It is not difficult to speak of the Palestinians’ need to surmount ideological, factional and political divides. But the challenge is not as easy as a mere collective nod of agreement that division is indeed at the heart of the Palestinian crisis. Real, urgent action is needed.
Firstly, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) of Mahmoud Abbas must be removed in favour of a return to a more unifying institutional body. This assertion is more relevant than ever before, following the Israeli elections, which once more produced the same power configuration within Israel’s political class, under the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Moreover, counting on Israeli society to change from within is a colossal waste of time, during which, the suffering of an entire nation — torn between an occupied home and a harsh diaspora — will not cease.
But what are Palestinians and the supporters of a just peace in Palestine and Israel to do?
First, the most difficult obstacle to overcome is the stronghold of Abbas and his corrupt circle on Palestine’s political discourse at home. The post-Oslo circle only exists to maintain the status quo: US interests and involvement as a mediator in the conflict and Israel’s security. Thus the constant crackdown on Palestinian opposition and resistance and ensuring that the PNA has a reason to exist for the sake of ensuring the many privileges that come with the job.
This whole apparatus must be overcome if Palestinians are to have any chance at formulating an alternative strategy.
But for that to take place, the very ailments that have afflicted Palestinian society for years, leading to the creation of the ineffectual PNA in the first place, will have to be confronted head-on. One such condition is factionalism, which has to be overpowered by a collective will that defines itself, first and foremost, as Palestinian.
Factionalism, in its current form, has destroyed much of the social fabric of Palestine. It has divided the already divided people into fragments, making them easy to be controlled, manipulated, suppressed and when necessary — besieged. 67 years is just too long a period for a nation that lives mostly in exile, trapped or confined behind walls, to sustain its political identity and remain unified around the same “constants” without proper leadership.
Such seismic change cannot come easily. It must be gradual and part of a national initiative. It must be a conversation that brings friends and rivals not to divide material perks, useless “ministries” and worthless “government” posts, but rather to mend the broken unanimity that once existed. In fact, once upon a time, Palestinians were not united or disjointed around the frivolous “peace process”, but instead around “national constants”.
One major issue that must dominate the new political discourse is the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees, guaranteed by international law. The issue is not only essential in its centrality in the lives of millions of Palestinians suffering in Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere, but is also essential to any sensible understanding of the conflict and its resolution.
The struggle in Palestine doesn’t date back to the war of 1967, but the Zionist takeover of Palestine between 1947-48 that resulted in nearly a million refugees, the expropriation of their land, homes, rights and the attempt at erasing any evidence of their existence.
By marginalising the Right of Return, one diminishes the very roots of the conflict, and any serious attempt at reconciling the painful past with the equally agonising present.
Not all Palestinians became refugees. Some remained in Palestine as it was being transferred to some other entity before their own eyes.
The Palestinians of 1948 areas have always remained and will remain a major component of the Palestine question and the Palestinian struggle for freedom and human rights. The fragmentation between the communities were imposed by calculated political realities, enforced by Israel or circumstances.
That said, the issues have never been truly separated: The plight of Palestinians in Israel, those under military occupation in the Occupied Territories, and refugees in the diaspora, all go back to the same historical point of reference — the Nakba of 1948. These common struggles continue to be sustained by Israel, its racist laws, its military occupation and its refusal to adhere to international law.
Without the Palestinians of 1948 areas, the Palestinian national identity will remain politically fragmented and scarred. The persistence and collective strength of that population is an important asset, and their struggles are part and parcel of the struggle and resistance of Palestinians in the occupied territories and those in the diaspora.
However, fuel is needed to urge that new collective awareness forward, and nothing can possibly achieve such an end but the insistence on resistance, in both the real and cerebral sense.
The term “resistance” once dominated references made by Palestinian leaders in yesteryears, but was purposely marginalised following the signing of Oslo in 1993. That was driven by two subtle understandings that resistance was ineffective, and that to achieve a degree of validity and stateliness in the eyes of their US benefactors, the new rulers of Palestine needed to abandon seemingly unsophisticated references to a bygone era.
However, without resistance there is only submission and defeat, which is precisely what took place. Only popular resistance in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, the steadfastness of 1948 Palestinians, crowned by the legendary resistance of Palestinians in Gaza under a harsh siege and repeated wars, continue to frustrate Israel. Yet, the harsher Israel tries to destroy Palestinian resistance, the more emboldened Palestinians become, for resistance is a culture, not a political choice.
Resistance is part and parcel of the ongoing global campaign, to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel. The outcome of the Israeli elections, and the rise of a more self-assertive Palestinian political collective by 48 Palestinians, would mean that boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement must enlarge its mission — not just rhetorically by practically as well.
The BDS movement has already emphasised equality for Palestinians of 1948 areas — a main objective that is as vital as all other objectives. The Joint List Arab party that won 13 seats in the Knesset solidified the relationship between Palestinians of 1948 areas within Israel as the BDS movement has, to a large extent, solidified the rapport between Palestinian communities across political and geographical divides. But more is needed.
The new self-assertive Palestinian community in Israel deserves greater engagement. By doing so, BDS will defeat Israel’s constant attempt at diminishing the collective aspirations of the Palestinian people.
Only then can Palestinian communities everywhere surmount ideological, factional and political divides, reach out to one another, unite their ranks and harness their energies for no matter how deep the divide, Palestine is, should and will always be one.
Ramzy Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press, London).
