It has been a year since the Palestinian resistance lifted its head and began the most brutal offensive Israel has committed to date. Unfortunately, the situation has worsened, as Israel has increased its offensive beyond the Palestinian lands, with new attacks on Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran.

Given this situation, there have been few initiatives in the Basque Country to promote solidarity with Palestine. But we have not yet been able to organise the response that the situation deserves. To do so, it is time to deepen this solidarity from the point of view.

In October 2023, different agents of the Basque Country created Solidarity with Palestine. With the aim of defending the right to resistance of the Palestinian people and denouncing the complicity of Western governments, companies and parties with Zionism.

For it is clear that Israel could not act with the impunity that it acts without the support of those actors. Therefore, solidarity with Palestine begins right here, because in Euskal Herria these difficulties are broad. At the corporate level, for example, CAF, which is building the ‘apartheid train’, or MTorres, which produces weapons for Israel.

But the role of the parties is also very visible:

The complicity of the Spanish government, led by the PSOE, is undeniable. Together with NATO, the Spanish Army has threatened the countries of the Middle East or authorised the arms trade with Israel in the midst of the genocide.

The PNV’s position was also clear in October 2023 in supporting the “right to defend in Israel”. This position is consistent with what it has held for years: for decades it has promoted trade relations with Israeli companies, including the acquisition of Israeli technology for the formation of the Ertzaintza.

The PSOE and the PNV are directly responsible for the massacre taking place in the Middle East.

In our view, it is also an essential part of solidarity with Palestine to point out to those parties that have complicity with Zionism. In order to support Palestine, we must point to the institutional parties that directly or explicitly support Israel. It is time to increase the pressure on them.

Thus, we consider it problematic to seek the accession of the Zionist parties to initiatives to support Palestine. On the one hand, they give encouragement to these aspects, because they can wash their faces without altering their real activity. And, therefore, because it limits solidarity in favour of Palestine, which makes it difficult to point out the complicit role played by those parties.

In our view, support for Palestine must necessarily be linked to the fight against Israel, and to this end we must point out to the institutions that support the Zionist entity, such as the institutional parties.

Manex Mailharin and Ines Agirreazkuenaga, members of Solidarity with Palestine.