To Stand With Palestine: Transnational Resistance and Political Evolution in the US

“At the very centre of it, settler-colonialism is a zero-sum game. It’s either the coloniser’s account or that of the indigenous inhabitants.” The preface to Karam Dana’s recent publication, To Stand with Palestine: Translational Resistance and Political Evolution in the US (Columbia University Press, 2025) is bleak in terms of being a reminder that the coloniser’s power is a reality. Yet, as the book shows, support and solidarity for Palestine, and with Palestinians, is a transnational endeavour, and the Palestinian narrative is not as isolated as before.

Dana notes that most of the book does not discuss 7 October, but asserts that since then, and the ensuing Israel genocide in Gaza, the arguments he brings forth were reinforced. Between blind adherence to Israel, and turning a blind eye to the genocide, the West is facing a shift in public opinion. For example, Dana notes that, in a poll just a few days after 7 October, 41 per cent of Americans agreed with US support for Israel, as opposed to 32 per cent a month later.

The book focuses on the US and its changing socio-political landscape, where calls for accountability are growing louder. “Palestine,” Dana writes, “has become the true test of one’s very own humanity.”

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Dana’s work discusses four main themes relating to Palestinian identity in the Diaspora:  the vilifying of Palestinians; de-legitimisation of their struggle; the global changes that led to space for Palestinian narratives and the challenges that are posed to Israel’s dominant narrative by emergent voices supporting the colonised.

These are discussed against a backdrop which Dana emphasises early in the book: “The story of Palestine is one of continued colonisation, fragmentation and social dismemberment, on the one hand, and a never-ending anti-colonial struggle, on the other. Israel’s intentional and violent separation of the Palestinian people from their lands created a scattered Palestinian society around the world.”

This also sets the scene for the prevailing colonial framework of casting the coloniser as democratic, to paint the colonised as violent, which also means that the colonised people’s narratives are absent in mainstream frameworks. However, with the emergence of minority groups in the US, the Palestinian people have gradually become more visible. And 7 October has made the US public aware that their taxes are funding genocide, Dana writes. As global solidarity with Palestine grows, so does the connection between Palestinians and their homeland. Which in turn disrupts, to a certain extent, the intertwining of Israel and the US in the American public’s mind.

Dana discusses the factors affecting US perceptions on Palestine, including the prevalence of the Orientalist narrative, the exclusion of Palestinians in progressive politics and the scrutiny of individuals who speak out against US foreign policy. Within society, Dana writes of the erasure of Palestine from children’s books, for example, and the influence of Christian Zionism and pro-Israel organisations on the US public. There is a backdrop for such influence – the author writes that US support for Zionism dates to 1809 and it became compulsory after the Second World War.

Police violence in the US has also brought the US public closer to Palestine, especially through the influence of “Black Lives Matter” on US society. Furthermore, the rise of citizen journalism amplifies solidarity, as seen during the Sheikh Jarrah evictions. Social media itself presents an alternative to traditional media, particularly the exposure of Israel’s colonial atrocities. The shift in public opinion, Dana writes, is visible among college students, while some synagogues in the US have declared themselves anti-Zionist.

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Activism in the US has also contributed to the socio-political change. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) targeting companies that are complicit in Israel’s colonial violence gained traction, as did the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Dana notes that activism changed after 7 October, as activists around the world united to challenge their governments’ policies regarding Israel. Dana also notes that activism has targeted “companies that support Israel without taking an even-handed position”, mentioning Starbucks and McDonalds as examples.

Dana cites another example of how support for Israel dwindled while support for Palestine increased. He refers to the Crown Counting Consortium noting that, by 28 November, 2023, “there had been 1,896 protests in the United States on behalf of Palestinians, with hundreds of thousands of participants.” The public’s sentiment,” Dana writes, “is not mirrored by political representatives, noting that “While one in four pro-Israel demonstrations have been attended by an elected official, only 1 per cent of Palestinian protests have.”

Pro-Palestine voices have been ostracised in the US – one notable example is that of academics who speak out for Palestine and who have been removed from their posts. This is in line with what Dana explains of the US educational system, which is “disposed to supporting and protecting a status quo that includes validating the Israeli narrative and invalidating that of Palestinians”, leading to less critical thinking and the marginalisation of Palestinian students.

Dana’s discussion of Palestinian exclusion and how this is coupled with US military aid to Israel, which he describes as “more complex than foreign policy towards other countries”, extends to diplomatic erasure. Language is one way in which Palestinians are erased from international politics – Washington coined the “Arab-Israeli conflict” term to obfuscate between Palestinians and Arabs. Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Dana writes, openly spoke of “interpreting” the Oslo Accords to eliminate their significance. At the UN, the US protects Israel and lobbies other countries to follow suit. Within the US, under the Israeli Anti-Boycott Act, American citizens have faced no longer being eligible for certain services if they are found to be boycott activists.

The book is extremely detailed and imparts innumerable examples of transnational activism with Palestinians. What stands out is that, the more Israel persists within its colonial violence, now genocide, the more voices for Palestine will speak out. Just as colonialism is an ongoing endeavour, and the Nakba is an ongoing laceration, activism for Palestine will follow the same trajectory because of the former.

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