This phrase, or variants of it, has a long history and invokes different meaning to different people. We all need to realise what we may mean by it is not what those who hear it understand by it.
The roots of this phrase or slogan seem to be in the time of the British Mandate rule in Palestine, and it comes from the Revisionist (i.e. right wing) Zionism movement led by Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the movement that also produced the Jewish Terrorist groups, Irgun and Lehi, and the ideology of what is now Likud led by Binyamin Netanyahu. It was the dream of this branch of Zionism to have a Jewish State that reached from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, even beyond.
Later (the exact chronology is disputed) by the 1970’s, the phrase was adopted by the Palestinian Nationalist movement to call for a Palestinian State excluding Isreal and, by implication, most (if not all) Jews from that land.
In modern times the phrase is linked to the pro-Palestinian movement in the West with the second line of “Palestine will be free.” While many who chant the slogan may not mean that this implies the eradication of Israel, many in Jews, both in Israel and those in the Diaspora, hear that implication in those words and fear that it will be accompanied by a mass eradication of Jews between the Mediterranean to the Jordan, just as when the original slogan was first coined, the Arabs who lived in Palestine feared a Jewish state would mean their expulsion or eradication.
Given this mixed history, it is no wonder that the phrase stirs different emotions in people depending on which side of the Palestine/Israel conflict they are. However, if we want to help both Palestinians & Israelis address the issues that divide them, help the find a way to allow both to live in peace, share that land they both love and call their homeland and allow the children of both grow up free from the threat of more wars & violence, we need to think before we repeat this phrase either by itself or with a second line.
The reality is the Palestine will not be free and a sovereign state until Israel can feel secure with it as it’s neighbour and neither will Israel feel secure until Palestine is free & a sovereign state as it’s neighbour.
I am not minimising the issues that divide the two states nor am I blind to the many terrible acts that those claiming to act in the interest of each have done, going back well over 100 years but simply to rehash them every time in the name of justice without working to help end the conflict is an injustice to future generations.
I propose that we change the slogan, to make it inclusive for both Arabs and Jews, Palestine & Israel, rather than excluding one or the other. I propose these lines to show that both must be the future for that area.
From the River to the Sea, on two states we all agree.
From the River to the Sea, may all its peoples be safe and free.
* Leon Duveen is President of Liberal Democrats for Peace in the Middle East (ldfpme.org.uk), a group of Lib Dems working to support those trying to a solutions to the Palestine/Israel conflict and other conflicts in the region and to providing information about those working for peace there.
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15 Comments
I think that going from “Here is a phrase with deeply disturbing origins, where using it makes people very uncomfortable.” to “And so let’s tweak it a bit” is not going to fly.
The phrase should be avoided, because any use of it poisons the discourse around it. Even if the people using a variant are well-meaning.
Thank you for this very thoughtful piece, Leon. “From the River to the Sea, on two states we all agree” is a phrase I will more than happily share, as it reflects my personal and our party’s broader commitment to peace in the Middle East.
“From the river to the sea
let everyone be free.”
Says it all, simpler and more memorable.
Thank you, Leon. A Land For All’s message agrees with you:
This past year shattered the ground beneath our feet. For both Israelis and Palestinians, it was a year of unbearable violence, fear, and loss – but also a year in which more people began to understand this cannot be our future.
For over a decade, we’ve done what many believed was impossible: Israelis and Palestinians coming together to build a shared vision for peace and inspiring a new generation to carry it forward. And now, more than ever, that vision is taking root and bearing fruit.
• We managed to mobilize thousands of people through partnerships with 93 organizations, leading political imagination workshops and bringing ALFA’s vision far beyond the peace camp
• Standing Together, Israel’s largest grassroots Jewish-Arab movement, officially embraced our “two states – one homeland” model
• A Land For All was awarded the Global Pluralism Award and was selected by the Paris Peace Forum for its track “Reinforcing Local Peacebuilding”
• The International Peace Institute joined forces with us to elevate our vision on the global stage. We presented at the Doha Forum, engaging directly with key international and regional decision-makers
We are building our movement from the bottom up and the top down, paving the path to a better future, together.
