Palestinian students visit Imperial

On Tuesday, Imperial was visited by a group of six Palestinian university students spending eleven days in London as part of a cultural exchange. Felix took the opportunity to speak to them.

In particular, I spoke to Haifa Ansari, a final year law student and Zacharia Zanoon, a second year dentistry student. Both are from fairly similar backgrounds, part of the growing young well-educated Palestinian middle class and got on well with each other, seemingly holding a similar world view. Certainly, both have a sincere liking for the British people, despite seeing British policy as being partly responsible for the conflict. This reflects my own experience of the urban parts of the West Bank, where the locals were always excited to meet tourists (even if they had nothing to sell), and had a rather positive reaction to hearing we were British. It is also hard to find any Palestinians who would trust Israeli’s from any faction to be true to their word. Israel has long resisted a Palestinian state out of legitimate concerns that the new state will need to be guaranteed to not be a threat to its national security. It is interesting to see that most Palestinians feel the same concern about Israel.

Scratch the surface, and a clear line still emerges among the Palestinians.

However, scratch the surface, and a clear line still emerges among the Palestinians. When asked about Israel, neither would recognise a ‘right’ to exist, but while Haifa would accept their existence, Zacharia would not. He also believed that force was absolutely necessary and the main measure by which Palestinian ‘freedom’ would be gained. Haifa, however, believed that diplomacy would be successful given enough time and peace was of the utmost importance. She also appeared to be rather more sceptical of governments (whether allies or enemies of Israel), and believed that pressure from people around the world would have a greater impact.

Although they are hardly representative of the whole of Palestinian society, the contrasting views of these two students reflects some of the key problems that will still face the Palestinian people, even if a more moderate Israeli government comes into power.

Palestine has taken the policy of turning to other countries for recognition of their state. Given their failure to gain UN membership, was this policy a waste of time?

H: No, I don’t think it was. We were expecting the bid to fail. But it has led to membership of UNESCO and greater knowledge of the plight of the Palestinian people.

Z: It was not a waste; at least we tried to improve the situation. We must try every option available to us.

Given the failings of the diplomatic route, are the Palestinians likely to take more forceful action?

H: No, not necessarily. The majority of Palestinians are still peaceful and want peace. The membership to UNESCO is still a small step in the right direction. As long as there are small steps, Palestinians will remain hopeful.

Z: Of course forceful action will be necessary. If Israel uses violence against me, I will respond in the same way. What else can we do? Some of them [Israelis] believe that if you kill an Arab child, you will enter paradise! We do not: we only use violence because it is used against us.

Countries such as Iran and Syria claim to support the Palestinian people but focus more on being anti-Israeli. Do you consider them to be true allies? Does Palestine have any true allies?

H: We will take support from any country that gives it to us. But this does not mean we support their own internal politics. The Palestinian people will always gladly accept support from anyone who sincerely offers it. It is, however, people who can help us, not governments.

Z: Of course, any country who supports us is our ally and we shall accept their support.

Britain has been a strong ally of Israel and does not recognise Palestine. What is your view of the British and has it changed since you arrived? Is there anything British people who support the Palestinians can do?

H: The British people have shown their support for us. We do not see the government and the people as the same. There are a large number of organisations who you can visit to support us. I urge British people to come and visit Palestine and see the suffering of our people.

Z: The British left the Jews here in 1948 and are responsible for the situation we are in. But now, we have come here and got so much support. The British are now our friends. They understand our problems and support us. There are so many organisations in Britain, such as the one that brought us here, that are helping us.

Do you accept Israel’s right to exist? Do you support a two state solution?

H: I do not accept the right of Israel to exist as they have taken our land. But, I can see that they view it as their home. If it would bring peace, I would accept the two states though. But, this would have to be a final peaceful state. I do not know if the Palestinians can trust Israel to be peaceful.

Z: Let me ask you: If someone comes and takes your land, everything you own, would you offer to share it with them? Israel does not have any right to this land. All the land is Palestine. There may be no peaceful solution. Even when the Oslo agreement was being signed, the Israeli prime minister was lying to us. The Zionists are liars- they cannot be trusted. The Jews here in London are peaceful. The Zionists are not. Let me tell you a story. A boy complains to his father that his bedroom is too small. His father tells him to get a cow and put it in his room. The boy does so and now complains it is even small. His father tells him to take two sheep and put them in. The boy does so and continues to complain. The father tells him to put five chickens in his room. The boy complains he can barely fit. The father says take the cow out. The boy says it feels bigger. Now the father says take a sheep out. The boy says the room now feels very large. This is what the Israelis are trying to convince us of!