Ashrawi: Palestinians will not surrender to permanent dispossession and subjugation
Fifty-two years after Israel occupied the Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, the Palestinian people continue to resist this colonial occupation with dignity and inspiring steadfastness.
The occupation that began in 1967 is part of a continuum of injustice, dispossession, and disenfranchisement that was penned in the hallways of the United Nations in 1947 then formalized with the Nakba of 1948.
Yet, the Palestinian people continues to pursue justice and freedom, demand accountability for egregious violations of international law and Palestinian human rights, and work with peace and justice advocates to end the indignity of occupation and dispossession.
This military colonial occupation has been maintained and entrenched by illegality criminality, and impunity; emboldened by international inaction and lack of accountability. For over half a century, the Palestinian people have resisted dehumanization and institutional injustice that inform crimes, forced transfer, illegal settlement construction, restrictions of movement, theft of resources, and denial of our people’s potential.
Longtime non-violence advocate and peace activist, Palestinian Leader Dr. Hanan Ashrawi. Photo courtesy of the PLO
These policies and illegal practices have all been in a futile attempt to rob the Palestinian people of hope in realizing their independent state and living in freedom of prosperity.
Today, our people also remember that over seven decades of false and broken international promises have also passed. The Question of Palestine continues to highlight the international community’s grave failure to realize peace and justice for a people who were uprooted, plunged into crisis, and denied their inalienable right to self-determination because of international inaction and/or collusion. This failure has resulted in a culture of impunity, with Israel committing crimes knowing it will be shielded from accountability or even reproach.
Today, the Palestinian people face the serious threat of a life of permanent conflict, exile, or occupation due to the racist and hostile policies of the US-Israeli alliance against our fundamental rights. These rightwing allies seek Palestinian surrender and capitulation. In the same manner, their supremacist attitude towards the Palestinian people, disdain for international law and principles of human rights, and assault on Palestinian rights are an integral part of the hostility harbored by the Trump administration and the rightwing in Israel towards the international rules-based order. In this context, Palestine presents yet another test to the credibility and standing of the international system; a test responsible actors must not fail.
Yet, the Palestinian people continue to stand tall, persevering in their struggle for freedom with dignity and in the company of all committed advocates of peace and universal human rights. Despite setbacks and disappointments, the Palestinian people’s determination to realize their freedom and enjoy a life of prosperity is unwavering. Political and financial extortion will not dissuade us. Equally, farcical attempts at bribing the Palestinian people with a fistful of dollars in exchange for their freedom will fail.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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