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| 'Abdallah Hamid Al-Din (immagine: Youtube.com) |
ABSTRACT
In un articolo
pubblicato il 12 luglio 2014 su Al-Hayat (quotidiano arabo con sede a
Londra), lo scrittore ed intellettuale saudita Abdallah Hamid Al-Din
ha sostenuto una posizione decisamente singolare, sottolineando che
l'unica via percorribile per una soluzione al conflitto fra Palestina
e Israele è quella della pace.
Al-Din ha criticato il modo in cui i Palestinesi gestiscono il conflitto – ad esempio la richiesta di poter realizzare il loro diritto al ritorno, che ha definito irrealistica, o il loro sostegno alla campagna di boicottaggio di Israele, che ha chiamato ipocrita – descrivendo tutto ciò come parte di una serie di politiche autodistruttive e di opportunità mancate che hanno caratterizzato le azioni palestinesi sin dall'insediamento dello stato ebraico.
Ha inoltre condannato la politica di perpetuazione delle sofferenze dei rifugiati, ritenendolo un inaccettabile e immorale sabotaggio della vita dei Palestinesi e del loro futuro.
Abdallah Hamid Al-Din ha concluso dicendo che la lotta per la pace è l'unico modo in cui i Palestinesi possono sconfiggere Israele, e che la vera resistenza sta rigettando illusioni e false speranze che erodono costantemente la causa palestinese, osservando anche che queste sue parole sono basate su argomenti forniti dall'intellettuale americano Noam Chomsky.
Precisely At This Difficult Time, It Is Important To Be Realistic Rather Than Utter Empty Slogans Of Resistance
"I write [these words] in a difficult and tragic
climate. There are dead and injured in Gaza. [Its] infrastructures are
in ruins. Israel has unprecedented domestic and foreign consensus [for
its attack]. Some might say: This isn't the time to write these kinds of
words. But I believe it is unavoidable. In these times there is only
one dominant voice: [the one that says] 'yes to the resistance;
resistance is necessary; resistance will end the occupation; those who
seek peace are traitors and Zionists.' But there is no choice but to
give voice to [a different position], which says 'enough,' and calls for
wisdom, for calm, for life. Therefore, precisely at this time, I insist
on saying the following.
"How should we act today, 66 years after the
establishment of the Jewish state, a state that enjoys international
support and has a vast arsenal at its disposal?... If one wants to act
in the world, one must accept reality even if one does not like it.
Israel is part of this reality, and has been since 1948. I do not like
[this] world order, but it is a fact. We must believe that every state
is entitled to the same rights as any other. Every state has the right
to afford its citizens a livable life. It's possible to utter many
slogans, but if we want to realize goals, we must also clarify how they
can be achieved.
"I support the refugees' right of return... Do the
refugees and their descendents have the right to return [to their
homes]? Yes! Do the Native Americans in the U.S. have the right to
return to the regions that were theirs? Yes! Is that going to happen?
No! Had I said to the Native Americans, 'I will uphold your right to
return and I will expel the people of America – so [in the meantime, you
must] remain in your wretched condition' – that would be patently
immoral. The [Palestinian] refugees will never return [to their homes].
That's a fact. There is no international support for it, and even if
there was, Israel would have used its nuclear weapons [to prevent it
from happening]. So it won't happen.
"If the issue of the refugees worries you, [I say
that] recognizing the Palestinian refugees' right of return is
imperative, just as it is imperative to recognize the right of return of
the Native American refugees and of many others. But the important
thing is to invest efforts in improving the dire situation of the
[Palestinian] refugees. [The problem is that] all I ever hear [is
slogans] that follow the same reasoning as slogans [calling for] the
Native Americans' right of return. I want to head a real proposal... one
that takes into consideration the refugees and their suffering."
The U.S. Also Oppresses; Why Doesn't Anyone Call To Boycott It?
