Peace in Palestine requires freedom, rights and dignity

An Phoblacht: What is the main message you want to convey to the Irish public?

Osama Qashoo: The Israelis have succeeded in linking Palestinians with terrorism. It is really hard for any Palestinian to live with that connection with terrorism, and the only reason for that is because we fight for our freedom, dignity, land and rights. That is the reason why I decided to leave Palestine, like many Palestinians, to carry this message and create some awareness in people and inform them of what is actually going on in my country. My message is that the Palestinians are real people with blood in their veins, whose dignity is being stolen by the Israeli and who are fighting for their freedom, their rights and their country. We are human beings and are suffering terrible oppression under Israel. We are just resisting and doing what any other nation would do: fighting for its existence.

AP: What do you have to tell those who say that Israel is the only democracy in the area and that is the best reason to support its government's action?

OQ: I will ask those who are pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli to think why they are pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli first. It is important that people would have a clear idea of why they are taking that option.

To those who talk about Israel's democracy, well I would recommend them to go to Palestine and see what is really going on there, how the Israeli government is dealing with the Palestinian people. They would find racism, apartheid, humiliation, and daily harassment against the Palestinian, and all this permeates every aspect of life: education, health care... And if you complain, you are called a terrorist. That is the democracy of Israel, the daily distress of Palestinians, the daily killing of Palestinians, which is being ignored by the media. Democracy for Israel is to steal land, to steal water. Democracy for Israel is to insist in having an exclusive Jewish state and to use Palestinians as human shields, to harass children and to humiliate old people. If that is democracy in people's eyes, then, yes, Israel is a democracy, but I cannot agree with them.

AP: Many will also point out that Israeli actions are a reaction to Palestinian or Arab aggression.

OQ: I do not think you can describe what is going on there as action and reaction, because you are not talking about two regular armies fighting. Palestine is isolated from other Arab countries and there is no way they will get support from any of them. So, there are groups fighting, but they do it with whatever resources we have in Palestine, and we have nothing. There is no way you can compare the force of one of the most powerful armies in the world, the Israeli army, with their tanks, Apache helicopters and their continuous weapons development, with the Palestinians. They are using the Palestinians as targets to try out those weapons.

AP: What is your organisation's position on the Road Map peace plan?

OQ: Well, if you remember, Oslo was the great solution, then Camp David was the great solution... Now Road Map is the great solution. I do not know what would be the name of the next great solution. I am giving you my own opinion about this Road Map. It is unbelievable that there is so much hope in international circles about it, because it is non-existent. The US and the Israelis designed this Road Map and you find that in the next stage this strategy will fail. If you go to Palestine you will see that this Road Map is allowing Israel extra time to keep abusing Palestinians. No one can give me an example of any positive action taken by the Israelis since this Road Map initiative was launched.

AP: They could say that they released some prisoners.

OQ: Yes, my cousin is one of those prisoners who got released. He would have been released three days later anyway. And it was the same for many of those released; they had already served their time. There are 7,500 prisoners in Israeli jails, about 300 to 400 children in prison. The release of those 400 prisoners was only a media stunt. They want everything to be done for them.

AP: Now that you mention prisoners, how are conditions inside Israel prisons?

OQ: The conditions vary depending on what prison you are being kept in. The use of physical and psychological torture is widespread, though. Some of my friends have been kept in very small rooms, like six feet square, with another eight prisoners. They would be kept in the cell all the time, isolated and incommunicado, being fed once a day the leftovers of the Israeli soldiers' dinners. Nine people from my area tried to commit suicide while in prison, going on hunger strikes, etc. They feel they are dead already. Some of them were injured when they were imprisoned. Nobody cares about them. A few weeks ago, Israeli soldiers tried to carry a search in a prison where there are 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The Israeli soldiers used tear gas to attack them. Thirty eight prisoners were injured and no one cared about them.

AP: The Israeli government has talked about the corruption of the Palestinian Authority as one of the arguments in support of Israel and against the creation of a Palestinian state. What is the opinion of Palestinians on the ground?

OQ: Well, I do not think that corruption is the main worry right now. There is corruption everywhere, so it will be impossible not to suffer corruption in Palestine, and yes, there maybe was some corruption, but this is not the issue. Israel is using this as an excuse to blacken the name of the Palestinians and anyway, this is none of their business. We, Palestinians, can deal with corruption and punish those responsible; we do not need anyone to tell us how to do it. But the Israelis wanted to divide Palestinians and create confrontation between different sectors. Palestinians are a democratic and wise people, and I am sure they can build their system and fight against corruption.

AP: In the last few days, and after weeks of ceasefire, there have been a couple of suicide bombs in Israel. What can you tell us about it?

OQ: I suppose that a lot of people will be thinking 'here are the terrorist organisations striking again, breaking the ceasefire'. However, if you look at the news in the previous three weeks you will see that there was no action by Palestinian organisations against Israel. But twelve Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military in those same weeks. The Israelis are not removing checkpoints and many villages are still under curfew. There are villages and cities suffering Israeli incursions every day. Two weeks ago, they imprisoned 800 people from the Hebron area. Nobody hears about these facts. And this is the Israelis' ceasefire; they never stop in their attacks. And only a few days ago they killed two Hamas leaders. Israel does not want the ceasefire.

AP: What is your understanding of what it may happen now?

OQ: I think there are harder times coming for the Palestinians. I think Israel will use any excuse to keep forcing the Palestinians into a small corner and they will keep their aggression policy against the Palestinians. And they will keep building the Apartheid Wall as their solution to Palestinian attacks, but I do not think that the wall will stop these attacks. They are creating a ghetto for the Palestinian people.

The isolation will affect those Palestinians living in Israel, who will be isolated from us, but every village, every city will be isolated from the others. There will be seven totally isolated areas with small gates controlled by Israel.

The solution would be to give Palestinians their freedom, rights and dignity, but Israel does not want to do that. They will not give back what they have taken away from us. They are still building settlements and expanding the occupation. All this has made Palestinians hopeless, so they are willing to die. I do not think this is the right way but this is what is being created by Israel's policies.