Norman Finkelstein: “Why I resigned from the Gaza Freedom March coalition”
I joined the coalition because I believed that an unprecedented opportunity now exists to mobilize a broad public whereby we could make a substantive and not just symbolic contribution towards breaking the illegal and immoral siege of Gaza and, accordingly, realize a genuine and not just token gesture of solidarity with the people of Gaza. In its present political configuration I no longer believe the coalition can achieve such a goal
By Norman Finkelstein on Sunday, September 6th, 2009 - 446 words.
The original consensus of the International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza was that we would limit our statement to a pair of uncontroversial, basic and complementary principles that would have the broadest possible appeal: the march to break the siege would be nonviolent and anchored in international law. I agreed with this approach and consequent statement and decided to remove myself from the steering committee in order to invest my full energies in mobilizing for the march.
During the week beginning August 30, 2009 and in a matter of days an entirely new sectarian agenda dubbed “the political context” was foisted on those who originally signed on and worked tirelessly for three months. Because it drags in contentious issues that — however precious to different constituencies — are wholly extraneous to the narrow but critical goal of breaking the siege this new agenda is gratuitously divisive and it is almost certain that it will drastically reduce the potential reach of our original appeal.
It should perhaps be stressed that the point of dispute was not whether one personally supported a particular Palestinian right or strategy to end the occupation. It was whether inclusion in the coalition’s statement of a particular right or strategy was necessary if it was both unrelated to the immediate objective of breaking the siege and dimmed the prospect of a truly mass demonstration. In addition the tactics by which this new agenda was imposed do not bode well for the future of the coalition’s work and will likely move the coalition in an increasingly sectarian direction.
I joined the coalition because I believed that an unprecedented opportunity now exists to mobilize a broad public whereby we could make a substantive and not just symbolic contribution towards breaking the illegal and immoral siege of Gaza and, accordingly, realize a genuine and not just token gesture of solidarity with the people of Gaza. In its present political configuration I no longer believe the coalition can achieve such a goal.
Because I would loathe getting bogged down in a petty and squalid public brawl I will not comment further on this matter unless the sequence of events climaxing in my decision to resign are misrepresented by interested parties. However I would be remiss in my moral obligations were I not humbly to apologize to those who, either coaxed by me or encouraged by my participation, gave selflessly of themselves to make the march a historic event and now feel aggrieved at the abrupt turn of events.
It can only be said in extenuation that I along with many others desperately fought to preserve the ecumenical vision that originally inspired the march but the obstacles thrown in our path ultimately proved insurmountable.
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Norman Finkelstein
Norman is one of the most important scholars in the field of the Israel-Palestine conflict and Holocaust studies. His international bestseller the Holocaust Industry looked at how the memory of the Holocaust was being used to deflect criticism of Israeli state policy. His other works include Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict, and Beyond Chutzpah. He lives in New York City.
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very sad indeed.
you were the founder of that movement. to see you go is desappointing.
we will never know the whole story but as always with you we never know your next move.
i always thought that this initiative was too narrow. if one loose sight of the forest it is hard to help the trees.
the ulitmate goal should be the end of the occupation and an independent palestine..not
a simple focus on gaza..
Finklestein is a zionist hack. His counter-intuitive proposition that no Palestinians be involved is a testimony to his ego and the fact that he sees himself as some kind of messiah. I've been to a number of his talks where it is obvious that more important to him than fundamental palestinian rights is the adoring arab and muslim fans that he has. He will even go as far as to completely twist events to get a cheer from the crowd, when focusing on the fundamental rights such as the right of return would have been sufficient and not exposed his argument to accusations of cherry picking events. In my opinion he's just another undercover zionist.
Matt,
Can you give us some context why he quit and what is going on? For people outside the movement all of this is extremely vague and hush hush. Exposing what is behind the scenes, now that would be real journalism!
