Activating the Palestinian National Memory

In light of the current Palestinian internal climate marked by mutual accusations among political and social components, which has reached the point of undermining our history and national identity and provoking our enemies, there is a pressing need to activate the national memory, and to remind people of the resistance history of the Palestinian people since the Balfour Declaration in 1917, even before the emergence of parties and factions. This is a history that the current generation, born during the time of division and power struggles, is largely unaware of, especially after opposing ideologies and political parties to the national idea, along with a corrupt political class, have played a role in distorting this memory and history.

Do you remember the Buraq Uprising in 1929 and Britain's execution of the three martyrs at Acre Prison: Atta al-Zir, Fuad Hijazi, and Muhammad Jamjoum? What about the Qassam Revolt in 1935 and the martyrdom of Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam and his comrades in the forests of Ya'bad in Jenin? The Great Revolt from 1936 to 1939 and the lengthy strike that was the longest in human history? The heroics of Abdel Qadir al-Husseini and his martyrdom in the Battle of Qastal? Can we forget the betrayal and neglect that befell the Palestinian people during the Nakba of 1948 and the Naksa of 1967? Shall we forget the revival of Palestinian nationalism in the mid-1960s and the revolutionary efforts that reaffirmed the Palestinian issue as a national liberation cause? Can we forget the caravans of martyrs of Palestine and their graves in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, where the Zionist enemy did not distinguish between Palestinians in its hostility and targeting, viewing the good Palestinian as the dead Palestinian? Do you recall the joy of the entire Palestinian people and their reaction to the victory achieved by the Palestinian revolution and the Jordanian army in the Battle of Karama in March 1968? And what about Land Day on March 30, 1976, when our people in the interior rose up, with solidarity from all Palestinian people in the homeland and the diaspora, a commemoration that continues to this day? Do you remember the Stone Uprising in 1987, in which the entire population participated in the West Bank and Gaza and within the 48 territories, demonstrating the highest forms of solidarity and cohesion? Following its example was the second intifada that began in 2000 in response to the terrorist Sharon's incursion into Al-Aqsa Mosque. Can we forget when Gaza rose to defend Al-Aqsa in the face of occupation practices in Sheikh Jarrah, resulting in the 2021 Battle of Swords of Jerusalem, during which 250 martyrs from the Gaza Strip were elevated? And why do we ignore the detainees of our people in Israeli occupation prisons, where the enemy shows no distinction in its unjust rulings and torture practices between detainees within the Green Line, those from the Gaza Strip, or the West Bank, or between those from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, or others?

Why has the Palestinian people now become like isolated islands? Where do the Palestinians in the diaspora not feel or actively engage with the suffering of their brethren in the Gaza Strip except through timid slogans that distance them from embarrassment, hiding their impotence and shortcomings, as if the battle in the Strip concerns only its inhabitants, placed solely on them is the responsibility for what is happening and defending Palestine and what is called the honor of the Arab and Islamic nation! Likewise, Palestinians outside the West Bank do not perceive or follow the magnitude of the suffering and the existential threat facing the people of Jerusalem and the West Bank, especially the northern camps. Most Palestinians do not follow or feel – as they did during the Land Day uprising – the suffering of Palestinians in 1948 with Zionist racism and the attempts of the Zionist state to spread organized crime and drugs among them.

This summary of contemporary history may not attract the attention of the people of the Gaza Strip as they suffer from death, hardship, and the humiliation of living in tents, under the looming threat of displacement, nor does it find receptive ears among Palestinians in the West Bank who face settler assaults, destruction of their camps, and theft and confiscation of their lands. Certainly, it will not receive a response from those engaged through social media who are preoccupied with recording their imaginary victories through these platforms and on satellite channels. However, we must restore to the Palestinian memory the fact that Israel represents an existential threat not only to the land but also to national identity, culture, and the unity of the national fabric, which are the foundations of the people's steadfastness and the reason why their national cause remains alive to this day.