First, I would like to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to Your Excellency for your recent speech before the United Nations General Assembly. Your words, Mr. President, lifted my spirits, and I believe this feeling is shared by every Palestinian who loves their country. Your accurate description of the occupation and the terrorist acts of the Zionist occupier perfectly reflects the reality that Palestine and its people live daily. Despite this breakthrough and the happiness that overshadowed us after your speech, which some described as 'historic' and a 'storm,' a pressing question lingers in my mind, disturbs my sleep, and disrupts my daily life and work. Despite much thought and scrutiny, I found no answer, so I decided to seek your help. The question, Mr. President, is: Why now? Why this timing for your speech? Why did you drop the 'smoke bomb' now? And what comes next?
I searched for a dramatic change that might have happened with us or them that I had not heard of, a change that forced you to take this step and drop the 'bomb,' but I found nothing new. The situation of our Palestinian people in all aspects remains unchanged and tragically the same as it has been for two centuries. The Palestinian division politically, geographically, and socially still overshadows our condition, and I have seen no indication from Your Excellency or from the Muslim Brotherhood that you have decided to end the blockade of sunlight upon us! Nor have I seen any initiative to restore the unity of the Palestinian people and their sole reference, the PLO. I have not heard of any Arab breakthrough or summit decisions supporting such a 'storm.' Truly, I also found nothing new from the occupation state and its government—no new policies, no new repression of our people, no new ideologies, no new racism. Without defending the 'cousins,' I must honestly admit they have been and remain sincere with themselves and their people. Since they prepared plans to seize our country, they have not changed their strategy. They have played with tactics but never let the strings of the plan slip from their hands. Their plan is to seize the largest amount of our land with the fewest possible of our people on it. Yes, Mr. President, we wanted peace from them, and they wanted our surrender. We wanted negotiations at any cost, and they wanted our land and our ancestors' land at any cost. We tried to detect positive signals from them, and they were scouting new sites to build their settlements. We welcomed their youth into our homes and treated them well, while they imprisoned our youth and perfected their torture. We saw among them the dove and the hawk, while they saw us as 'the greatest and lesser enemy.' We called them the Zionist entity and agreed to recognize their 'state'—the homeland of our ancestors—without compensation. They became state owners in our homeland, and we became owners of a torn entity on our land.
The conclusion, then, is simple and within reach: nothing new in Palestine. Neither with us nor with them. But this conclusion neither cures the ailment nor soothes the conscience. Therefore, I pose another question to you, Mr. President: Have you reached the conviction that we must adopt a new strategy in dealing with them? If the answer is yes, then I must tell you that the time has come, and your conclusion is correct, even if it comes after years of delay. But you, Mr. President, know better than I do that success in politics is not measured by written words or public statements. The measure of success and failure in politics is action and the implementation of plans. I do not hide from you that, like millions of my people, I am tired of grand speeches and long for decisions translated on the ground. Nor do I hide from Your Excellency that, like the overwhelming majority, I no longer trust politicians or their honeyed, narcotic words. We have heard much from you but seen very little. For more than seven years, we have heard about your sincere intention and diligent work to end the division. You met, talked, planned, formed committees, and shook hands, but nothing happened except the entrenchment of division. Dozens of times, you promised to suspend negotiations with the occupation if settlement continued. The result was painful. You addressed us while your advisors and negotiators sat with the occupation's collaborators drinking coffee, and their fascist herds settled. You spoke of supporting the popular movement against the occupation, but the result was orders to security forces coordinating with the occupation to confront the movement. I do not want now to recount the Authority's promises to our people over the past ten years, nor do I want to ask how a head of state does not visit a region in his country that has lived through wars and destruction costing thousands of his citizens' lives. Nor do I want to ask how we coordinate with those who occupy us and trample on our people's dignity morning and evening, for this only leads to more resentment and discontent.
Mr. President, we were accustomed in the past to fiery presidential statements directed at the occupation and those behind it, statements that would fade after weeks or months. But I was truly surprised this morning (7.10.15) when I read in the media that senior officials in the Palestinian security apparatus are meeting with Zionist officials to coordinate how to contain 'riots' in the West Bank! What a shame... Only days have passed since you dropped your 'bomb,' and here we are today, sadly observing that your words were nothing but rhetorical speech for the media and a narcotic for our Palestinian people.
Mr. President, sanctity belongs only to the homeland and to the hands of the young lions who throw stones at the occupation in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Sanctity belongs only to the tears of the bereaved in Gaza Hashem. Sanctity belongs only to the eyes of the martyrs' children from our people. Sanctity belongs only to those raising the banner of steadfastness and honor in the occupation's prisons. Security coordination and cooperation with the occupation to abort our youth's uprising to protect Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem is a disgraceful act. During the struggle period, we called it by another name!
Mr. President, you said, and many around you have said after you, that Oslo is dead. The dignity of the dead is in burying them, not in trying to revive them. It is time to lift your hands from restraining resistance and to unleash the desire of the Palestinian people to safeguard their land, holy sites, and dignity. It is time to bury all the remains of Oslo, beginning with the Authority and its security coordination, passing through achieving the unity of the Palestinian people and their resistance, and ending with honest, fair elections with full proportional representation of the Palestinian National Council to restore the unity of the Palestinian people and their destiny. The time has come, Mr. President, for you to drop a real bomb, not a smoke bomb as you have done over the past ten years.