Maybe the cause is riddled with anti-semitism? Look at the picture of this blog
http://gaza08.blogspot.com/
After much pressure on the Gaza Freedom March organizing committee,
they altered their statement to acknowledge BDS, israeli military occupation
& palestinian civil resistance not apparent in their previous statement
a note:
the organizing committee in addition to barghouti & eid
are receiving many aggressive emails from zionists
due to this
6 out of 14 members of the organizing committee voted against the change of statment of context that did NOT previously include the most basic of rights of the Palestinians
one of them was norman finkelstein, who resigned from the organizing committee
Message from Barghouti & Eid
"Dear all,
We were just informed that the organizing committee of the Gaza Freedom March has finally adopted the statement of context that takes into consideration the key constructive suggestions expressed by both of us ( Omar Barghouti and Haidar Eid) weeks ago. We and the organizers of the March have reached an agreement whereby the Call will be posted with a clear reference to the statement of context, which clearly acknowledges that Palestinians have for over six decades been denied their basic rights that they are entitled to under international law, including the right of return, and the fact that Palestinian civil society has adopted Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) as one of its main civil resistance strategies against Israel’s occupation and other injustices.
Accordingly, we fully endorse the Gaza Freedom March call to action and statement of context, and we call on all supporters of international law, just peace and Palestinian rights to endorse them as well and to do whatever is possible to make this March a success.
A lot of work still needs to be done, clearly, to iron out organizational and logistical details, particularly to minimize the risks to the Palestinians in Gaza who will participate in this form of civil resistance; but these challenges can best be met by a wide coalition of enthusiastic, principled and well organized networks across the world, all coming together to make this happen. It can also happen if we all manage to convince world renowned figures to lead the March, as initially planned.
Omar Barghouti (Jerusalem)
Haidar Eid (Gaza) "
It is ridiculous this divide. It is all about egos. This whole thing should be the focus on ending the occupation. Who will benefit from this? Israelis who in the meantime continue the settlements etc…
Bargouti and Finkelstein are friends. Why don't they call eachothers and resolve this amicably.
". Finkelstein has shown real courage and made important scholarly contributions to understanding Zionism and the Jewish state. It is unfortunate then that even as he has repeatedly been a victim of Zionists, Finkelstein is himself functionally a Zionist of the Left-liberal persuasion.
He does untold harm to the Palestinian people and the justice and peace movement by peddling his 'softer' but disguised Zionism to his adoring fans in the cloak of "the international consensus," etc. This makes him much more dangerous to the Palestinian solidarity movement than people like Netanyahu or Dershowitz because so many folks are unable or disinclined to see past the impressive surface to the heart of Finkelstein's pro-Zionist discourse. As Malcolm X once said, "I'd rather walk among rattlesnakes, whose constant rattle warns me where they are, than among those … snakes who grin and make you forget you're still in a snake pit."
Copied from http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/09/07/2-views-…
Well said Joumana.
Finklestein, Chomsky, zygmunt bauman and others are all zionists in disguise. It's a fact that zygmunt though he proclaimed himself an "anti-zionist" moved and and taught in Israel after attacks on his credibility in poland. Chomsky himself was part of the zionist movement. We need to get these people out before they start doing more harm.
I remember growing up in Aparheid South Africa and watching the massacres on the news every night. Do you know who was dying? who was doing the killing? who was suffering the most? The ANC and the PAC, not the Apartheid government. They were constantly attacking each other but basically wanted exactly the same thing.
By calling Chomsky and Finkelstein Zionists you are fragmenting the movement and delaying the day Palestinians can be free. If you want ultimate justice for the Palestinian people good luck, you will be waiting a very long time because it will never happen. There IS an international consensus and it’s not exactly what Finkelstein believes in or Chomsky, or anyone. A consensus is not a complete an utter unity just a general direction that everyone needs to row in.
Whether Finklestein resigned for the right reasons (principles) or the wrong ones (his ego) or not, that is his right and he has been a greater friend to the cause of Palestinian liberation than probably any other US-based academic alive. Ismael, your comments are crass and do nobody any favours at all.
why did he ? :O i ddn't fully understand wt he meant by saying:
"an entirely new sectarian agenda dubbed “the political context” was foisted on those who originally signed on and worked tirelessly for three months"
who's behind this new sectarian agenda??
u mention names & proofs or else am gonna have to believe wt i hear from ppl like ismail&Joumana
i swear to God tht the moment i read the title"why i resigned" i expected tht it's a Zionist's(n it's bad aspect) organizations supporters or ppl(like u) "disguised" .Otherwise, prove something of what you have said above.
however i appreciate any efforts to support peace and the Palestinian case.i really want to believe you ,BUT we've knew a lot of angels tht turned out to be an Satans.So ..
I have commented by direct email.