By Adam Akkad - The moment I stopped believing in the 2 state solution was the moment I realized that the path to freedom for Palestine travels through the Palestinian people. Many in the Palestinian community continue to have hope in negotiations and the so called ‘peace process’ due to a belief that only Israel can improve our condition. Our problems will never be solved by Israel; we must solve them on our own. One of the most fatal flaws we can make is to fall in the trap of defining the conflict in the same manner as the oppressor.

The 2 state solution represents the consensus among western power elites and some Arab elites regarding how to produce ambiguous conditions for how to preserve and legitimize Israeli land grabs and colonization. Refugee rights and the sharp dichotomy between the actions of the Palestinian Authority and the desires of the Palestinian people are negated entirely.

Support for the 2 state solution stems predominately from a commitment to preserving Israel as a state where Jews enjoy political, civil, economic, military and cultural supremacy. The 2 state solution is a last ditch effort to save Zionism as a practice of racial supremacy, and to dress it up as legitimate and consensual.

In order for the 2 state solution to be doable Palestine, the Palestinian people, and their rights must be contained and ignored.

I personally do not believe that it is within the nature of Zionism to change its attitude towards Palestinians. Zionism cannot and will not define the future of the Palestinian people.  We Palestinians must begin to view ourselves as possessing the agency to transform our lives and ourselves. We must believe that as Palestinians, we are destined for freedom, justice, and greatness.

I view our struggle as a struggle for equal rights in the context of an apartheid state. It is no longer a conflict surrounding an occupation and its removal. The occupation has evolved into structural and institutionalized apartheid. The current day conflict needs to be defined by what it is, not by what Israel and the West would like it to be. With that in mind, I view myself first and foremost as a Palestinian. In our struggle for equal rights we do not strive to be Israeli, but rather equals as Palestinians.

Moving forward, the Palestinian cause must be expanded into an international campaign for human rights. The wheels are already beginning to turn in that direction as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement continues to gain traction and grow. However, it remains that the central forum for change in Palestine will never be anyone or anything other than the Palestinian people.

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