Despite the ongoing talks and news about the 'recognition' and 'declaration' of a Palestinian 'state', my innate dilemma remains unsolved: what do I choose as my "country of citizenship" when Palestine is not listed, which is often the case?
With regards to the 'long-awaited' declaration of a 'state' in Sept- Was a consensus reached regarding 'declaring' a Palestinian 'state' in September by Salam Fayyad or what? Why exactly are we talking as if khalas, Fayyad's September state is the inevitable destiny of our long fight? Does anyone else feel excluded from this promised 'state', which is supposedly going to be built on 'democratic' values and all that crap?I don't get it. How is this going to be different from the declaration in Algeria in 1988? No, NY/UN doesn't give the declaration more 'legitimacy.' Are we about to fall into the trap of statehood?
With regards to the 'long-awaited' declaration of a 'state' in Sept- Was a consensus reached regarding 'declaring' a Palestinian 'state' in September by Salam Fayyad or what? Why exactly are we talking as if khalas, Fayyad's September state is the inevitable destiny of our long fight? Does anyone else feel excluded from this promised 'state', which is supposedly going to be built on 'democratic' values and all that crap?I don't get it. How is this going to be different from the declaration in Algeria in 1988? No, NY/UN doesn't give the declaration more 'legitimacy.' Are we about to fall into the trap of statehood?
I went through a similar dilemma when I learned about the plan to declare statehood in September; I thought by declaring statehood in the West Bank and Gaza we were inevitably turning our backs on the refugees. Then I thought abt the Palestinians inside the greenline and Jerusalem. This "declaration" won't impact any of the major issues, including settlements, and in effect compromises our long history of remaining firm that we will not give up when it comes to these far too important issues.
ReplyDeleteI struggled so hard to look into myself and make a decision on whether I was going to back this move or not, and then I realized that I don't matter. Clearly, I know I matter, but in the eyes of the Fayyad and Abbass, I don't. If they thought my opinion mattered or the opinion of any Palestinian mattered, they would have offered them a means to voice these opinions via town hall meeting or referendums, anything really. That's when I decided not to struggle with myself to have a strong position on this matter, either way they'll do what THEY WANT, not what WE NEEEEEED. I'm just going to wait it out, hopefully we're all surprised and something good comes out of it.