Anarchists & Fellow Travellers on Palestine

Graphic from ‘Endless Struggle‘, Summer 1989, Vancouver, BC

Also

Refusal/Desertion

No War on Iran

No War on Yemen


Intro

Anarchists have never had a unified stance on Palestine and Zionism.

Some of the Jewish anarchists who opposed Zionism from early on in anarchist history didn’t do so out of any concern whatsoever for the Palestinian people or their oppression at the hands of Western imperialists, but rather due to a generic anti-nationalism solely concerned with Zionism being detrimental to the Jewish people and the broader international working class (minus Palestinians.)

This led to incoherent situations such as Emma Goldman, who had published an anti-Zionist text already in 1906, turning around in 1938, using Zionist mythology and John Locke’s colonial theory of property to justify land theft, as she claimed that Jewish settlers had gained rights to Palestinian territory since they had “tilled the soil … reclaimed wastelands and … turned them into fertile fields and blooming gardens.” And then Sam Dolgoff, in 1986, supporting the claim made by his Israeli comrades that “Israel must be defended” from the Arab states.

On the other hand, Jewish anarchists such as Marcus Graham and Albert Meltzer, non-Jewish anarchists such as Camillo Berneri and Vernon Richards, and their fellow travellers like Reginald Reynolds correctly identified British imperialism and Zionist oppression of Palestinians as factors of crucial importance, along with nationalism. Of course, American imperialism has long since taken over the leading role from Britain in the region.

Anarchist incoherence around Palestine and Zionism should come as no surprise, however, since European and Euro-American anarchists don’t have a perfect track record when it comes to Indigenous peoples and settler colonialism in general.

The most prominent early anarchists and proto-anarchists, William Godwin, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Mikhail Bakunin all wrote racist comments about Indigenous peoples. Later anarchists like Peter Kropotkin and Jean Grave threw the Indigenous peoples living under French, Belgian and British colonialism under the bus once the First World War broke out. Many early American anarchists openly revered the slave-holding colonial official Thomas Jefferson, who blatantly advocated the elimination of Indigenous peoples as peoples.

Universalism, however well-intentioned it may be, is no ready-made automatic solution to the particular, and Palestine today perhaps shows this more clearly than anywhere else. An attention to the specifics of settler colonialism and its imperialist backing is needed, now more than ever.*

(It should be noted that not only Reginald Reynolds but also Mustapha Khayati, Lafif Lakhdar, Bassel al-Araj, and Fredy Perlman did not self-identify as anarchists, but could be considered fellow travellers, to one extent or another.)

-Ed., 2025


Articles/Excerpts (1899-2025)

“You want to send us to Zion? We do not want to go…”

Some Early Anarchists on Zionism: From Bernard Lazare to Emma Goldman (1899-1939)


“Were the retrogressive ideas of the Jewish Nationalists ever to materialize, the world would witness, after a few years, that one Jew is being persecuted by another.”

National Atavism, from Mother Earth (1906)


“Like a wild cry across the world and like a barely whispering voice in our innermost being, a voice inevitably tells us that the Jew can only be redeemed at the same time as humanity and that it is one and the same: towards the Messiah in exile and dispersion to wait and to be the Messiah of the nations.”

Are These the Words of a Heretic?, by Gustav Landauer (1913)


“Yet, England has in Palestine a base for expansion into Asia Minor and will not give up its policy of protection for Zionism.”

Bloodied Palestine, by Camillo Berneri (1929)


“On the contrary, the greater and stronger the violence grows, the greater our responsibility and duty grows to find the correct cause and determine our diagnosis.”

Yiddish Anarchists’ Break Over Palestine, introduced and translated from the Yiddish by Eyshe Beirich (1929/2024)


“It is a mere colony ruled over by British exploiters and rulers.”

The Arab and Jewish Ordeal in Palestine, by Marcus Graham (1936)


“Muslim nationalism tends to emancipate itself from the English yoke. They have ample reasons.”

Blood in Palestine, by Solidaridad Obrera (1936)


“Our internationalist thinking, one hundred percent, induces us to pose the problem of the colonies.”

