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THE PARAMETERS OF MAINSTREAM DEBATE

February 11, 2015

In Blog News

I-P FREELY

Advocacy for the international consensus two-state settlement is increasingly viewed, within the Palestine solidarity movement, as being somehow unambitious, conservative or even right-wing.

The European left has been fired up by the victory of Syriza in Greece and the political advances made by Podemos in Spain.

Syriza calls for a Palestinian state ‘on the 1967 borders‘. Podemos has yet to endorse a framework for settling the conflict, but its general secretary just signed an open letter demanding EU action to secure a peace ‘based on international law‘. Ireland’s Sinn Féin, meanwhile, calls for a Palestinian state ‘on the basis of the 1967 borders… as established in UN resolutions‘.

Immediate and consequential action to realise a two-state settlement based on international law and the international consensus – this position is to be found at the most ‘radical’, most critical end of Europe’s mainstream political spectrum. It represents, not the minimum, but the maximum we can aim for while remaining within the parameters of mainstream debate.