Mahmoud Darwish's speech at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of al-Nakba (the Catastrophe)
Palestine, Politics, 5/14/1998

Mahmoud Darwish's speech at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of al-Nakba (the Catastrophe).The full text of Mahmoud Darwish's appeal on behalf of the Palestinian people:

We, the Palestinian offspring of this sacred land, advocates of universal values, seekers of peace and freedom, the living testament of endurance and human dignity in the face of adversity, victims of half a century of perpetual night of occupation and Dispersion:

Declare our resounding presence in time and place, despite all attempts to uproot us from the land which has borne our name from the beginning of time. Not emerging from the darkness of myth or legend, we were born in the pristine daylight of history on this land which gave birth to the most ancient of civilizations. On this land humanity found its way to building its first home, to planting its first wheat grain, to creating its first alphabet. From the hills of Jerusalem, the first prayers of gratitude rose to the Creator. Our land, modest in size, hosted vast cultures and civilizations, both in conflict and in harmony, our own culture emerging from the fullness of this diverse and rich heritage. Our human history began with the history of humanity. Our Arab history began with the history of the Arabs. The consciousness of our national history began with our resistance to conquest and greed, which beset our land.

Today, as we confront half a century of Nakba (catastrophe) and resistance, pained at the continuing tragedy of our recent past, we cast our sights to the future that we are molding in hope and in the promise of freedom and justice. For we have vanquished all attempts at our obliteration and denial and at the eradication of the name of Palestine from the map of Palestine. On the fiftieth anniversary of one of the greatest crimes of the age, committed against the gentle people and land of Palestine, we stand in reverence in the sight of the martyrs who had offered their lives as a libation to the continuity of the land and its immortal name, in defense of our identity and sovereign existence on our land - a land infused with the words of God to humanity as with our ancestral blood.

From the bereavement of mothers, to the captivity of prisoners, to the exile of generations, we stand in awe at the heroism of the ordinary individual and the collective will to endure, both Palestinian and Arab. Victims of a myth "A land without a people for a people without a land," we dared to intrude on the course of history and expose the falsehood that sought our denial. Slated for national obliteration and severance from the land, we have affirmed our identity and ties to our homeland, snatching our reality from the jaws of oblivion.

Four hundred and eighteen living and thriving Palestinian villages were razed to the ground in 1948 by the Zionist perpetrators of the myth and the crime. Terrorized, massacred, and expelled, most of the Palestinian nation was reduced to the status of refugees and stateless persons at the mercy of various host countries. Bereft of their birthright, the Palestinian refugees carried Palestine in their hearts along with their land deeds and the keys to their homes. Both the topography and demography of our reality remain alive in our collective memory and continuity. We have refused to adopt their distorted version of our history and we remain advocates and witnesses of the authentic narrative of Palestinian endurance and the will to live.

From revolution, to Intifada, to nation building, we have extracted recognition from the world. The dual injustice of exile and occupation could not break the will of a people bent on achieving freedom, dignity and the redemption of history. Thus, it was the PLO which first offered the olive branch as a genuine alternative to the gun. Peace was in sight, but not appeasement or capitulation. The PLO, the embodiment of our collective national identity, the guardian of the integrity of our past and the vehicle to the fulfillment of our future, has ensured the independence of our utterance and our will and has shaped the course of our destiny. It obtained recognition from the international community for the Palestinian people's right to self determination and the right of return as anchors to secure us against the gales of loss and denial. Above all, Jerusalem, more than a right, is the soul of our being and the essence of harmony.

Our commitment to democracy and the politics of inclusion were expressed in the PLO's historical proposal of a secular, pluralistic, democratic state in Palestine. While Zionism insisted on a racist exclusivity which denied the humanity and rights of the other, we sought to affirm tolerance and celebrate diversity. The inclusive sharing of the historical land of Palestine having been denied by the Israeli drive for exclusive possession, we formulated the alternative of sharing the land on the basis of the two state solution. Such a solution would meet the imperative of international legality as defined by UN resolution 181, and would grant the Palestinian people relative justice on their land. It would also grant reprieve for tortured Jerusalem to be celebrated as an eternal city and our eternal capital.