The Right of Peoples to Determine Themselves, by Solidaridad Obrera (1936)


“We must dictate to Madrid unambiguous declarations announcing the abandonment of Morocco and the protection of Moroccan autonomy. France would anxiously envisage the possibility of insurrectionary repercussions in North Africa and in Syria; Great Britain would see the movements for self-rule in Egypt and among Arabs in Palestine growing stronger.”

What Can We Do?, by Camillo Berneri (1936)


“However, apart from once more exposing Mussolini as the opportunist par excellence, the events in Palestine once more shows that all imperialisms, whether they be democratic or totalitarian are ruthless.”

Terrorism In Palestine: “Democracy” at Work, by Vernon Richards (1937)


“The Arab demand for independence is far from vague in its significance… And we further add that Zionism will not solve the Jewish problems.”

Palestine: Idealists and Capitalists, by Vernon Richards (1938)


“In plain words, a pact was formed during the War between British imperialism and Jewish nationalism, of which the Arabs were to be the victims.”

Palestine and Socialist Policy, by Reginald Reynolds (1938)


“In point of fact I have for many years opposed Zionism as the dream of capitalist Jewry the world over for a Jewish State with all its trimmings, such as Government, laws, police, militarism and the rest.”

Emma Goldman’s Views on Palestine and Socialist Policy (1938)


“‘Finding is keeping’ is a good motto for conquistadores and imperialists, but not, I should have thought, for Anarchists.”

Reg. Reynolds Answers Emma Goldman on Palestine (1938)


“The struggle must be against Imperialism first, against Zionism secondly, and lastly against the bourgeois nationalist government when created.”

Anarchist Tactic for Palestine, by Albert Meltzer (1939)


“The case of Palestine is an up-to-date instance of imperialism and its logical consequences.”

The “Advantages” of British Imperialism, by Reginald Reynolds (1939)


“…having studied the correspondence — I consider the Arabs’ case to be indisputable, the alternative proposition, which is that our promises were ambiguous, is hardly to our credit.”

Conspiracy on Palestine, by Reginald Reynolds (1941)


“But it may be asked, can this particular problem wait? No problem can wait.”

Palestine and the Jews, by Albert Meltzer (1942)


“The Arab workers of Palestine have not yet accepted British rule…”

The Lebanon Crisis, from War Commentary (1943)


“Zionism has become reactionary because instead of being a scheme for immigration, as many at first thought it would be, it became a scheme for colonization, and therefore of imperialism.”

Zionism, from War Commentary (1944)


“…I sold my individuality, part of my life, my skill with arms; and also was expected to commit murder if asked to do so (Palestine Rebellion, 1936).”

Ten Years a Soldier, from War Commentary (1944)


“Those who imagine that racial laws are exclusively something German or South African have yet to come across the most peculiar racial laws of ‘our’ mandate, Palestine.”

Fine Day For The Race, by Albert Meltzer (1947)


“On the other hand, there is no doubt that the majority of Zionists regard the Arabs in the same way as other colonisers have regarded other ‘native inhabitants’…”

Palestine, by Albert Meltzer (1948)


“As the earliest Anarchist criticisms of Zionism said — a new nationalism could only create a State and this would become more reactionary, as witness the decline of Italian nationalism into fascism.”

Middle East Notes: Civil War, from Freedom (1948)


“It is outrageous that the British should add to the sufferings of Jewish refugee immigrants; and it is outrageous that Arab families should be rendered homeless by the partitioning of disputed territories.”

The Israeli Crisis, from Freedom (1949)


“In the face of such obvious Machiavellianism, who is going to claim that the last war was fought for the liberation of Europe from such evils as anti-Semitism?”

Should We Defend Democratic Rights?, by Albert Meltzer (1951)


“The whole point was that in re-drawing the boundaries of Turkish possessions, they wanted an ‘Ulster’ in Palestine and the ‘Jewish Nation’ within a mandated territory suited them very well.”

Chaim Weizmann and Israel, by Albert Meltzer (1952)


“But something must be done, for as long as the recurrent desire for Arab unity struggled with the political and economic handicaps the West had left them with, anything might happen to the precious oil supplies — even the dreaded Communism.”

