Palestinian exiles take nourishment from the Arab uprisings, notes Anayat Durrani The ninth Annual International Al-Awda Convention kicked off this past weekend with the theme "Onward, United, and Stronger. Until Return!" A major focus of the convention was the Arab people's mass uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa and their relevance to the Palestinian struggle. "Today the winds of change are sweeping all over the Arab world clamouring for freedom, democracy and independence," said Salman Abu Sitta, general coordinator for the Palestinian Right of Return Congress, and founding president of the Palestine Land Society. "But of all the Arab people, nobody has consistently, forcefully, and continuously demanded these rights more than the Palestinian people." Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition sponsored the convention 29-30 April in Anaheim, California. The convention takes place in a critical time in Arab history when mass movements across the Arab world mobilise in the streets demanding freedom from oppressive dictatorial regimes. Like their Arab brethren, the time is ripe for Palestinian refugees to have their own people's revolution. "The events of 25 January will remain etched in our collective memories. We are at the very beginning of a process that is profound, that has affected every single Arab regime and will actually affect other regimes around the world," said Ahmed Shawki, Egyptian journalist and editor of the International Socialist Review. "The genie is out of the bottle." Palestinian refugees represent the longest suffering and largest refugee population in the world today. In 2005, there were approximately 7.2 million Palestinian refugees, equivalent to 65 per cent of the entire Palestinian population, which is estimated at 11 million worldwide, according to the Al-Awda organisation. "Among the biggest losers from these revolutions, of this Arab spring, are not just the Arab regimes and dictators, but also the US and Israel," said Ali Abunimah, Palestinian author and co-founder of Electronic Intifada. "Remember, these dictatorships were part of a regional system of US hegemony in the region, which was established after WWII. What we are seeing is this US hegemony coming unstuck with the collapse of the Mubarak regime, with the uprisings in other countries." Jamal Nassar, specialist in Middle East politics and dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at California State University at San Bernadino, said the date 25 January represents the moment he was "reborn into an Egyptian". Nassar said he remains very optimistic about the new Arab awakening and Arab revolutions. "Regardless of whether regimes and Arab countries will change or not, no Arab regime, no Arab leader, will from now on dare to look only to their own interests or the interests of outside powers. They will have to pay attention to what their people are saying," said Nassar. The panels at the convention included Hugh Lanning, deputy secretary-general of the Public and Commercial Services Union, one of the "big five" trade unions in Britain, and chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), spoke about the role of trade unions and solidarity campaigns in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine. Lanning said each week the PSC sends out 50,000 e-mails to followers in the UK and they have about 50 branches. They have some five million trade unionists affiliated to the PSC. "The history of our two countries is different. Our government caused the problem in Palestine. Your government is sustaining it, which is the difference. We share a lot, we have a common cause and that is the people of Palestine," said Lanning. "We see the siege, the wars, the settlement but we don't live them and so solidarity we view is purely that, is to give solidarity to the Palestinian people." Laila Al-Arian, writer and producer with Al-Jazeera English, was also among the panel members at the convention. Al-Arian is one of the lead producers of the Palestine Papers special in January 2011, a four-day programme on the largest diplomatic leak in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. "Looking at these documents it becomes clear that not only does the peace process appear to be coming to an end, or as The Guardian put it "a slow death", the prospect of a two-state solution has become increasingly unlikely and one can argue, quite convincingly, that it's now impossible," said Al-Arian. Al-Arian said after Al-Jazeera released the papers, the Palestinian Authority and PLO attacked the coverage and the Al-Jazeera office in the West Bank was forced to close for some time because their crew was threatened and their offices stormed. In regard to Al-Jazeera's release of the Palestinian Papers, Al-Arian said she firmly believes it is the job of all news organisations to hold those in power to account and added that Palestinian leaders are no exception. Indeed, at the convention, Palestinian leadership was a topic of much discussion. "I think we are at a moment of transition in Palestine where the whole Oslo regime is in collapse," said Abunimah. "It's been crumbling for some time, it's a bankrupt game. Unfortunately, Hamas and Fatah have become trapped by the Oslo game and they don't know how to get out of it or don't seem to want to get out of it." Abunimah said the goal of Palestinians should be in "rebuilding a Palestine national movement that represents all Palestinians everywhere, those in 1948 areas, those in diaspora, and those in the 1967 occupied territories, around a single vision." Abunimah said the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement "provides a platform that unifies Palestinians." In 2005, Palestinian civil society issued a call for a BDS campaign against Israel until it adheres to international law and Palestinian rights. The movement would isolate Israel the way apartheid South Africa was isolated. Abu Sitta said Palestinians must act and fight for representation. He said Palestinians should never lose hope and that it is hope that has kept Palestinians alive all these years. He said Palestinians should plan for return, and that it is time for Palestinians who hold the keys to their homes in occupied Palestine, from which they were expelled in 1948, to rise up. "The return is coming. We should remember that justice has always a way of turning up no matter how long it takes and no matter how hard the struggle is," said Abu Sitta. "We shall return."
