Palestinians on a peace cycle: there will never be peace

Instead of just moaning, as I and lots of others are guilty of, the Catalonians are pro-actively organising mini-meetings and interviews. One bus journey has been spent with a small group of Palestinians.

We talked for about an hour, during which time we covered: life in Palestine; the electoral system; the present political situation (and their own views); and finally the peace process. I was also trying to talk them out of their naivety about the West, and what we, as representatives of the West can do for them, and trying to move the conversations on, away from the victim stories and onto some sort of plan for the future.

They do not want a two-state solution – that is impossible; it is their land, all of it. (In fairness, these are among the more extreme Palestinians on FtW, and they are not all like this.) A one-state solution is impossible because Israel is so strong and America backs Israel. They don’t want dialogue because they have tried that and they no longer trust Israel. So what’s the solution? Shrugging: “We don’t know. We have no idea.” So what next; what can we do now? “We don’t know.” Do can we have peace? “We hope so; we always hope so.”

Right. I start again: no one-state solution, no two-state, no dialogue: no peace. Right? They look crestfallen. Right. No peace? No. Never? Never. Khalas? Khalas. Abadan? Abadan.

I don’t know what we’re doing here.