A US Victory in the Middle East?, by Anne-Marie Fearon (1967)


“The Palestinian question is too serious to be left to the states, that is, to the colonels.”

Two Local Wars, by Mustapha Khayati (1967)


“Can the most lucid elements of the resistance assume this historical role in the ordeals that the masses must pass before their hangmen-teachers in Amman, Lebanon and elsewhere?”

Waiting for the Massacre, by Lafif Lakhdar and Mustapha Khayati (1970)


“Of course, saying that a country is democratic is not to say that it lacks aggression against others, or is a free society, least of all that it lacks police repression: all these things exist in Israel as in other democracies.”

Alternatives to Suicide, by Albert Meltzer (1981)


“My relative did make use of her experience years later, when she chose to be a rooter for the State of Israel, at which time she did not renounce her contempt toward the Quechuas…”

Anti-Semitism and the Beirut Pogrom, by Fredy Perlman (1983)


“Every oppressed population can become a nation, a photographic negative of the oppressor nation, a place where the former packer is the supermarket’s manager, where the former security guard is the chief of police.”

The Continuing Appeal of Nationalism, by Fredy Perlman (1984)


“Far from curtailing the concentrated power of the state, the necessity for defense of Israel — freely acknowledged by our comrades — depends upon putting into effect the indispensable military, economic, legislative and social measures needed to keep Israel in a permanent state of war preparation.”

Anarchists in Israel, by Sam Dolgoff (1986)


“The young Palestinians throwing stones at the Israeli army rightly have the sympathy and solidarity of comrades who see them in their just struggle for freedom from their colonial oppressors.”

Breaking out of the Ghetto, by Jean Weir (1988)


“As far as the Palestinian struggle is concerned, we must underline the importance of an insurrectional struggle that has been going on for over nine months, and which is putting one of the strongest armies in the world in great difficulty.”

The Palestinian Struggle Continues, from Insurrection (1988)


“As I watched, what were then daily news reports of the intifada on television, I saw the same brutal oppression of Palestinian rights as I saw in South Africa.”

Rasta time in Palestine, by Benjamin Zephaniah (1990)


“Once freed from the Turks, the Palestinian Arabs did not want to be dominated either by the English or the Zionist newcomers.”

Palestine, mon amour, by Alfredo M. Bonanno (1997)


“From the late 1980s anarchism was central to the politicized section of the punk movement and to army refusal and evasion during the first Palestinian Intifada.”

Anarchism in Israel and Palestine, by Uri Gordon (2009)


“…the obligations and duties of the state became a burden on the back of the revolution, at the expense of liberation.”

Dismantle it and let them fall, by Bassel al-Araj (2012)


“This book is dedicated to the memory of our fallen Palestinian comrades in the popular struggle against the occupation.”

Anarchists Against the Wall: Direct Action and Solidarity with the Palestinian Popular Struggle (2013)


“Canadian police train alongside Israeli state security forces, and have been deployed in numerous imperialist military operations globally.”

Canadian police connections with Israel colour responses to Palestinian solidarity, by Jeff Shantz (2023)


“From the side of the global system, we have witnessed so much atrocity and ugliness this past week. The United States sent the ‘Gerald R. Ford’ — the biggest warship ever built — and the UK deployed their royal navy ships to support Israel in the genocide it is committing.”

From the Galilee to Gaza: A Voice from Palestine, edited by CrimethInc (2023)


“Black Rose / Rosa Negra (BRRN) reached out to Fauda, a small group centered in the West Bank that identifies itself as a Palestinian anarchist organization, to get their perspective on the current struggle.”

Voices from the Front Line Against the Occupation: Interview with Palestinian Anarchists, by Black Rose / Rosa Negra – International Relations Committee (IRC) (2023)

(See also: Fauda texts at the Anarchist Library)


“For more than 75 years, Palestinians have been waging a liberation struggle against Israel’s settler-colonial project in and outside of Gaza.”

