Palestinian statehood

Letter December 02, 2012
It’s a symbolic milestone on the long road to a complete statehood which I don't see happening in my lifetime.

JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: Adolf Hitler excelled while explaining the philosophy of lies in his autobiography, Mein Kampf. His right-hand man, Joseph Goebbels, put this philosophy in the following words: “The English follow the principle that if one lies, one should lie big and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.” Something like this happened on November 29 when a lie which was born over six decades ago, at the UN, fell apart — at the same place.

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly recommended the adoption and implementation of the UN partition plan of Mandatory Palestine. This was followed by the establishment of the State of Israel upon the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine on May 15, 1948. Since then, we have been bombarded by the Western media, which tirelessly tried to prove Israel’s historical rights over Palestine as its “Promised Land”.


On November 29, 2012, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted 138-9 in favour of (with 41 abstentions) to recognise Palestine as a non-member observer state. Israel and the US responded by saying that the vote is “meaningless, unfortunate, counterproductive, will put more obstacles to the peace process, and that the Palestine state can only be created out of bilateral negotiations between the parties”.


For many, it’s a retreat from the position Palestinians took decades ago; now they seem to be content with their claim on the land Israel captured in the 1967 War — the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. But in my opinion, disunited people may not even expect this to happen soon. It’s a symbolic milestone on the long road to a complete statehood, which I, for one, don’t see happening in my lifetime unless the entire Arab world takes a firm and united stand on the Palestine issue.


Masood Khan


Published in The Express Tribune, December 3rd, 2012.