"We don't get involved in the internal affairs of Palestinians": elisions and tensions in North-South solidarity practices

This article explores the tensions between international solidarity groups and those they are in solidarity with. Taking the case of the Palestine Solidarity Movement and in particular the Ireland Palestine Solidarity campaign, the article argues that solidarity groups take the position of ‘not intervening in the internal affairs’ of the Palestinian people for a variety of reasons. The stance is adopted because of activist awareness of the possibilities of Northern groups causing harm to the people they are in solidarity with (of particular importance for Palestine), as well as serving as a means of declaring a belief in the political autonomy of the Palestinian people. As such, this position is used to differentiate solidarity groups from humanitarian/aid organisations. The article looks at the difficulties of putting this stance of ‘non-involvement’ into practice through examining solidarity groups’ response to Palestinian infighting in 2007, and to the Palestinian statehood bid of 2011. The article concludes by examining the problems associated with a policy of noninvolvement in internal affairs, arguing that such a policy may lead to a superficial understanding of solidarity and a lack of communication, something which in turn can block the transformative potential of solidarity movements.