Stop the Genocide in Gaza! End the War on Palestine!, by the Black Rose / Rosa Negra International Relations Committee


“In response to their world class embarrassment, the colonial state seeks a hundred eyes for an eye, thousands of teeth for a tooth and wages an open campaign of extermination against the Palestinian population they hold captive.”

Salish Sea Intifada: Notes On Expanding the Struggle for the Liberation of the Palestinian People (2023)


“But the liberation of Palestine also requires breaking the back of Western Imperialism.”

Workers’ Power Against Genocide: Fighting for a Free Palestine, by Geelong Anarchist-Communists (2023)


“We will not pat ourselves on the back and invent victories, especially not when we look at the genocide before us.”

The Boat That Wasn’t Blocked, by anonymous (2023)


“…in the face of the latest barbarity unleashed by Israel upon the Palestinian population, two anarchist-communist organisations in Europe have taken stances that amount to either passivity or tacit endorsement of genocide.”

Palestine, Platitudes and Silence, by Tommy Lawson (2023)


“Our grief can go to anyone. Our solidarity must go to the oppressed.”

An anarchist critique of die Plattform’s statement on the October 7th attacks and the ongoing genocide in Palestine, by Jack, Carl & Pietro (2024)


“Since before the establishment of the Israeli state, Israel has been a racist, colonialist society, premised on the notion that Israelis are fundamentally superior to Palestinians.”

Human Rights Discourse Has Failed to Stop the Genocide in Gaza, by Jonathan Pollak (2024)


Graphic from Veterans Against the War (2024)

“Aaron will live forever. I know this, because everyone who was loved by Aaron will carry a bit of him in their soul, and everyone who witnessed his sacrifice will carry him in their minds.”

Memories of Aaron Bushnell as Recounted by His Friends, edited by CrimethInc (2024)


“[Aaron Bushnell’s] death is already drawing unprecedented attention, at new levels, to the cause of Palestinian liberation, and likely to anarchism as well.”

Or Just Say Nothing: A Response to CrimethInc.’s Initial Statement on Aaron Bushnell, by anonymous (2024)


“This text goes a little way towards sketching anarchist perspectives on this historical and political conflict.”

Emma Goldman and Reginald Reynolds on Palestine: Some notes on anti-Semitism and Zionism before World War Two, by A. W. Zurbrugg (2024)

(Editorial note: To my knowledge, Emma Goldman was never the editor of Spain and the World, only a contributor, its actual editor being Vernon Richards and its publisher being Lilian Wolfe, contrary to Zurbrugg’s claim. -Ed.)


“The beginning of every revolution is an exit, an exit from the social order that power has enshrined in the name of law, stability, public interest, and the greater good.”

Exiting Law and Entering Revolution, by Basel al-Araj (translated 2024)


“Now, seven months into the genocidal war waged by Israel, there is not a single college or university left standing in Gaza.”

May Day 2024: Remembrance Through Action, by the Black Rose Anarchist Federation (2024)


“The Palestinian solidarity campaign has also brought broader attention to the Australian war industry.”

May Day Statement 2024, by Geelong Anarchist Communists (2024)


“We discuss the organisations built by Palestinian workers, the 1936-39 revolt, and a number of joint strikes by Arabs and Jews which happened against the backdrop of rising tensions which culminated in the ethnic cleansing of the Nakba.”

Class Struggle in Palestine, by the Working Class History podcast (2024)


“The chief goal is the mass slaughter of children, targeting Gaza’s future. Of the 41,000 deaths reported thus far, about 16,500 are children.”

Ya Ghazze Habibti—Gaza, My Love: Understanding the Genocide in Palestine, edited by CrimethInc (2024)


“He [Aaron Bushnell] had not been passive in the first place, so he was not breaking from his passivity, he was breaking from his complicity, as he himself told us.”

Clarity Contra Complicity, by K. C. Sinclair (2025)


“…there can be no revolutionary defeatism for Palestinians as long as Israel invades and occupies their lands, nor, for that matter, for Ukrainians with regard to Russia’s invasion and attacks.”

Anarchism and Revolutionary Defeatism, by K. C. Sinclair (2025)


“The war profiteers, the main partners of neoliberal capitalism, impose death on those below, while they become richer with the investments of their States.”

