Please provide the Arabic headline to translate.

Author: Abdulmajid Sweilem

Do not read too much into the headline. But do not be surprised either: Palestine already possesses this weapon ever since it became the focal point of the world, ever since the peoples of the earth joined the fight to defend Palestinian freedom, ever since it became a symbol of justice and a beacon not only for its own liberation but because the liberation of these peoples has become organically linked to the freedom of Palestine.

Here — and precisely here — the greatest transformation in contemporary history has occurred: a unique, perhaps singular, process in this era. That is because the U.S.-led Western-Zionist project is recalculating its position, and doing so at a striking pace, trying to avert the catastrophe that will surely befall it if it does not backtrack and revise its calculations before it is too late.

We are not referring here simply to anxiety felt by this devilish triumvirate, no matter how much it manoeuvres, plots and schemes to fend off political isolation and the containment of its plans by the world’s peoples, or even to fears of further escalation of its complex and successive crises — those worries may already be in the past, overtaken by events. Rather, we are talking about a state of disquiet that is essentially fear of downfall for everyone who has covered for, facilitated, funded or armed the occupying state in its criminal, genocidal war against the Palestinian people over the past two years and before. The consciousness and uprising of peoples against this triumvirate will not stop here, nor at the limits of this campaign of extermination; accountability for it appears likely to be retroactive.

In a new manifestation of this fear and anxiety, concerns have reached the point of “serious fears” that matters could move to filing lawsuits against some European leaders, with American leaders to follow, aiming to bring some of these figures before the International Criminal Court — the very international body tasked with trying individuals accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, including genocide, ethnic cleansing and the use of starvation and deprivation of basic human necessities for political ends.

In Italy and Germany we are seeing tangible indicators and public statements; it appears that the noose is tightening, and the accusation is complicity in genocide and silence about it, and attempts to circumvent the facts and realities surrounding it.

This is the weapon of mass destruction that Palestine now holds — a weapon double in effectiveness and usage.

On the one hand, it is a soft, legitimate weapon, protected within democratic frameworks by laws and constitutions, and in that sense it surpasses the instruments of killing and extermination used by the triumvirate of criminal evil. On the other hand, its effectiveness multiplies manifold as that axis and triumvirate escalate the use of their lethal weapons. It far outstrips the triumvirate’s own soft tools when they provide political and media cover, when they diplomatically shield the occupying state’s crimes, and when they deliberately ignore its brutalization — including tolerance for the institutional spread of a new form of fascism within the Israeli state and in its practices — along with systematic incitement to genocide and crime. It is the weapon of the oppressed, the poor and the honorable — the weapon of anyone noble who rejects subjugation and enslavement, who resists wars of plunder and domination over peoples and their resources, and who resists, by whatever means available, the arrogance, cruelty, recklessness and mocking swagger that determine the fates of humanity.

It is the weapon of freedom’s knights, the forces of good, the advocates of social progress, and the parties and organizations of societies that aspire to build a world free of the “freedom” to kill and exterminate and free of the culture and mentality of brazen kleptocratic gangs.

It is true that Palestine paid with fresh flesh — a heavy, even exorbitant price — to acquire this weapon. It is true that the world’s billions would never have altered the course of events as they have so far, nor would they have pushed the change that is now advancing to ever greater levels of transformation. It is true that the triumvirate’s brutal plans nearly succeeded at times in turning the Palestinian humanitarian catastrophe into a political disaster. Yet our people’s steadfastness, adherence to their rights and goals, their heroism, courage and daring, and the steel will demonstrated in confronting killing, crime and extermination are also true. And it is true that the world’s compassionate peoples have repaid our people with sustained support and backing that inspires the highest degrees of pride and esteem, exceeding imagination and surpassing dreams or any expectations.

This weapon in its two aspects — the heroism and free will of the Palestinian people on the one hand, and the great global uprising in support of our people and their sacrifices on the other — is what thwarted the project of extermination, the plans for displacement and uprooting, and it will be the instrument for toppling the evil triumvirate. It will be the primary lever for extracting national rights for our great people in return for their sacrifices and contributions.

I have no doubt that broad segments of our people, wherever they reside and without exception, increasingly understand the importance and centrality of this weapon regardless of differing views or interpretations here or there. They are fully convinced that the enormous sacrifices our people have made will not be wasted, and that Palestine may endure and suffer trials and crises, yet these are crises of ascent — whereas the triumvirate’s crises can only be crises of decline, insofar as they pertain to their direct aims to liquidate the Palestinian national cause, and perhaps to a greater, deeper and broader extent, affecting the triumvirate’s role and standing across global equations.

Inspired by this Palestinian awareness of the role, importance and centrality of the great global uprising, preserving this massive momentum will first and foremost lead to the first serious attempts to unify Palestinian efforts to sustain this extraordinary support. I believe official leaderships now recognize that this uprising is a genuine lifeline, not a sham, not a set of promises suspended in the air, and that other factions of the national movement also understand the supreme importance of Palestinian unity on this front.

If leaderships from all currents continue with their detestable, deceptive pivoting policies, and if each faction persists in betting on “its own group,” then surely broad sectors of our people will impose a vision born of their own and the nation’s interest — not treating parts of our homeland as separate estates.

The active, combative cohesion between the Palestinian national cause — with a serious degree of unified will, effort and tools — and the great global uprising (which, incidentally, is the largest uprising in world history) will bring about enormous changes in the renewal and unity of the national movement. These changes will be institutional but also political, intellectual and programmatic.

Such cohesion and alignment — particularly if the fascist Israeli government rejects the principle of an independent Palestinian state, as every likely future government would according to the current political map in the occupying state — will certainly increase pressure on that government and on Israeli society in a growing and escalating manner, possibly leading to calls for a “one-state” slogan. That is because such a slogan — defining a one-state solution as a Palestinian objective to resolve both Palestinian and Jewish national questions together — becomes conceivable and more open to active national debate, especially as the occupying state is no longer merely an apartheid entity but is exhibiting increasingly blatant fascist traits.

Thus, for the first time, discussion and consideration of a “one-state solution” becomes possible and more amenable to vigorous national debate, in active interaction and engagement with the leadership of the great global national uprising.

This is merely a hint of what the alignment and cohesion with the world’s rising peoples can produce. There are dozens of prerequisites before all of this and many tasks aimed at keeping this flame alight — the flame of liberation, the flag of a free and independent Palestine flying across the world. I will attempt to address the “one-state” idea as a slogan and objective in forthcoming columns and articles, with special focus on sustaining the fervor of this tremendous global momentum.