Over the past year, the Palestinian question has regained importance within European left-wing movements. But why does this conflict mobilize more, as much as it divides, on the left? Return to a story as rich as it is complex, and full of ambiguities.
The violence in the Middle East since October 7, 2023 has sparked numerous reactions around the world, including large movements for peace and occupations of universities in the United States and Europe unprecedented since the Vietnam War. This conflict largely occupies the forefront of the political and media scene, and it mobilizes certain left-wing movements much more than other conflicts that are just as deadly.
This increased sensitivity is above all linked to historical liabilities. Since the end of the 1940s, the history of Israel has been closely linked to that of different left-wing movements. And if this political family is today critical of Zionism, colonization in the West Bank and Israel's policy towards its neighbors, it was not always this way.
Because originally, the Labor movement was rather dominant in Zionism. Kibbutzim, self-managed work communities, were also seen as a left-wing success story. And the main center-left Mapai party, which dominated early Israeli politics, was a member of the Socialist Workers' International between 1930 and 1940.
After the Six Day War, Israel became the largest recipient of American aid in the world, and the myth of a small state defending itself was increasingly difficult to maintain.
“The Labor movement and European social democracy historically saw Israel as a form of forgiveness for anti-Semitism,” underlines Joseph Daher, visiting professor of political science at the University of Lausanne and specialist in the Middle East.
“And it even went further towards the radical left: Jean-Paul Sartre or Martin Luther King supported Israel. For its part, the USSR had accepted the two-state solution, influencing certain European communist parties. History communist parties in Europe on colonial issues, it's not always ideal,” he comments.
But things changed from 1967 and the Six Day War, when Israel attacked Egypt, Syria and Jordan and seized several territories, including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Jewish state is then gradually perceived as participating in American imperialism. “Israel then becomes the first beneficiary of American aid in the world and the myth of a small state which defends itself is increasingly difficult to maintain,” underlines Joseph Daher.
Armed groups initially Marxist
At the same time, “you have the emergence of the Palestinian resistance, very dominated then by left-wing groups, which is much less the case today”, he continues.
Indeed, the first armed struggle organizations for the Palestinian resistance, such as the Palestine Liberation Front (PFLP) founded in 1967, were mainly of Marxist persuasion, while Fatah, founded in 1959, claims to be secular workism.
In Lebanon too, the armed struggle was first expressed with the creation of the Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Fraction (FARL), an anti-imperialist Marxist organization co-founded in 1979 by Georges Ibrahim Abdallah.
The failure and repression of these movements subsequently contributed to the birth of Islamist parties opposed to the existence of Israel, with much more marked anti-Semitism. Hezbollah was founded in 1982 following Israel's invasion of southern Lebanon, while Hamas was created in 1987 after the first Intifada. Both parties subsequently received strong popular and electoral support.
Despite the rise of these armed groups on the ground, the European left continued to support the Palestinian cause, even if this support became more discreet in the 2010s, which were marked by profound changes within the parties. social democrats (read 1st boxed).
“The left has always been very present on the question of respect for international humanitarian law and respect for human rights, no matter where it happens,” underlines socialist States Advisor Carlo Sommaruga, tireless defender of the Palestinian cause in Parliament since about twenty years.
The left makes no exception on the Palestinian question. On the contrary, it is the right and the elites in Switzerland who have given Israel an exception to international law for decades
“But the particular element with Israel, a bit like with Turkey, is a proximity of values. Today, by the composition of its population and its history, Israel considers itself as part of the community of values of European States, and not of the States of the Middle East. So naturally, the voice is raised all the louder with regard to the violations of rights”, he explains.
According to him, the left is therefore not making “an exception” in the Middle East conflict. “On the contrary, it is the right and the elites in Switzerland who have allowed Israel to benefit from an exception to international law and the decisions of the International Court of Justice for decades”, as has also happened with Africa from the apartheid South (read 2nd box).
He concedes that at the time of apartheid as on the Palestinian question, the Socialist Party “was not the first mobilized” and that the protests rather came from citizen movements, notably the boycott.
The divided and discreet Socialist Party
And for good reason: the Swiss PS remains divided on the issue, as detailed by Carlo Sommaruga. “There is confusion between those who are very firmly committed to the fight against anti-Semitism, which is fundamental, and the defense of the State of Israel. And among those who defend Israel “There are a lot of problems with radically criticizing your government,” he laments.
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The Genevan, however, tempers: “The position of the PS appears in a resolution adopted at the February congress unanimously, with only one abstention out of 300 votes cast,” he says. At the end of October, PS delegates adopted two resolutions in which they called for an immediate ceasefire and respect for international law, as well as an arms embargo on Israel. Several delegates, however, criticized this posture of the party leadership, deemed “without courage”.
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“In Switzerland, federalism creates a division of political contexts, whether we like it or not,” observes political scientist Joseph Daher. “The French-speaking people look towards France and the German Swiss look towards Germany. However, it is not the same dynamic. In Germany, even Die Linke cannot hold a position on Palestine. And in French-speaking Switzerland, there has an accumulation of experiences on the Palestinian question for 20-30 years which have influenced the PS from below. There is more way to discuss.
Double standard
In 2019, the PS adopted a resolution in which it adhered to the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, which encompasses movements to boycott Israel. A boycott defended by Carlo Sommaruga: “I am perhaps the last parliamentarian to defend the boycott of Israel. I do it because, through my experience of the anti-apartheid movement, I am deeply convinced that it contributes to putting pressure on on a State which violates international law”, he defends.
“I would like the Socialist Party to be even clearer about its commitments,” he pleads. “We cannot raise our voices and demand the outright application of sanctions against Russia on the one hand, but remain in a purely declamatory condemnation with regard to the Middle East. Today, simply in Gaza which is less than 300 square kilometers, there are more civilian deaths, injuries and overall destruction than there have been in Ukraine.”
Pierre Jordan
