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| Ibrahim Khamis in the Al-Amari cafe in a Ramallah refugee camp. 'If we are a country,' he says, 'then it will be recognised that we are occupied.' Photograph: Guardian |
UN vote on Palestinian statehood just another cautious step forward
The card players of the Al-Amari cafe have been around long enough to take a sceptical view of the United Nations vote on Thursday to recognise Palestinian statehood.
The men at the regular morning gathering inside one of Ramallah's dense refugee camps have seen invasion, occupation and peace talks come and go over the years. They've listened to pledges from Arab leaders that Israel would be crushed from existence, and heard promises from American presidents of an independent Palestine living in harmony with a Jewish state. None of that has come to pass.
So the card players agree that a vote at the UN only goes so far. But that doesn't mean they think it's not significant.
Husni Khalil, 65, said the vote mattered because Israel had never explicitly recognised a Palestinian state, even though it demanded that the Palestinians recognise a Jewish state. That, he reasons, is because Israel wants to seize as much land as it can in the West Bank.
But now the UN decision will stand in opposition to Israel's attempts to make historic and religious claims to territory that is supposed to be part of an independent Palestine.
"Instead of the land belonging to Israel, as the Israelis claim, the world will see that it belongs to us but is occupied by Israel. Palestinians want to live in peace alongside Israel. That's all we want. But they have to recognise we are a country, a state," he said.
Ibrahim Khamis, a 58-year-old driver, breaks from the card game because he wants to be heard. "This is important because we will be recognised as a country, not a disputed land. And if we are a country, then it will be recognised that we are occupied," he said.
Many Palestinians are mystified over why Israel would oppose the UN move. It's not violent, it recognises Israel and it's legal, they say. The conclusion some reach is that Israel is only paying lip service to a Palestinian state.
Majed Reehan, a 40-year-old accountant, who mentions in an aside that working with numbers gives him an advantage at cards, said Palestinians have followed the path of concessions, negotiations and meeting the requirements for recognition laid down by everybody from Bill Clinton to Tony Blair. So the UN vote is a just step.
"We have proved to the world we can build institutions and we can build a proper state. We have proved to the world we deserve a state. We have done what was asked of us," he said. "The UN vote is a step forward but we will still be a state under occupation. Maybe it will not automatically improve things but it is something."...READ MORE
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