John Snowdon is an activist in Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Counterfire asked him about his recent visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

You were recently part of an international delegation from Stop the JNF Campaign. Why is the JNF significant?

We went to see the ‘facts on the ground’ and talk to some of those affected by the work of the JNF. I also used the opportunity to meet with comrades from trade unions and popular resistance organisations.

The Jewish National Fund, or Keren Kayemet LeIsrael as it’s also known, was created in 1901 to acquire land for the Zionist goal of a Jewish state in Palestine. Over here its image is of a benevolent, environmental organisation that works to “make the desert bloom”. The reality is that, directly and indirectly, it controls 93% of the land for the benefit of Jewish citizens of Israel.

It is complicit in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, illegal demolitions and land grabs. Israel wouldn’t be what it is today without the JNF: it is a central pillar of the state.

What does Stop the JNF Campaign aim to achieve?

The campaign was launched to highlight the role of the JNF in maintaining Israel’s system of colonialism, occupation and apartheid. The aim is to end the JNF’s role in stealing Palestinian land, displacing families and wrecking the environment in the process.

As part of the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions movement, we aim to raise awareness of how all Palestinians – citizens of Israel, those in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Palestinian refugees – are denied their human rights as the indigenous people of Palestine. Until those rights are fulfilled, organisations like JNF-KKL will face international public exposure and financial consequences.

So, for example, the JNF-KKL enjoys charitable status in the UK and in the US amongst others. We are campaigning for this to be revoked. EDM 1677, which is sponsored by Jeremy Corbyn, calls for this and has already got 59 signatures. So it does work to raise the issue with our MPs and the government.

I’d encourage everyone to go to http://coordin8.org.uk and fire a letter off to their MP asking them to sign EDM 1677. The pressure is having an effect: Cameron resigned as a JNF patron & Milliband and Clegg aren’t signing up either, which for an establishment organisation like the JNF is bad news.

You talked to Palestinian activists. What was their view of the unity deal between Hamas and Fatah?

I’m sure there will be many who welcome it but I didn’t meet any, so very sceptical to say the least! Neither party is trusted to deliver true justice for the Palestinians or seen as willing or able to admit that the “peace process” is a fallacy. This is especially true, I would say, among younger people who have grown up in a post-Oslo situation where the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is controlled by Fatah, is an instrument of Israeli occupation.

Some people are doing very well out of the occupation, with a lot of money sloshing around. Palestinian leaders are seen as remote from the daily lives of the people and while Hamas was once seen as a genuine alternative to the corruption & self-interest of Fatah, the proposed unity deal can be seen as a retreat.

So people are asking ‘what’s the political strategy here’? What will unity actually achieve in reality because “unity” cannot be an end in itself or only for the benefit of the Palestinian elite.

What about the Palestinian Authority’s bid for a United Nations seat?

In Ramallah’s al-Manara Square you can see the big blue UN chair, the symbol of the UN statehood bid – now, I suppose, the daily reminder of the failure of the PLO to achieve any breakthrough. Yes, it raised the issue of Palestine in the consciousness of the world a bit, and it highlighted the perfidy of the US and others who would have vetoed the bid in the Security Council anyway.

But my impression from talking to people is that what matters are “facts on the ground”. The UN Declaration of a Palestinian state wouldn’t have stopped settlement building or removed the apartheid wall or checkpoints. Can a series of Bantustans in the West Bank & Gaza really be called a state?

What did you learn about organising and resistance independent of the main established parties?

It is growing, it’s politicised, and it includes all sections of Palestinian society from trade unions and NGOs to political parties and grassroots organisations. And it will never give up! In 2005 civil society came together to issue the BDS call and it is one of the focal points of Palestinian resistance, together with the popular resistance committees across the occupied territories.

They organise despite, and because of, Israel’s colonialism: violence by settlers and their occupation forces, illegal detention and restrictions on movement, to name only a few ways Palestinians are subjugated.

How has the unfolding situation in the wider region – from Egypt’s revolution to Israel’s threats against Iran – affected the outlook of Palestinians you spoke to?

Palestinians I spoke to are deeply supportive of their Arab brothers and sisters struggling against neo-liberal policies, imperialism and the complicity of their autocratic rulers in maintaining US-Israeli hegemony in the region. Palestinians have fought this fight since 1948 and recognise that the enemy is the same.

So they take hope from Egypt and are willing the revolution to succeed, but realise that the counter-revolutionary forces are strong. Let’s not forget also that, whatever happens in neighbouring Arab countries, the Palestinian struggle against colonialism is supported by the vast majority of ordinary Arab people – directly elected governments should not believe that they can continue to support the US and Israel as they have done in the past while ignoring the will of the people.

Palestinians I talked to see Israel as the ‘belligerent’ state in the region, not Iran. They see Israel creating and thriving on conflict and instability in the region. Israel is a heavily militarised country, very arrogant and believes it can act with impunity, so they worry about the consequences.

What connections did you identify between Palestinians and the international BDS movement?

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions is really important because it’s a unified Palestinian-led movement, which says that their struggle is against Zionist colonialism, apartheid and occupation. This in turn articulates a set of demands based on international human rights and a strategy to create the circumstances in which those demands will be achieved.

It is a struggle which anyone who cares about justice can sign up to and actually do something about in their country, city, town or village. Palestinians I’ve met are acutely aware of the work that international solidarity organisations are doing outside of Palestine and appreciate that they are not alone in their resistance to a major colonial power.