We can discuss phrases and chants, or we can actually try do something to stop Israel gradually seizing Palestinian land to build yet more settlements. We rightly impose sanctions on Russia for its actions but choose not to impose sanctions on Israel. Shame on us!
It’s not a slogan so i know it won’t fly, but here’s how I mentally cope with the phrase
From the Med to Jordan: rise,
Truth to speak – and shame all lies.
Jordan flow: with justice fill –
Bring that blessing where you will –
Feed the farmer and the farm,
Nourish, heal, protect from harm.
Winds which whisper: hope is coming –
Carry: what the bees were humming;
Flocks, refreshed by faith, that flitter
To their branch; the taste of pita.
Baking desert, sterilise:
Violence in daylight’s eyes,
Will to kill, false ploughshares,
Right of might, and ill-sown tares.
Waves: wash wounded sand and soul,
Carry friends, and freely roll.
From the Jordan to the Med,
Life be lived and hate be dead.
Thanks Leon, very interesting. I like it.
@Jenny Smith
Except, we HAVE imposed sanctions.
Here they all are, against individuals from the Israeli government:
Moshe Sharvit – travel ban and asset freeze
Zvi Bar Yosef – travel ban and asset freeze
Yinon Levi – travel ban and asset freeze
Zohar Sabah – travel ban and asset freeze
Itamar Ben Gvir – travel ban
Bezalel Smotrich – travel ban
Noam Federman – travel ban and asset freeze
Harel Libi – travel ban
Neria ben Pazi – travel ban and asset freeze
Daniella Weiss – travel ban and asset freeze
Ely Federman – travel ban and asset freeze
That’s not even half the list when we include Israeli pressure groups we have sanctions against, along with the decision from this government to suspend licenses for exports to Israel.
“From the River to the Sea, on two states we all agree.”
I’m not sure who you mean by ‘we’ but if ‘we’ includes the USA and Israel, then ‘we’ obviously don’t all agree. If ‘we’ did there would already be two internationally recognised states in Palestine and Israel.
The alternative is to explore what a single state solution might look like with equal rights for all.
If any other race or religion found a phrase to be offensive, Liberals would just stop using said phrase, rather than dancing on the head of a pin to try and keep saying it, knowing how offensive it is.
Many thanks for explaining the phrase, I hadn’t understand its history at all.
I never use the phrase “From the River to the Sea” precisely because it is so contested and means different things to different people.
When I first came across Leon’s expanded formulation, it struck me as brilliant, and that is still my view.
FULL DISCLOSURE
I am not a neutral observer on this, since I am part of Liberal Democrats for Peace in the Middle East. Despite the description above, Leon is actually President of LDfPME while the Chair is me! See https://ldfpme.org.uk/who-we-are/
“From the river to the sea
let everyone be free.” I agree with Stephen Yolland it says it all or most of it. It ducks the question about two states which only a minority of Israelis seem to want and not all Palestinians, even though we as Lib Dems believe the Palestinians should have their own state.
Leon, much as I have admired most of what you have said abut the conflict over many years, “from the River to the Sea, on two states we all agree,” is a bit of a candle in the wind.
Israel’s leaders currently believe the world’s leaders will tolerate anything they do to subjugate the Palestinians and steal their land. They are, of course, right, because Trump is a game-show host who accidentally became the leader of the world’s largest democracy, and Keir Starmer is doing his best, but his problem is that he’s Keir Starmer – he isn’t going to say or do anything of any significance.
I don’t think the two state solution is dead, as many say (including Ilan Pappe, who I credit with awakening me to the awful realities of the Israel/Palestine conflict) but it does seem to be on a life-support machine which most UK political leaders would be happy to turn off.
It is our responsibility to make sure our MPs don’t do that.
And for the sake of the Palestinian adults in Gaza, and for the sake of their children, and for the sake of their babies, we have to keep telling our MPs that we actually do care, we haven’t forgotten the plight of two million victims of genocide, and yes, we do want to hold our MPs to account.
There was a no significant support from the international community for anything other than a single state solution in South Africa during the time of apartheid.
So why is it different in Israel/Palestine now?
This is not to suggest that the parallel is exactly the same; but, having tried, and failed, for a dual state solution for as long as I can remember, surely we should now be at least looking at how a single state solution might work.