Palestinian people must focus on their rights

What is occurring in occupied Palestine — the West Bank, Jerusalem, Gaza Strip — as the region tethers on the brink of a religious war reiterates the ‘dumb’ political mind behind the racial and cultural status of Israel’s control.

It inhabits a ‘Rambo’ culture, in which it can handily defeat armies and destroy states. Its army and security services are invincible.

The true problem with this culture is that Israel’s entire political system is infected. Out of nowhere, an illusion of absolute security is conjured up. The dilemna with which the Israeli occupation does not wish to grapple is that this is not a classic military balance between two armies, but between a people and the army of occupation. Yet the imbalance of power has not succeeded in defeating the Palestinian will for freedom and independence.

Never in history has a people desiring freedom and willing to make the necessary sacrifices been defeated. The Palestinian people are not and will not be an exception to this history.

Palestinian organisations of all stripes must re-evaluate their roles and strategies and focus a national strategy around the rights and resistance of their people in a march to nationhood. Diplomatic relations must be seen to support this base, not be its substitute. This is the sole possible response to the unlawful occupation, which did not stop for one minute with its killings, detentions, property expropriations, destruction and its refusal to recognise the rights of the Palestinian people.

Daniel Teegan

Union Hall

Co Cork