Suad Amiry

Travelling in the West Bank you can easily notice boys of 14, or even less, reading newspapers and debating passionately in bars. In Palestine young people seem seriously interested in politics, whereas in Western countries, more and more often, adolescents are bored and detached.

Politics is our life. That’s the truth of the matter. But now there is no leadership, the PLO really doesn’t talk to the people, doesn’t direct them. When I was their age, there were many political parties or movements: Fatah, the Democratic Front, the Communist party, the Popular Front, and they all bombarded us with discussions about one or two state solutions, being pro or anti violence, on the arms struggle, on social liberation, on the role of women, who had a very strong position remember, in particular, in the popular and democratic front; we were approached and taken inside the political parties. Now, I know this from my job as a professor, nobody talks to them, the only one that does this job is Hamas. We have to realized this: right now Hamas is the only real grass root organization in Palestine.

Hamas is considered by the US and the EU a terrorist organization. It is not a reliable interlocutor. What do you think?

I don’t like the Hamas political programme, but they are the only ones who speak to people…and you know what, to be frank, at this point, we should give Hamas the opportunity to govern, in Palestine we are making a great mistake not allowing Hamas to get into power. Let them govern and then let people realize that Hamas will fail with their unrealistic politics of isolation. Yes, of course, they are able to open a kinder-garden, but it’s very different to be responsible for the economy, for the unemployment. Hamas should be given a chance…to fail.

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