But we live in a partisan world, we live in opposites, differences, disagreements... And that is natural for humans, and so it is natural and expected that this victory was not for everyone, specially for Israel and the US, who actually lost a great deal in this bid, and were cornered in front of the international world...
But besides Israel and the US, there are Palestinians who do not recognize this as a win, and some will go further to consider this defeat... And again, I can understand that and respect this view...
What I do not understand, and do not respect, is for those who consider this VICTORY to be false or defeat or even STUPID, specially the Palestinians, to go attack the other Palestinians, in whatever form...
We are a People who suffered so much for 65 years, and we rarely ever gained anything during those decades... And so we are always looking for this hope, for this feeling of joy and happiness and stability and security, and peace, peace at home... A lot of Palestinians are away from home, in exile, but some are still there, in Palestine, in their homes, but not in their STATE, till today... After today, they officially celebrate being in the STATE OF PALESTINE... and so they celebrate happily and joyfully... Congratulations for all Palestinians who have the privilege and honor to be in THE STATE PALESTINE right now...
As for me, I am one of those men with no land, living in exile, in the diaspora... and yet I celebrated today, I celebrated for those in THE STATE OF PALESTINE, and for everyone who supports them and us, and also for me... I know that I may never go back to my home town Al-Bassa to live there as a Palestinian. To be realistic, there is no town called Al-Bassa anymore, and although I love the memory of it, the name, the feeling of belonging to that town, the stories I hear all the time about it, still, I know me and a lot others who have their feet on the ground, like President Mahmoud Abbas, we know we will never go back to start from scratch, that is if there was a chance for it to happen... And so for us, it is a loss that we accept with sorrow, forced to accept the reality of the world we live in today, 2012...
But there is a bigger loser here: those Palestinians who still refuse to recognize the State of Israel, who refuse to accept that the world changed, who refuse to move on and plan ahead, who think if they wait 500 more years and wait for the next World War that maybe they will have the chance to get all of Palestine back... Or maybe they have other reasoning or strategy... Who knows... Human minds are capable of the impossible, right?
So those fellow Palestinians are one of the biggest losers maybe, although technically, the right of return and the borders are still not final... But I will also be realistic and assume that those Palestinians in the diaspora from villages that are now or were inside the State of Israel, I'll assume that they will eventually lose this right of return, and so they will lose their place of origin... I feel for you, I understand how it feels, and every other Palestinian in this world and every other Palestinian supporter understands that, and it is something to be discussed and addressed in the near future... Remember today was only about recognizing the State of Palestine as a Non Member Observer STATE, without solving or closing all those issues of the borders and right of return and so on... This is just the beginning of something new, the start of a diplomatic chapter in the Palestinian history, where we gained for the first time on the international level, the title and status of being a STATE. That's all...
Now, for this last group of fellow Palestinians, please, for heaven's sake, do not attack the other Palestinians, do not call them names, do not make fun of their joy, do not wipe off this joy and happiness they feel... We are all Palestinians... Hamas and Fatah, though opposed to each other until a few weeks ago, they were mostly united in celebrating this win, because we need this hope, we need this joy, we need this moral and symbolic victory... and so Palestine was ecstatic today, from Gaza to the West Bank, to Palestinians everywhere in the world, and to their supporters... Share this joy, understand that all those people are not stupid, understand that in this real life we live in today, this was a victory... Even if you do not consider it a victory, it was a victory for all your fellow Palestinians who celebrated it... Even if you do not want to share this joy and celebration, don't spoil it for them, don't call them names... It's a shame... It's a shame to call the Palestinians in Gaza, who were under attack and the treat of death a couple of weeks ago, and now they are celebrating joyfully, it's a shame to call them stupid... Really you should be ashamed of yourselves...
At the end, I say it again, I respect everyone's different stand and opinion, I understand and realize that we can have differences and disagreements, but please keep it civil, specially among us, PALESTINIANS... We need all the unity we can get folks... So make the effort, make your best... United we can change the world, one step at a time... Keep the faith, keep the hope...
From my side, I say congratulations to THE STATE OF PALESTINE and to the Palestinians who celebrated this world VICTORY... It is the start, the beginning of a new phase in this long hard road toward FULL STATEHOOD and PEACE and prosperity... Congrats Congrats Congrats...
