into a political movement to coordinate the efforts of Palestinians and Jews, from Palestine and the diaspora, and allies globally. This was its concluding statement.
"The Coordinators' Committee of the One Democratic State Initiative would like to conclude this conference to push for efforts toward liberation and return to one democratic Palestine, at two levels: vision and efforts.
First, with regard to the vision.
The conference explained how the root issue is the settler colonial system in Palestine, and therefore how tomorrow's Palestine can only be one democratic state, for all of its citizens. This means that our vision, as Palestinians, anti-zionist Jews carrying Israeli citizenship, and allies globally, needs to be very clear.
First, we must be clear that we are not seeking middle ground between occupation and liberation. We do not seek equal rights or ending apartheid within a settler colonial system, or what some call democratizing Israel, or a binational state, or "Israel-Palestine". We work to dismantle the settler state that discriminates on the basis of identity, and establish its antithesis: a Palestinian state that views its society as citizens.
Second, we must not shy away from matters that some view as problematic. For example, the democratic state will extend citizenship to previous Israelis who have broken from from zionism, it will dismantle colonial privileges and prosecute those guilty of war crimes. This will cause a number of settlers to leave as is common in cases of decolonization. Also, liberation is not granted, it is claimed; and resistance in all its forms, including armed resistance, is an obvious right and a necessity.
Third, we must agree on this unified decolonial vision. In practice, this includes agreeing on a document that clarifies the basis of the vision. It is with this objective that the One Democratic State Initiative has worded the "Tomorrow's Palestine" declaration, which has been signed by around 25,000 Palestinians. We think it forms an excellent basis for a joint manifesto. We are of course happy to discuss modifications to it, or to formulate a new manifesto from scratch. What matters is to reach a common text that clearly expresses the vision for tomorrow's Palestine.
Second, with regard to efforts.
The current balance of power is not in favor of democracy. We should go on the offensive to change this. We propose two areas of work: Narrative warfare and political organizing.
First, narrative warfare. One Democratic State is not only a political vision, it is also a weapon of confrontation that delegitimizes the identitarian and racist foundations of zionism. We must normalize the question "A Jewish state or a democratic state?", impose it as the frame of any discussion on Palestine, be it by friends or foes, and forcing zionists in particular to position themselves relative to our vision for democracy, equality and liberation.
This also implies efforts to push the vision forward among Palestinian political and societal groups and figures. And it also includes helping allies to understand that being vocal about the Palestinian right to dismantle the colony and establish a democracy citizen is a decolonial stance.
The One Democratic State Initiative is already involved in this narrative warfare in its field work, media and social media efforts, and political relation-building in Palestine, Al-Sham and worldwide. We invite you to join our political organization or to coordinate efforts.
Second, political organizing. We call on individuals to join political groups, as opposed to individual work; on existing groups focused on reacting to the colony's actions or on means of pressure, not to stop their efforts, but to adopt a long-term political vision that guide their efforts; and on political groups to form fronts and alliances around that vision.
Today, it is clearer to many that colonialism is not limited to Palestine, it is a global structure. In Europe and America, zionists are allied with capitalist elites like the armament industry or social media giants. They are preventing proper democratic representation, stealing state resources to fund a colony abroad, and fragmenting societies with identitarian logic. This means that the efforts of our allies should progress from a moral stance of solidarity with Palestine to coordinated political work against a global colonial structure.
This means we need to be able to understand the balance of power shaping today's world. To help with this, the One Democratic State Initiative has prepared a set of analytical tools in the form of key political and societal concepts, available on our website. We have also launched a revolutionary educational program, named "Qadirun", which means "Capable". These aim to help build our individual and organizational capacity to enact radical change in our societies. We invite you to make the best of these tools and to help improve them.
This conference was not intended to be an academic or theoretical effort, but a political one that aims to build the capacity to affect the course of events. With a clear vision and organized political efforts, we will shape Tomorrow's Palestine into what it must be: One Democratic State, for all its citizens."
Click here to watch the recording of the conference.
Participating groups and individuals:
Awad Abdelfattah, Co-founder of the One Democratic State Campaign
Blake Alcott, Vice-Director of "One Democratic State in Palestine"
Craig Mokhiber, International human rights lawyer & activist; Former Senior UN Human Rights Official
Dr. Ghada Karmi, Author of "One State: The Only Democratic Future for Palestine-Israel"
Dr. Nelson Hadad, Former Deputy Minister of Defense and ambassador of Chile
Dr. Nicola Hadwa, International analyst and former head coach of the Palestinian national football team
Dr. Víctor de Currea-Lugo, Presidential Advisor on Middle East Affairs to Colombian President
Dr. Walid Zayed, Director of Political Education and Intellectual Formation at the Palestinian Confederation in Latin America (COPLAC)
Dr. Zachary Foster, Historian of Palestine and the Middle East
Haim Bresheet, Anti-Zionist historian, documentarist and film scholar
João Conceição, Member of Students in Solidarity with the Palestinian People and of Rebeldia Youth Organization
Juliette Samman, ODS Initiative coordinator
Lana Sadeq, Member of One Secular and Democratic Palestine
Martin Gak, Philosopher expert in ethics & religion, journalist
Mohamed Zraiy, ODS Initiative coordinator
Muzna Chihabi, Former Palestine Liberation Organization advisor
Nabil Mady Fayad, Secretary of Unión Palestina de América Latina (UPAL)
Ramzi Nasir, Director of "One Democratic State in Palestine"
Saman Hasan, ODS Initiative coordinator
Saul Takahashi, Former Deputy Head of Office of the UN Human Rights Agency in Occupied Palestine
Seth Morrison, Anti-Zionist activist and leader in Jewish Voice for Peace Action
Siman Khoury, President of Salvadoran-Palestinian Association and member of Palestinian National Council
Suheil Yassine, ODS Initiative coordinator
Tomás Epstein, Member of JudíesXPalestina
Vanina Biasi, Leader of the Argentine Workers' Party and legislator of Buenos Aires
Yoav Haifawi, One Democratic State activist, founder of blogs Free Haifa and Free Haifa Extra
