-Analysis-
BEIRUT — We should stop paying attention to populist voices. We should fundamentally refuse to accept being led by those promoting what has proven to be a failure; those leaders have given us to our deepest, most bitter and painful defeats.
We were never as lost and helpless and lacking initiative as we are right now. This situation was not inevitable.
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We once were on a major stage, able to confront Israel politically and diplomatically — destined only to return to the slogans of the past and its hypocritical dreams.
How did we reach the point where we must just accept policies that are disconnected from reality, harmful and unrealistic? How did we accept the calls from Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida for open war? Why did we give control over to an unbalanced leadership for all decision-making in Gaza, Ramallah and elsewhere? How did we accept the repetition of the idea of “a million martyrs”? How did we believe in the idea of “unity of arenas” that sacrificed Lebanon?
How did we reach the point of this basic inability to think logically?
Is this really what we need: the Gazans, Jerusalemites, exiles and those languishing under the yoke of Israel’s system of racial superiority and apartheid?
Confiscation of Palestinian will
In the beginning, the struggle of the Palestinian people attracted global attention. Their actions were small, but their resonance was very strong, the world heard their voice and their need for justice.
We had the support of what was once called the Third World, as well as the Eastern Bloc, and important parts of the opposing camp, to support our demand for legitimacy.
Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.
A group of fighters succeeded in raising our profile — Yasser Arafat’s reflected this in his 1974 speech to the United Nations General Assembly:
“Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom-fighter’s gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.”
Over the years, Palestinian achievements accumulated, culminating in organizing Palestinian society in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem before the start of one of the greatest revolutions of humanity, the First Intifada and its repercussions. The Palestinian people seduced the world with their popular uprising, exposing Israel’s crimes.
Then came Oslo to blow up all the achievements — establishing a weak Palestinian Authority that serves the occupation.
We reach this point not only because of the failures of the leadership and the destruction of the Israeli military and media machine, but also because of the silence of intellectuals about the need to change course, in terms of the strategic political project and strategies for achieving it.
Netanyahu’s designs
As it became clear the two-state project failed, we had to open the door wider for an alternative strategic project that would expose settler colonialism and its effects, and call for a civil state project for those who want it: that is, one state for Israeli and Palestinian peoples.
However, we found ourselves standing alone against Israel and its Western allies, with all the appreciation for the Arab and international support we received.
It was clear that an increasingly brutal Israel was the one running the show, planning and implementing, and that the organized and popular Palestinian will and its humanist extensions were the only ones capable of confronting the unleashed monster in Palestine and the region.
How did we lose the ability to exert influence? Everything that happened after Oct. 7, 2023 was initiated and controlled by Israel, Netanyahu in particular. And everything that happened was for the sake of arrangements for the final and complete control over Palestine: “the land of Israel,” according to Netanyahu.
Words v. action
Netanyahu’s political, ideological and personal successes continue to accumulate, even if these successes rely on deceiving the world about what’s happening on the ground.
The global media now are focused on Tehran and Beirut. They no longer pay attention to what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank, although Netanyahu’s goal is Palestine. Subjugating the Palestinians is his political and ideological project and promised legacy.
There is only rhetoric.
Unfortunately, he is achieving his goals, and there has been no appropriate Palestinian response. There is only rhetoric coming from Arab regimes and Palestinians leaders, while Netanyahu focuses on actions that will establish a new status quo.
Israel uses its deadly, vengeful military machine against the Palestinians, turning them into de facto scattered tribes, even as its rhetoric portrays them as a frightening giant and a monster that threatens Israeli and Jewish existence.
Returning the initiative to the Palestinians seems like an impossible mission, but in reality it is possible to initiate a democratic, humanist and civil project. Anything else will lead the Palestinians to destruction.
The Palestinians have the physical presence in Palestine, the will to survive and fight, and they have important Arab and international popular support. And the fascist and genocidal Israeli policies deprive it any more credible claim to self-defense.
Palestine as a civil homeland
We need to restore the ideas of human liberation and self-initiative. We need to reject ideas of rapid and military liberation. We need to prioritize popular struggle, to support material steadfastness, and to enshrine the idea of a just and humane solution based on human and democratic values, in terms of both goals and means.
We need effective political and cultural leadership.
Rearranging our ideas is not an illusion or a fantasy. We need to call for Palestine as a democratic homeland for whoever wants and desires to live there.
We need to rationalize our anger and resentment for the sake of a humanitarian project that enjoys global support; a project that once again includes room for hope.
