What Kinds of Coalitions Are Possible?

The Obama administration is likely to take the Issue of Israeli-Palestinian peace more seriously. All of the various actors realize this, leading to a burst of activity to rally one's troops. What kinds of efforts from grassroots lobbying groups are likely to have an impact?

First off, we need to chisel apart those who seek to have an impact on the actual political process from those willing to resign themselves to just playing protest politics. For example: knowing that a final agreement between Israelis and Palestinians will probably not include full recognition of the right of return, but might include some Israeli recognition of its historic role along with a number of refugees allowed to return under a ‘family unification' program, one can choose one of two options:

Constructive: Help educate the Jewish community that such a deal is in the best interests of Israel, to weaken the hawkish voices that seek to derail a peace agreement. Educate the public that this is an effort with committing energies towards, in the face of Republicans who want such an effort to fail. Lobby ‘on the fence' Congress folks to be supportive, or at least refrain from active opposition.

Pure Protest: Denounce the Palestinian leadership and claim it has no legitimacy. Bemoan the fact that Israel still gets to exist as a Zionist state. Promise that after a deal is signed, your group will continue to denounce past Israeli crimes as if nothing has changed. Go after the political left in this country to persuade them that a peace deal represents a victory for U.S. imperialism, rather than a long fought for success of the peace camp.

Of course, not everything will fall so neatly into one of these two categories. Some groups will decide to support a peace effort even as they admit its imperfections, and worry about the possibility of failure. This was the case for many people during the Oslo process, which did fail in the end.

All that being said, there are particular pressure points allowing for coalitions that bring together folks from more than one camp, and might even expand the camps beyond the usual suspects. Here's my list:

Support a more active U.S. voice against the settlements, with more strident statements about how Israel is guilty of allowing them to expand, how the status of all settlements is the same (illegal), and the necessity of compensating Palestinians with land in exchange for any territory carved out of the West Bank to allow some settlement blocs to remain in place.

Support more diligent and public monitoring of human rights by the United States, with an expansive view of what rights are being consistently violated and what the impact appears to be. Specifically, the U.S. needs to highlight the negative consequences of the checkpoints, the route of the separation wall, the culture of impunity allowing Israelis to harm Palestinians without consequences, and absence of effective family unification procedures, and more. In other words, a U.S. administration could be helpful by consciously exacting a higher political price for ongoing Israeli violations.

Selectively take away the 501c3 tax exempt status from some U.S. charities that funnel money towards settlers and settlement activity. Squeezing the legal and public space for support of illegal settlements can serve as a way of applying pressure, and indicating the future direction of U.S. policy. It's a very mild sanction which allows supporters of peace to sign on even if they want to remain ‘strong supporters of Israel proper.'

Request more money for Israeli and Palestinian organizations engaging in binational cooperation. There are many groups working on dialogue activities, human rights, development, environment, and other essential work. Right now Americans are spending billions for arming Israel, along with a smaller amount for arming the Palestinian Authority. Why not spend a measly $100 million for supporting joint activities?

This isn't a comprehensive list by any means. But supporters of peace around the world need to find the pressure points that make sense. So many groups come off as little revolutionary splinters devoted to nursing grievances forever, to probable zero effect on the ground. Ask the question: what coalitions are possible that can actually have an impact, and see what you come up with.