Make the Palestinian victory count

Palestine has made a symbolic achievement at the General Assembly by being approved for the status of non-member observer state on the anniversary of the Partition resolution issued in 1947. How can we build upon this victory, which was supported by 183 states and which must be taken at its own merits without exaggeration? It is helpful to go back to history in order to avoid more mistakes - to avoid the word "sins" at the scale of the Arabs’ crime in refusing the Partition resolution 56 years ago and betting that they could change the balance of powers in the region without having the capability to do so. Arabs have not entered a war and not lost it. What is said about victories in Lebanon was only an illusion. Lebanon suffers to this day from the consequences of the war that took place in the summer of 2006 and which ended with a Hezbollah victory over the small homeland and nothing more. What is known is that the question of whether the "Islamic resistance" had removed Israel from the southern Lebanon in 2000 or whether the goal behind the Israeli withdrawal was to give Yasser Arafat - the historic leader of the Palestinian people - the illusion that he could repeat the experiment in the West Bank, is now moot. Ammar fell into the trap. It is necessary for Palestinians to be aware that the victory achieved in the United Nations, the hallmark of which was a realistic speech given by National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas [Abu Mazen], compels them to maintain their calm. Calm means that the victory is worthless in light of the continued Palestinian division. It was interesting to note that the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations exploited this decision to attack Abu Mazen, who is still banned from visiting Gaza and practicing his authority there. Israel has sought to cast doubt over the Palestinian President due to the absence of a unity between the West Bank and Gaza where Hamas believes it can liberate Palestine from the sea to the river with its tragically amusing rockets and its ringing slogans. Hamas fought the recent war which resulted in the destruction of hundreds of homes in Gaza and the death of 140 people in addition to dozens of injuries - and then proceeded to declare itself victorious. It is time for Palestinians to grow up. It is time for them to realise that the recent war that Hamas entered in Gaza has brought them nothing but misery and that there is no way to achieve any progress in the face of the Israeli occupation except through political work. Moreover, Palestinian political work is worthless without a reconciliation along the lines of the speech given by Abu Mazen at the United Nations. The mistake of rejecting the Partition resolution was not only a Palestinian one - it was also an Arab mistake. Palestinians believed in 1948 that the Arabs will recover Palestine - all of it - for them, and thus the Nakba took place. There was only one Arab leader at the time urging reason, and that leader was called King Abdullah I, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and his life was taken by treachery. Palestinians believed in 1967 that Arabs will strike back against the Nakba, with the well-known outcome which they are still suffering after Israel occupied Eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank. In 1974 Abu Ammar gave his famous speech in the United Nations and the PLO took its place in the international organisation as an “observer” after Arabs recognised it as the sole representative of the Palestinian people. The result was PLO’s sinking in the Lebanese quagmire instead of using the momentum created by the international recognition of the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights. Abu Ammar was only able to fulfill his dream of returning to the land of Palestine through politics, after he made his way out of the streets and alleys of Beirut to sign the Oslo Accords, with its and bad points, in 1993. The Oslo Accords took him into the White House. It was a Palestinian dream. What can be done now? What is certain is that there needs be a substantial reconciliation that could answer American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s words calling the United Nations vote “unfortunate and counterproductive.” Can the National Authority rebuild bridges with Washington from Palestine’s new position in the United Nations? What is understood is that it is not possible without a Hamas decision to adopt Abu Mazen’s speech. Is this impossible, or is the requirement now more than ever for the Palestinian cause to remain static and for its United Nations victory to become only a passing moment of joy? --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.