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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 July 2000 Issue No. 489 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 July 2000 Issue No. 489
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region Focus International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A state of flux
By Abdel-Qader Yassin *
To this day, the declaration of the Palestinian state is uncertain. The collective dream of a state was frustrated for four centuries while Palestine and Syria were subjected to Ottoman rule (1516-1918). Britain revived the dream in a promise to Al-Hussein Ibn Ali, the sherif of Mecca, in 1916; but once again the dream was crushed.
The League of Nations placed Palestine under British mandate in 1922. Three decades later, in 1947, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution for the partition of Palestine, sparking the conflict between Palestinian forces and Israeli terrorists. As the military operations ended, the Palestinians held a national congress in Gaza. In 1948, the national congress established itself as the "all-Palestine government," which was immediately defeated by wide-scale opposition at the regional and international levels.
A decade later, the Palestinian resistance movement came to being. The recovery of the Palestinian economy, Arab nationalist activity (1956-'60), the emergence of the socialist camp and the struggle for independence in all parts of the world all reinforced the Palestinian guerrillas.
In 1987, with the rise of the Intifada, the Palestinian state was declared. Israel and the US refused to recognise it. Even after Barak came to power on the strength of his peace pledges, he included the existence of such a state among his infamous series of refusals.
Nor does it seem likely that a Palestinian state will be born anytime soon. In Gaza, the Palestinian National Council met on 2 and 3 June, but no decisive action on the declaration of the state has been taken. It is difficult to declare statehood in the absence of the fundamentals of a state, and the Palestinians find themselves cornered. Meanwhile, the US and Israel are taking advantage of the impasse to the very end.
* This week's Soapbox speaker is an expert on Palestinian affairs.
