In the course of their history, Palestinians have found themselves becoming the Jews of the Middle East. They suffer persecution and discrimination in every corner of the Middle East and most painfully in their own country. Their uprooting in 1948 from their homes and villages in Palestine has left an inner focus of fear and insecurity. Victims of a what they perceived as a grand scheme of colonial Zionism and imperialism, they suddenly found themselves in refugee camps both inside their country and in the neighboring Arab countries. Later in the their years they were to live under the total control of the their same enemy and to endure a harsh life under the military occupation.

From the early days of their uprooting Palestinians pioneered and joined the Arab national movement as the vehicle for liberation and return. The failure of Arab nationalism and the death of Nasser left the Arab masses bewildered and lost for a direction. It is this environment of defeat and helplessness that has paved the way for the Palestinian national movement and later the radical Islamic groups. They offer people the alternative to death through redemption and the return to God.

Arabs in general have little confidence in their leaders as genuine players in the global political game. They are perceived as mere helpless pawns. Indeed, Arabs feel that they were essentially betrayed by those leaders who rule their people by force but are impotent in combatting the enemy.

There were brief moments in their recent history when Palestinians felt and tasted victory. In the first year of the Intifada there was a state of euphoria when Palestinians were ignited to join the popular uprising. Participation in the Intifada meant that every one was able to exercise control over destiny and events. The heightened morale has allowed Palestinians to see themselves as equal to the Israelis when they confronted the military forces and tasted moral victory although at a heavy price. Soon, however, Palestinians lost that feeling when the different political groups opted to armed struggle. Gradually people lost the initiative and became alienated when the Intifada was changed into a dictated form of resistance. Such a state which was accompanied by a harsh Israeli response of oppressive and humiliating tactics lead to failure of the Intifada and yet another defeat. The tension which has energized the original spirit of resistance was then turned inwardly in violent behavior of Palestinians against fellow men.

For the second time people looked elsewhere for leadership, vision and support. It was the PLO. But that organization was already battered and suffering from disunity. The intervention of the PLO into the Intifada through remote control from Tunis has seriously damaged the Palestinian resistance. Its leadership was struggling to survive against the forced exile and against starvation which was dangerously threatening its existence following its stand besides Saddam of Iraq during the Gulf war. The rise of the fundamentalist group of Hamas was already in place. Hamas poses itself as the divine alternative to the crushed and desperate Palestinians. Its appeal is powerful and significantly empowering. Hamas continues to challenge the secular Palestinian groups and has stubbornly refused to participate in any dealing with the current peace process. Although they stand in the minority many Palestinians share their reservations and objections.

The declaration of principals and the Cairo agreement were signed by two unequal parties. Israel has in effect dictated the terms of the agreement on the Palestinians whose leadership has entered the negotiations from a position of inner weakness edging on total collapse and allowing submission. There is a growing constituency among the Palestinians who feel that the peace accord has reduced the size of Palestine even further and has devastated their dream of liberation and reduced the PLO leadership into a ghetto life.

Underneath such mood lies the feeling of defeat in contrast to their feeling on the eve of the Arafat initiative, a few months into their Intifada when they experienced the ecstasy of victory. Indeed it was such feeling that prepared the much needed platform for Arafat's initiative of peace. The feeling of loss is bewildering and overwhelming that makes the peace road bending with potential hazards.

The Palestinian position has reached it's lowest ebb due to the undemocratic character of the PLO and the Palestinian National Movement. It will only through democratic participation of people that Palestinians can rebuild their community into a state and can contribute to the stability of the area. As yet the signs are alarming with the domination of one political faction and as the promised elections are repeatedly postponed.

The Palestinians are a nation coming out of the rubble. They have to address taboos and bring into the open ideological, cultural and political weaknesses which have infiltrated their national movement and seriously damaged their individual and collective awareness. They have to address their dependency on the outside world, their self-indulgent image of the victim, their own cycle of violence and oppression, their conflict between religious and secular identity, and the erosion of their national identity.

Above all they have to confront the loss of the dream of liberating all Palestine and the accompanying grief. They will have to exercise democratic debate and respect the right to oppose. Only then a new style of political and community leadership will evolve. Effective professional management of their institutions should be installed.

Palestinian growth as a people and a nation was stunted due to the long history of foreign rule and particularly because of the twenty seven years of Occupation. Paradoxical relation with the alien rulers had developed into both dependency and defiance. The economic infrastructure is devastated, health and educational services are rudimentary, water resources are depletand the local security is almost none existent. More serious are the effects on the human element. Palestinians under Occupation have suppressed debate on all aspects of their cultural life and social development as their energy was invested in combatting the occupation. The call for freeing the land from the Israelis was the utmost priority. In any case attempts to organize intellectual, political or popular movement were crushed in their infancy by the Israelis.

At the communal level, the Palestinians are still in the tribal stage of development where the clan is the main source of security and form of identity. The of political organizations in their modern history was authoritarian and oppressive discipline continue to be the accepted concept within the family and the community, including political institutions. Intellectual and cultural life is poor and women continue to be oppressed.

The peace process has further ignited new divisions in the national scene with sharp polarization. Tension is building high as people fear further escalation of violence against Israelis and among Palestinians. Targeting Israelis by Hamas would undoubtedly expand the already wide support for the Islamic movement, which has gained ground in any event as tales of moral and financial corruption of the PLO are rumored.

Although I have no intention in going into detailed examination of the Israeli state of mind, few observations perhaps are worth considering. Israel has cultivated a culture that has become entrenched in fear edging on paranoia, and for good reason. The effects of that however are dangerous. Racism has taken roots in the Israeli culture which meticulously suppressed guilt and favored dehumanization of the enemy that has encompassed all Arabs. The victorious Sabra has turned into an arrogant colonialist and oppressor. With the comfortable position of the eternal victim, Israelis were projecting and spreading so much violence. And for generations Israel was identifying itself with Europe and suppressing all signs of identification with the Arab world from where half of its citizens were drawn.

Israel and Israelis would need to re-examine their identity and to venture beyond Zionism and stretch into the wider identity away from the confines of the ideology of the chosen people.

The challenges of the new times are already exposing the weaknesses of both cultures as the latest episode of violence which shock the area has testified. There is so more courage needed from the leadership which translates their vowed promises into reality. Indeed, more is needed at the level of the intellectuals and the community which can take us beyond mere words.