War Between States Means Death for the People, by Latin American Anarchist Coordination and Black Rose/Rosa Negra (2025)


“Israel’s assault has mobilised one of the largest mass movements in recent Australian history and there is now unparalleled international support for the Palestinian cause. But despite this we still weren’t able to stop it.”

Australia: A Willing Accomplice to Genocide, by Picket Line (2025)


“Since October of 2023, Israel has been launching numerous attacks against Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria, in addition to Iran.”

The Downward Spiral of Militarism, by K. C. Sinclair (2025)


Excerpt from Nino Napolitano’s ‘La Rivolta Degli Arabi’ (1929)

“To us, the fate of the Arabs persecuted by the infamous usurper calls us to protest, equal to that which we were called against the imperial Little Father for the pogroms against the Jews. Certainly, indeed surely, behind the Arab people who pay the price for their irreducible idea of autonomy, there will be those who caress a wish for domination; but as people we feel the need to protest against the infamous [British] Empire that persecutes and starves them.”

Nino Napolitano, La Rivolta Degli Arabi, L’Adunata dei Refrattari, Oct.5, 1929, Newark


Excerpt from Albert Meltzer’s autobiography, ‘I Couldn’t Paint Golden Angels’, and his chapter, ‘Bounty on the Mutiny‘ (1996)

“The [British] Army [in 1947] was in a virtual state of war with the Jews in Palestine when Ernest Bevin, having stated firmly he was determined to hold on to the colonial mandate, suddenly abandoned it in the face of terroristic attacks by a section of Zionists. The [British] forces, who had no real interest and no ideological excuse for being there, were totally disillusioned with the whole set-up. There were anti-semitic songs going round about ‘The holy but now hostile land’. It did not affect us, now in Moascar [Egypt], except that a group of deserters known as the Schofield Gang were active buying and selling arms, while in Cairo itself many local Jewish agents were buying arms from Egyptian and British soldiers alike and smuggling them over.

I did my best to persuade people not to become involved. For a few quid it wasn’t worth it, though very tempting for soldiers who had been rebuffed for years or whose services had been devalued by detention.”

Albert Meltzer, 1996


Clipping from Open Road, ‘West Bank Youth Keep it Up’ (1988)

(Click on the image to enlarge)
Vancouver’s Open Road anarchist journal reprints (under a different title and with different photos) ‘The Struggle in Palestine‘ from Insurrection: Anarchist Magazine, 1988, London, UK

Other (non-anarchist) texts on Palestine

Zionist Colonialism in Palestine, by Fayez A. Sayegh (1965)

Settler Colonialism in Southern Africa and the Middle East, by George Jabbour (1970)

The Class Nature of Israeli Society, by Haim Hanegbi, Moshé Machover and Akiva Orr (1971)

Palestine’s Struggle, from FighT bAck (1975)

Palestinians and Native People are Brothers, by the Native Study Group (1976)

Solidarity with Palestinian and Lebanese Freedom Fighters, by Leonard Peltier (1982)

Israel and Guatemala: Arms, Advice and Counterinsurgency, by Cheryl Rubenberg (1986)

Holding the Green Line: Israel and Ecological Imperialism, by Les Levidow (1990)

Indigenous Intifada: Federal MP Compares Natives to Palestinians, by Native Youth Movement Victoria (2002)

Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native, by Patrick Wolfe (2006)

Architect of Apartheid: Canada’s Support for Israel Has Taken Many Forms, But Perhaps its Greatest Gift Has Been its Example, by Mike Krebs (2012)

Remember the Jewish Labor Bund?, by Alon Aviram (2012)

Israel’s Long History of Cooperation With Ruthless, Anti-Semitic Dictators, by Azriel Bermant (2018)

Solidarity with Palestine, from History is What’s Happening (2021)

Profiting from Terror in Cold War Latin America: Bishara Bahbah’s Israel and Latin America: The Military Connection, by Alexander Aviña (2022)

‘We Are All Palestinians’ in the Face of Colonial Fascism, by the Birzeit University Union of Professors and Employees (2023)

The First Week: Dispatch from the Palestinian Youth Movement (2023)

