August 7, 2024: Imagine living in a land that you consider your home, but where you have no rights, no security, and no future. Imagine being forced to leave your home, or to live under a foreign occupation that controls your every move. Imagine being denied your history, your culture, and your identity. This is the reality for millions of Palestinians, who have been struggling for decades to achieve recognition and sovereignty in their historic homeland. They have tried to build a state of their own but have faced many obstacles and setbacks, both from outside forces, such as Israel and its allies plus unwelcoming Arab neighbors, and from within, such as their own leaders, factions and culture. As a result, the Palestinian national institutions that were supposed to lay the foundations for a viable and democratic state never formed, while support, goals and even ideas for those have vanished. This also eroded the sense of Palestinian identity and solidarity among the people, who have become increasingly disillusioned and divided by their political and social realities.

The idea of Palestine as a political entity is not a new one. It dates back to the aftermath of the 1948 Arab Israeli war, which resulted in the creation of the state of Israel and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Arabs who came to be known as Palestinians. In 1948, the first Palestinian National Congress was held in Gaza, where the Palestinian National Charter was adopted and the All-Palestine Government was declared. But this government had little authority or influence, as Gaza was under Egyptian control, the West Bank was annexed by Jordan and Palestinians in Lebanon were confined to camps there. The Palestinian cause was largely ignored by the Arab states, who sought to resolve the conflict with Israel through diplomacy or war.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded in 1964 as an umbrella group for various factions that aimed to liberate Palestine through armed struggle. The PLO gained prominence and support after the 1967 Six-Day War, which resulted in Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, the PLO launched guerrilla attacks against Israel from its bases in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, and also engaged in diplomatic efforts to gain international recognition and support. In 1974, the PLO was designated by the Arab League as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and Arafat addressed the United Nations General Assembly, calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the basis of the 1949 armistice lines. Eventually the Palestinians in Lebanon formed their own militias and were taken over by the PLO, which forced a war with Israel and lost. Lebanese Christian militias and the Israelis then drove the Palestinians from Lebanon.

In 1987, the first intifada uprising broke out in the occupied territories, as Palestinians protested against Israeli repression and demanded an end to the occupation. The intifada was largely a popular and spontaneous movement, involving mass demonstrations, civil disobedience, and stone-throwing, as well as some armed attacks by militant groups. The intifada challenged the status quo and put pressure on both Israel and the PLO to find a political solution to the conflict. In 1988, the PLO declared the second Palestinian declaration of independence, which was recognized by many countries and implied the acceptance of the two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. The declaration also renounced terrorism and recognized the right of all states in the region to exist in peace and security.

In 1991, the Madrid Conference was convened by the United States and the Soviet Union, with the participation of Israel, the Arab states, and a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. The conference aimed to launch a comprehensive peace process based on the principle of land for peace, and to address the issues of security, borders, refugees, and Jerusalem. The conference was followed by bilateral and multilateral negotiations, which led to the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. The Oslo Accords were a set of interim agreements between Israel and the PLO, which established the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a self-governing body in parts of the West Bank and Gaza and outlined a framework for the final status negotiations on the core issues of the conflict. The Oslo Accords were hailed as a historic breakthrough and a milestone for the two-state solution, and Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. Rabin was promptly murdered by Israeli extremists.

However, the Oslo Accords also had many flaws and limitations which became apparent in the following years. The agreements were vague and ambiguous on the key issues of the final status, such as the borders, the settlements, the refugees, and the status of Jerusalem. The agreements also left Israel in control of most of the land, water, and resources in the occupied territories, and allowed it to continue its settlement expansion and military operations. The agreements also failed to address the basic rights and alleged democratic aspirations of the Palestinian people, and instead created a complex and fragmented system of governance, security, and administration dependent on Israel and international donors. The PA, which was supposed to be a transitional and preparatory institution for statehood, became an overt end in itself and was plagued by corruption, nepotism, authoritarianism, and inefficiency, all of which were and are traditional for Arab governments. The PA also faced a legitimacy crisis, as it was seen by many Palestinians as a collaborator with the occupation and a violator of their rights and interests.

The failure of the peace process and the deterioration of the Palestinian situation also had a negative impact on Palestinian identity and solidarity. The Palestinian identity, which was forged by the common experience of displacement, resistance, and struggle, was based on the shared vision of a Palestinian state and the right of return for the refugees. This vision was gradually eroded by the realities of the occupation, the fragmentation of the territories, the isolation of the diaspora, the lack of a clear and coherent political strategy, and despair created by an unaccountable and rapacious PLO. The Palestinian identity was also challenged by the emergence of competing and conflicting identities, such as the religious, the tribal, the regional, and the personal. These identities were exploited and manipulated by various actors, both internal and external, to serve their own agendas and interests.

The most visible and violent manifestation of the Palestinian identity crisis was the split between Fatah and Hamas, the two main political factions in the Palestinian arena. Fatah, which dominated the PLO and the PA, was the main negotiator and signatory of the Oslo Accords, and advocated for a pragmatic and moderate approach to the conflict. Hamas, which emerged from the Muslim Brotherhood movement, rejected the Oslo Accords and the recognition of Israel, and advocated for an armed and Islamic resistance to the occupation. The rivalry between Fatah and Hamas escalated after the 2006 legislative elections, which resulted in a surprise victory for Hamas. The elections were followed by a series of clashes and confrontations between the two factions, which culminated in the 2007 Hamas takeover of Gaza and establishment of two separate and hostile governments in the West Bank and Gaza. The split between Fatah and Hamas not only deepened the political and geographic division of the Palestinian people, but also undermined their national and democratic institutions, and weakened their bargaining power and international standing.

The Palestinian national project, which aimed to achieve statehood and self-determination for the Palestinian people, has collapsed in the past decades. This decline of Palestinian statehood and identity has also posed serious challenges and problems for the Israelis, who have to deal with the consequences of the occupation, violence, and instability in the region.

All this came to a head in October 2023 when a massive Hamas offensive came out of Gaza and sought to defeat Israeli forces and establish a new Palestinian state. This failed as the Israelis counterattacked and as of mid-2024 the fighting continues in Gaza where Israeli forces seek to capture or kill the remaining Hamas members. Two million Palestinian civilians are caught in the middle of this and thousands of those civilians have already been killed. Hamas considers these dead civilians as involuntary martyrs to the cause and continues to show a callous disregard for the many Palestinian civilians killed as Hamas pursues its own goals.