SAGE Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC

Palestine: notes from the inside SHAWQI ISSA

Abstract:  This article, based on a talk given at the Institute of Race Relations on 14 April 2009, gives an account of the failures of the Palestinian leadership to respond effectively to Israel’s strategy, which, it is argued, aims ultimately at the complete occupation of Palestine. Keywords:  Fatah, Gaza, Hamas, intifada, Israeli settlements, Oslo agreement, Palestinian Authority, West Bank

Talking about the Palestinian-Israeli problem to you is not easy, because one is always confused about where to start. It’s complicated enough for those of us living there to understand it, so it’s even more difficult for those who are not living there, especially when the politicians and media generally don’t tell the truth. All politicians, I believe, lie about things to get their way. The real questions, the real issues in the cause of Palestine are not found in the media. And, because it’s been going on for more than sixty years, many people are fed up with listening to the same information over and over. And specially after you’ve heard about the peace process and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, many people think it’s solved, it’s done, there is a Palestinian Authority, when, in fact, we never had a peace process. It’s a big lie. The problem, our enemy, let’s say, is the Israeli occupation. Because unlike any other occupation, say the British or the French, the Israelis have not occupied us for a while and then gone away but are replacing us.

Shawqi Issa is a human rights lawyer and the director of the Ensan Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Bethlehem.

Race & Class Copyright © 2010 Institute of Race Relations, Vol. 51(3): 66-72 10.1177/0306396809354168 http://rac.sagepub.com