On the 4th of April a group of cowards with all their regalia of masks and guns, ambushed and murdered in cold blood actor, director and teacher Juliano Mer-Khamis; a man who had dedicated his life to introduce the Palestinian youth to the world of drama and acting.
Juliano believed that through the arts the youth can grow the self and communicate the plight of their people. He fiercely believed in a liberated Palestine that can live in peace next to an Israel that is truly democratic and does not strive on apartheid “in order to continue to exist.”
The Palestinian nation that has been plagued by occupation has been kept busy trying to survive the hardships of life compounded by injustice, lack of freedom and means. Under such circumstances, wrongly, the arts had been considered a luxury that sits at the bottom of a long list of necessities. Juliano didn’t waste his time to argue against this notion: he built the “Freedom Theatre” in Jenin, the West Bank ; graduating scores of youth who found in his theatre a haven of free expression and a temple for capacity building and human growth.
The nation, still in shock over the murder of a man beloved in Palestine, is rocked by another heinous crime committed on the 15th of April; this time in Gaza. Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian journalist and a fierce supporter of Palestine, who had arrived in Gaza on board the flotilla and chose to stay put to report to the world, was abducted, tortured and murdered in cold blood.
This time the cowards increased the doze by making a video “Qaeda Style” of the abducted great friend of Palestine. They claimed to belong to a fringe radical Islamist group, Al Tawheed Wal Jihad, demanding the release of their leader imprisoned by Hamas, or else. Before Hamas was able to respond to the demand, Vittorio was found dead and the group declared that they had nothing to do with his murder!
In the case of Juliano, the word in Israeli media and, therefore, on the street in Palestine was that Hamas had killed him because his mother was Jewish; to the dismay and rejection of the movement. Palestinians would freak out over such atrocity because unlike in Israel, in Palestine the religion of one’s mother does not determine who he is.
In these two specific cases I am inclined to believe both Hamas and their offshoot of ultra-radicalism “Al Tawheed Wal Jihad”, as deviant as their doctrine is, because neither group can afford the wrath of the Palestinian people at a time when they are striving for followers in Gaza and the West Bank. As a matter of fact, the party that can gain anything from these atrocities is Israel and only Israel. September is the Code Word.
Come September, the Palestinian leadership will ask the United Nations General Assembly to recognise Palestine on 1967 lands and they are expected to get it. The only weakness they have is the ugly division of the West Bank and Gaza.
President Mahmoud Abbas stretched his right arm long to shake Hamas’s hand and shake off this historic travesty that split Palestine into two unviable states: a democracy in the tiny West Bank and an Islamist emirate in tiny Gaza. He even offered to go to Gaza to seal a deal that would produce a unity government charged with taking the Palestinians into presidential and legislative elections; of course to the great dismay of Israel.
What if, with the escalating popular revolt in Syria, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is hit by the possibility of losing the Syrian hideout he enjoys, decides to drop his dream of a throne over an emirate and falls into fold where he and his followers belong: the PLO? Israel would lose its huge investment in empowering Hamas and dividing Palestine.
So far it seems Meshaal is still betting on his hideout, a mistake, and relying on the conditional support he gets from Iran, a bigger mistake. Hamas is still not running with wide arms to hug Abbas and start a new page of joint Palestinian struggle, but any drastic change on the ground out of the control of Israel or Hamas could change everything and make a mess out of Israel’s investments and Meshaal’s dreams.
You never know, even Iran may suddenly opt to gain major popularity in the Arab World by supporting Palestinian unity and getting influence inside the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people! If that surprise happens, you will find Meshaal’s arm stretched all the way from Damascus to Ramallah and we will all be in awe to discover that The Elastic Man is a Palestinian hero. That comic outcome is way more honourable than being at the service of Israel at a time when Palestine has a historic opportunity.
Finally, a salute of honour goes to Juliano and Vittorio, the beloved martyrs of Palestine who are true heroes at a time when heroism is badly needed.
The writer is Senior Adviser on the Arab region to the The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and the director of Sleepless in Gaza and Jerusalem. The views expressed here are his own and does not represent any oganisations he works for.