The transition from the historical memory of Palestine as a homeland to the collective endeavor to establish Palestine as a geopolitical state on part of historical Palestine, signals a painful and difficult transformation in the political discourse as well as in the national ethos of the Palestinian people. While it demands recognition as a conciliatory compromise of historical magnitude, it must not be misconstrued as self-negation or weakness. Rather, it demands an immediate and unequivocal recognition of our legitimacy and right to sovereignty as a nation among equals. The vision, courage and moral magnanimity of the victim reaching out to the oppressor must not be met with further rejection, denial and victimization.

The world now is called upon to undertake not only a recognition of guilt and admission of culpability in relation to the Palestinian people, but also to undertake an active and massive process of rectification to secure the implementation of Palestinian rights. The international community is called upon to intervene effectively to rescue the peace process in the face of current Israeli extremism and politics of threat,intimidation and power, rather than succumbing to Israeli demands, pressures, and unilateral policies and measures. In pursuing a policy of colonization and land confiscation, reneging on signed agreements, negating the terms of reference of the peace process, violating the timetable and denying the agenda of permanent status talks, while continuing the imposition of collective punitive measures on the Palestinian people, Israel is not only attempting to derail the peace process but also to destroy any prospects of peace in the future. In reviving fundamentalism, hostility, and distrust, Israel is also drawing the whole region outside the course of contemporary history and into an anachronistic future of conflict and violence.

True stability, security and prosperity can emanate only from a genuine peace which incorporates the basic principle of justice. Such is the Palestinian vision and the Palestinian collective endeavor. No amount of pain or suffering can justify the victimization and infliction of injustice on others. While we extend a compassionate recognition of the unspeakable Jewish suffering during the horror of the holocaust, we find it unconscionable that the suffering of our people be denied or even rationalized.

As victims, we seek to prevent the recurrence of pain, regardless of the identity of the perpetrator or the recipient. No country or nation must pretend to be, or must be perceived to be, above the law or beyond accountability. If Israel seeks recognition and legitimacy then it must comply with the norms and laws that govern the behavior of civilized nations. The arrogance of power may prevail, but only temporarily. Only a just peace can lay claim to durability and permanence.

We do not seek to be captives of history or victims of the past. The Palestinian people have launched a redemptive journey to the future. From the ashes of our sorrow and loss, we are resurrecting a nation celebrating life and hope. We will not surrender. Nor will we lose faith in a just and genuine peace that will enable us to exercise our right to independence and sovereignty. Fifty years since the Nakba were not spent in grief over a painful memory. The past has not entirely departed, nor has the future entirely arrived yet. The present is an open potential to struggle.

For 50 years, Palestinian history has stood witness to epics of perseverance and resistance, to confronting the implications, consequences and injustices of the Nakba. For half a century Palestinian history became a living pledge to future generations for their right to a life of freedom and dignity on their own land. We have begun painstakingly the nation-building process, to ensure a free homeland for a free people. The state of Palestine is returning to contemporary history after 50 years of forced eviction, a state embodying the principles and practice of democracy, separation of powers, human rights, gender equality, accountability, and the rule of law. Despite the present constraints of geography and transition, our vision remains expansive and unfettered.

For we thrive on the spirit of resistance and the longing for freedom, motivated by that will which produced the luminous flame of the Intifada. Born in Palestine, no other land gave us birth. No other can claim our future. Nor can Jerusalem be replaced as our capital or extracted from our land and our being: It is the home of our souls and the soul of our homeland, forever.

Footnote: Nakba: The catastrophe which befell the Palestinian people in 1948, as Zionist gangs massacred innocent men, women, and children, pillaged their homes, and destroyed their villages and towns. Thus, the creation of the State of Israel over usurped Palestinian land led to the dual injustice of the dispossession and exile of the majority of the Palestinian people and the languishing of the rest under occupation.

Previous Stories:
  Nakba day ends with 8 killed, more than 200 wounded   (5/14/1998)
  Memories of a 1948 survivor   (5/12/1998)
  Kufr Qassem 41 years later: survivors recall the cold-blooded massacre   (4/9/1998)

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