Statement on Palestine, by the Pinko Collective (2023)

A Textbook Case of Genocide, by Raz Segal (2023)

On Mourning and Statehood: A Response to Joshua Leifer, by Gabriel Winant (2023)

A Brief History of Canada’s Role in the Colonization of Palestine, by Umm Kulthum (2023)

A Future of Walls or Liberation, by Alexander Aviña (2023)

Canadian Military Buying $43 Million Of Israeli Missiles Used in Gaza Attacks, by Alex Cosh (2024)

Direct Action Confronts Canada-Israel Arms Trade, by Kirsten Francescone & Irene Suvillaga (2024)

It Turns Out Canada is Way More Dependent on Israeli Tech Than Vice Versa, by Tristin Hopper (2024)

Israel is Committing Genocide Across Palestine: Active Genocide Alert Condemning Ongoing Violence in the West Bank, by the Lemkin Institute (2024)

How Canada Helps Build Israel’s Fighter Jets, by The Breach (2024)

Three Genocides, by Eyal Weizman (2024)

A Response to Ben Burgis, by Lorenzo Veracini (2024)

Ghost in a Rhetorical Machine: Against the Reification of Artificial Intelligence, by Zhanpei Fang (2024)

‘Sometimes I wonder if I’ll come back’: Palestinian Birdwatchers Defy Danger to Scan the Skies, by Marta Vidal (2024)

U.S. Aid to Israel in Four Charts, by the Council on Foreign Relations (2024)

The Sea is Forbidden: Gaza’s Fishermen Remain Steadfast Against Israeli Attacks, by Belal Awad, Leonardo Erhadt and Ruwaida Amer (2025)

Treaty Responsibilities to Palestine, by Jessica Johns (2025)

Canada Under Contract to Supply the IDF with Artillery Propellant, by Kelsey Gallagher (2025)

Mapping How Israel’s Land Grabs Are Reshaping the Occupied West Bank, by Al Jazeera (2025)

A Nation Behind Bars: Why Has Israel Imprisoned 10,000 Palestinians?, by Mohamed A. Hussein and Mohammed Haddad (2025)

Israeli Fire Mows Down Starving Palestinians in Gaza as Hunger Deaths Surge, by Al Jazeera (2025)

The Humanitarian Crisis Facing 42,000 Forcibly Displaced Palestinians in the West Bank, by Zena al-Tahhan (2025)

Exposing Canadian Military Exports to Israel (2025)

The Unparalleled Devastation of Gaza: Why Punishing Civilians Has Not Yielded Strategic Success, by Robert A. Pape (2025)



Non-anarchist resources on Palestine and military refusal

Decolonize Palestine

Canada Palestine Association

Within Our Lifetime

Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

Companies Profiting from the Gaza Genocide, by the Action Center for Corporate Accountability

Jewish Voice for Peace

Matzpen

From Askiy to the Sea, by the Yellowhead Institute

About Face: Veterans Against The War

GI Rights Hotline


Also

Anarchists on National Liberation

Anarchist Anti-Militarism

Anarchism & Indigenous Peoples

Voices of Indigenous Women

Land Back

What is Fascism (What is Democratic Colonialism?)


Notes

“… each point acts upon the Whole (here the Universe is the resultant product); and the Whole acts upon every point (here the Universe is the Creator) … He who clings to the general and neglects the particular lapses therewith into metaphysics and theology — for the scientific generalization differs from the generalization in theology and metaphysics in that the former is built not upon an abstraction from all particulars, as is the case with metaphysics and theology, but, on the contrary, solely by relating the particulars into an ordered whole.”

Mikhail Bakunin, Philosophical Considerations on the Holy Ghost, the Real World and Man (1870)

“Only by uniting those two faculties, those two apparently contradictory tendencies — abstraction and attentive, scrupulous, and patient analysis of details — can we rise to a true conception of our world (not merely externally but internally infinite) and form a somewhat adequate idea of our universe, of our terrestrial sphere, or, if you please, of our solar system.”

Mikhail Bakunin, Federalism, Socialism, and Anti-Theologism (1868)