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What do the Palestinians want?
In light of the current realities on the ground, all the Palestinians want is to regain their dignity, rely on themselves through national unity, and run their own affairs thanks to a modern, caring, competent, representative and accountable leadership. Continued dependence on international charity, much of which disappears without being accounted for, is no less than a catastrophic and disgraceful national insult. That is what the Palestinian people do not want!
Today, the Palestinians have nothing left to offer their own people or the world. The erstwhile strategic position along the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea is long gone. The olive trees that provided some mild agro-industrial economic potential have been uprooted by the Israelis who pretend that “terrorists could be hiding behind them”. Anyone who has even seen an olive tree knows that there is no space for a cat to hide behind it.
The Holy Land has become a skeleton of what it used to be. There are fewer and fewer Christians in the land of Jesus Christ, and we cannot blame only Israel for that. Aside from the difficult and worsening socio-economic conditions in the West Bank and Gaza, and the ill-advised actions of certain Islamic extremists, the major European and North American countries follow a low-key policy whose apparent objective is to 'save' the Christians of the Levant by helping them to emigrate from the Holy Land. One should not forget the short-term effect of this perhaps well-intentioned policy, that is also encouraged by not only a certain Jewish lobby, but also among American Evangelists. The latter see in this policy an efficient way to empty the Holy Land as well as other countries in the region from their Christian population through sustained and proactive emigration programs. Keeping in mind at the same time that most of these Christians follow the Orthodox and Catholic rites, i.e. Christian Arabs who are not interested in the Evangelical program.
As far as the Evangelists are concerned the exodus of Christian and Muslim Palestinians consitutes an efficient process towards returning the Holy Land without its native population to the Jewish people in order to accelerate the Second Coming of the Messiah. As far as Israel is concerned, it facilitates considerably its seizure of what's left of Palestinian land, while it removes a point of pressure on the government of Israel by Christian powers including the Vatican and other major churches. But this accelerated exodus represents a highly alarming danger for the Palestinian cause, because this Christian emigration empties the Palestinian file from its international weight and accelerates the process of emptying Palestine, now a backwater, from its historic content. The abysmally self-blinded and extremist Muslim groups may think this is to their advantage, while it is actually a major catastrophe for the future of the Holy Land and even for Arab and Islamic civilisations, and an additioinal major phase towards the disappearance of what's left of geographic Palestine.
As for the Palestinian leaders, they are either praying for the Biblical manna from heaven, or they are busy playing at presidents and ministers among themselves, and at cops and robbers with the population. Most of those aptly qualified among the Palestinians who could have made a difference are long gone, scattered around the world. Not only that, they are neither welcome by the occupiers (what else would you expect?), nor by their own people, who accuse them of “not understanding” the reality of the Palestinian people: A typical reaction of long-time hardened prisoners.
As a matter of fact, the Palestinian Authority is rather a blown-up municipal council. If the people in charge concentrated more on the tasks and functions of a municipality than on grandiose pretensions, the people of Palestine will be much better served. Their list of needed basic necessities is long, and looking after that is what makes the people feel that their ‘government’ is looking after them.
While “corked in the bottle like cockroaches”, as Israeli Lt.General Rafael Eitan once described his plans regarding the future of the Palestinians, they nevertheless maintained their combativeness and daring against the occupier courageously, though disastrously. When such combativeness and resistance do not constitute part of an overall integrated strategic plan with a well-defined objective in sight, they end up harming more than helping.
The Palestinians today don’t count in the world of international politics, and if they do, it is because their problem is linked to Israel. Politics is a market; if you want to be in it, you must have something to buy or sell. In the market of politics, Israel is both a big seller and a big buyer. It sells weapons, espionage skills, security equipment, terrorism and counter-terrorism techniques. But it is also a major contributor to science and technology, research and development, agriculture, medicine and banking, etc. For good or ill, it is definitely omnipresent!
To be able to enter the marketplace, the Palestinians need at least one good saleable product which is marketed skilfully. This product does not necessarily have to be one with just a commercial value. It could even be artistic, intellectual, or other, as long as it distinguishes them from others. As mentioned above, the most salable 'product' for which there is an international 'market', if we could use such terms, namely what the Christian Holy Land represents, is on its way to disappear. It is true that all the chips are stacked against the Palestinians by friends and foes alike. Today, under the overwhelming stranglehold imposed by Israel, they cannot even use their own water resources freely to drink or water their plants without permission from Israel. Under such draconian conditions, there is no way they could produce anything, neither of economic nor even intellectual value.
Yet, by just having the opportunity to organize their internal life and adopt priorities ranked where they belong just like other aspiring nations, they could go a long way towards securing a place in the market of international politics, get the world to listen to their message and secure their freedom and independence. At the end of the day ALL THEY WANT IS TO BE LEFT ALONE! |