"The hypocrisy of those calling to boycott Israel
reeks to the heavens, because all their reasons for imposing the boycott
are a hundred times more applicable to the U.S. or Britain. So why
don't they boycott the U.S.? The call for a boycott does not come from
the Palestinians, but from groups that call themselves 'the Palestinian
people.' The Palestinians never agreed [among themselves] even on
boycotting the settlements, let along boycotting Israel [as a whole]...
The demand to boycott Tel Aviv University, [for example], or to boycott
Israel until it ends the oppression [of the Palestinians], seems
ridiculous to any reasonable person. Is there no oppression in the U.S.?
Does anyone boycott Harvard [because of it]? This is hypocrisy. They
demand [to boycott Israel] because it is easy. They compare it to [the
boycott of] South Africa, without considering that the boycott [of that
country] succeeded because the conditions for it were right. Whoever
wants to recreate that model must work to recreate those conditions.
Much of the Palestinians' actions are self-destructive. They have caused
themselves harm, and today they have only two options: the two-state
[solution] or a continuation of their plight.
"The statements above are not my own. They were
made by Noam Chomsky, who has been fighting [for our cause] for 70
years, and is one of the most prominent intellectuals to endorse the
Palestinian cause. He experienced it from the start, analyzed it,
addressed it, supported it, worked and debated for it, and met with
people connected to it. Chomsky says that there is [a form of]
resistance that is immoral, illogical and harmful to the Palestinians.
He claims that it is hypocrisy to demand boycotting Israel and not
demand boycotting the U.S. Chomsky invokes the logic of [choosing
between] limited and realistic options and ridicules those who invoke
the logic of meaningless slogans. Is he treacherous, feeble or naive? Is
he ignorant [in his] political analysis? Is he a Zionist?
"Ever since the 1947 [UN] partition resolution, the
Palestinians' situation has steadily deteriorated, while Israel's
situation is steadily improving. One does not need a vast amount of
historical knowledge to understand that [the Arabs and Palestinians]
missed one opportunity after another. Had the Arabs accepted the
partition resolution, Israel's territory would have been considerably
smaller than it is today, and had they agreed [to make] peace after the
defeat of 1967, their situation would have [also] been better. Every
opportunity missed by the Palestinians yielded huge profits for Israel."
True Resistance Is Resistance To Illusions And False Hopes
"Israel does not want a just peace. It really
doesn't. It wants to take and not give. And we, for our part, have given
it the opportunities to expand and to take. We often [study] the maps
of Palestine from 1947 until after the year 2000 and say: 'Just look at
all that aggression.' But we ignore the fact that the maps tell a
different story, namely: 'Look at our obstinacy, our escapades and our
trading in the [Palestinian] cause'. The Israelis took the land and
banished the [Palestinian] people, but we took the Palestinians' future
and wrapped it in false hopes... It is we who denied [the Palestinians]
life. We and not Israel. Israel has banished 750,000 people, but for 66
years we have banished the lives and futures of millions...
"Genuine resistance is what will prevent Israel's
future expansion and coerce Israel into restoring to the Palestinians
some of their rights, if not all of them. We must acknowledge that
Israel cannot be defeated by force today, and for the foreseeable
future. Those who think otherwise are welcome to present a roadmap, as
opposed to mere empty slogans. Slogans will not defend the Palestinians
from bullets or prevent Israeli missiles from falling.
"The only way to stop Israel is peace. There are
some people who don't understand that peace, too, is something you must
struggle for with all your might. Israel does not want peace, because it
does not need it. But the Palestinians do. Therefore it is necessary to
persist with efforts to impose peace. No other option exists. True
resistance is resistance to illusions and false hopes, and no longer
leaning on the past in building the future. Real resistance is to
silently endure the handshake of your enemy so as to enable your people
to learn and to live..."[2]
Endnotes:
[1] The reference is possibly to Chomsky's July 2, 2014 article in the U.S. magazine The Nation.
[2] Al-Hayat (London), July 12, 2014.
link all'articolo originale: http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8075.htm
