If You Care About Building Inclusive, Just Economies, You Must Speak Up For Palestine

Over the last nine months, Gaza has witnessed a harrowing genocide, while the West Bank has faced increasing land grabs and violent settler attacks. This month, the International Court of Justice issued a historic advisory ruling finding Israel responsible of apartheid.

Yet amid powerful global demonstrations of solidarity with Palestine, the silence from some quarters — especially from professionals committed to combating fundamental injustices — is striking and disturbing.

For those of us who work in economic justice and community finance, we are trained to identify and tackle systemic inequities. But when it comes to the Israeli apartheid state, so many choose the safety of silence instead of standing on principle. By choosing to avoid disrupting the status quo, this sector inadvertently supports and perpetuates a cycle of violence and injustice. But those of us who work toward building more just financial systems to enable flourishing cities must stand at the forefront of advocating for Palestinian liberation.

As members of the Palestine Impact Collective, a new network of more than 70 professionals in the social finance space working to shift narratives and capital for Palestine, we believe that we cannot disentangle our work from Palestine.

Palestine is a highly urban place, with 74% of Palestinians being concentrated in dense urban centers such as Gaza and Ramallah. All those who are actively working toward building economic justice in cities should understand that Palestine is a microcosm of all the ills we combat in our sector. Just as marginalized urban communities in the U.S. and Canada face economic disparities rooted in systemic discrimination — gentrification and displacement, employment discrimination, wage gaps, the legacies of segregation and redlining — Palestinians have endured decades of occupation, displacement and economic marginalization enforced by discriminatory policies.

Land grabs and settlements

At its core, what is happening in Palestine is fundamentally about land. The dynamics of settler-colonialism, occupation and apartheid profoundly impact Palestinians’ access to, use of and claims to land.

Zionist settlers, backed by the Israeli government and Israel Defense Forces, are currently forcibly evicting Palestinian families, expanding illegal settlements, and seizing Palestinian land and resources. This year alone, Israel has illegally seized more than 9 square miles of West Bank land. These are violent land grabs backed by the Israeli government and IDF despite global condemnation. The land seizures in the West Bank this year alone have come with the murder of 553 Palestinians, the detention of 9,510 Palestinians, as well as the destruction of infrastructure, roads and homes.

In Gaza, the current genocide is a thinly veiled land grab, a brutal attempt to seize territory under the guise of military defense and retribution for Hamas’ actions on October 7th. The ongoing blockade, relentless bombings and destruction of infrastructure are designed to make Gaza uninhabitable. The aim is to ethnically cleanse Palestinians and drive them away from their land, allowing for further Israeli expansion.

If in our sector gentrification is viewed distastefully, where investment-driven development forcibly displaces existing communities and pushes out low-income residents in favor of wealthier newcomers, then the displacement of Palestinians due to settler activity and ethnic cleansing tactics should be viewed as criminal.

Economic dominance and forced dependence

The Palestinian economy was made by design to be dependent on foreign aid and on the occupier’s economy. Israeli control over Gaza and the West Bank — enforced through blockades, restrictive policies, limited access to natural resources and stringent zoning regulations — has stifled local industries and job creation, relegating many impoverished Palestinians to a low-wage workforce in Israel. This situation has stunted local industries and employment opportunities, leading to a heavy reliance on international aid for basic needs and development projects. A large majority of Palestinian infrastructure and businesses are supported by foreign aid. This reliance on aid and grant capital, as opposed to investment capital, creates a cycle of economic stagnation, limiting the potential for sustainable growth, sovereignty and self-sufficiency.

The conditions faced by Palestinian workers reflect the global exploitation of migrant and gig workers. Limited local employment opportunities force many to seek work in Israel or settlements, often under precarious conditions. In 2022, 22.5% of employed Palestinians from the West Bank worked in Israel and settlements, yet their wages were significantly reduced by broker fees and other costs. The situation is even more dire in Gaza, where Israel’s restrictive work permit system requires a worker, their family and entire communities to avoid political and trade-union activities to secure employment.

Apartheid, segregation, zoning and control of natural resources

In the West Bank, ongoing segregation between Palestinians and Jewish settlers, along with the division into Areas A, B and C, results in preferential treatment for settlers in housing and businesses.

Area C, covering 60% of the West Bank and rich in resources like water and arable land, is under full Israeli control. Israel provides financial and regulatory benefits to settlements while often denying the same to Palestinian homes and businesses. These zoning and financial advantages mirror discriminatory policies like redlining and disinvestment seen in North American urban areas targeting marginalized communities, including racialized, Indigenous and Black peoples.

The environmental impacts of colonial control further compound the injustices faced by Palestinians. The construction of the apartheid wall not only divides communities but also devastates ecosystems, contributing to deforestation and habitat fragmentation.

Israel’s control of water sources and manipulation of natural landscapes further exacerbate environmental degradation, depriving Palestinians of vital resources. Just this month, Oxfam released a new report showing how the Israeli government has reduced the amount of water available in Gaza by 94% – to a mere 4.74 litres a day per person, less than a single toilet flush – by cutting the external water supply, obstructing aid, and damaging or destroying five water and sanitation sites every three days since Oct. 7, 2023.

Racism, police brutality, surveillance and mass incarceration

There are glaring parallels between the African American and the Palestinian struggles for liberation, with both movements confronting systemic racism, state violence and economic inequality.

The pervasive racialized violence and surveillance state put in place by Israel overwhelmingly shapes and affects the daily experiences of Palestinians. Israel categorizes them as a collective “security threat” and employs harsh military orders to suppress basic rights. These actions are used to dominate and control the population, stripping them of self-determination, enforcing racial dominance and expanding territorial land grabs through force.

In cities across the U.S. and Canada, the militarization of policing and the criminalization of Black communities mirror the tactics employed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, which comprises a matrix of security personnel including Shin Bet, the Israeli Defense Force and Israeli police. The ongoing exchange of tactics and technologies between U.S. police departments and Israeli security forces underscores the interconnectedness of struggles against racialized violence and economic oppression.

It’s time for our sector to act

Israel’s destructive urban policies mirror colonial and oppressive structures in the West, continuing to marginalize Palestinians. Our sector must acknowledge the ongoing genocide and understand how it intersects with broader struggles for land and belonging, taking a moral stance against all systems of oppression.

Even from our place in the U.S. and Canada, we can act.

Explore Palestinian history and connect our fight for economic justice to your professional activities. Share resources and facilitate discussions to foster empathy and understanding. Ensure that diverse Palestinian voices are represented in your networks and discussions on economic justice and inclusive finance. Build partnerships with local Palestinian organizations, such as the Palestinian Youth Movement, to strengthen solidarity networks and pursue common goals. Contribute to the reconstruction of Gaza, via various initiatives such as Architects for Gaza, to foster sustainable development, revitalize livelihoods and ensure a thriving economic future for Palestine.

We often analyze historical policies and systemic racism that have led to urban economic inequality. In Palestine, we witness these racist systems being constructed in real-time. We need to intervene immediately and decisively, shifting from reactive to proactive approaches. Let us be principled and act to prevent these inequities now, rather than leaving future generations to debate over reparations.