Abuznaid is just one of a constellation of political activists who have long seen in Palestine one of the world’s most pressing examples of US-backed oppression. Since the 1960s, Black leaders have traveled to the region to see the occupation up close and build relationships with people resisting it. These trips, which some activists have called solidarity delegations, have popped up over the decades, all part of an ecosystem of activists and scholars who see freedom for Black people as inherently linked to the struggles of oppressed people around the world. A new generation of Americans are challenging longstanding US support for Israel and its war on Gaza. The New York Times found that 46 percent of young voters sympathize with Palestine, while 63 percent of older voters identify with Israel. Some activists credit these numbers to the work of Black and Palestinian resistance movements.
“The entire left owes a debt of gratitude to Black and Palestinian leaders.” says Stefanie Fox, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, a grassroots Jewish anti-Zionist group leading anti-war demonstrations around the country. “The power of what is happening in the streets is a testament to their alliance.”
In the aftermath of World War II, many Black leaders supported the creation of a Jewish state, seeing the pursuit of a Jewish homeland as analogous to their desire to establish a homeland for the African diaspora. (Malcolm X, one early exception, visited Gaza with the help of the Egyptian government in 1964). But the summer of 1967 challenged Black Americans’ support. The Six-Day War killed an estimated 20,000 Arabs and 800 Israelis, while Israel radically expanded its borders. Less than a month later, Harlem went up in flames as Black communities rebelled against the murder of a Black teenager at the hands of the New York Police Department. The summer of ‘67 went on to be known as the “long hot summer,” as hundreds of cities erupted over the deadly effects of police violence and segregation.
As the National Guard descended on American cities, some Black scholars and activists saw reflections of their unequal society in Palestine, scenes of which were flooding the news at the time. Some went to see the occupation and meet its resistors for themselves. Black Panther Party leaders Eldridge Cleaver and Huey P. Newton traveled to Lebanon and Algeria to meet with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1969 and 1980. Muhammad Ali, June Jordan, Jesse Jackson, Angela Davis, and Alice Walker followed their example, traveling to the West Bank and Lebanon to meet with Palestinians living under occupation and in exile.