Understanding the Palestinian angst

While Israel celebrated its 60th anniversary last week, Palestinians marked 60 painful years in the statelessness of al Nakba (The Catastrophe). And while, in recent years, a massive series of walls have kept Israelis safe from Palestine suicide bombers, the Apartheid Wall, as Palestinian groups call it, isolates Palestinian communities in the West Bank from each other.

"Nowhere in the world over the last 60 years has there been so much continual suffering," Sule Larsson said. Larsson is a former member of the Green Party in Sweden and has lived in Bangkok for 15 years. "We want to bring about awareness of this in Thailand."

Larsson is the secretary of the five-month-old Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC Thailand), a local organisation of expatriates and Thais, which is affiliated to the UK-based group of the same name. The group supports "self determination of Palestinians, the right of return of Palestinian refugees and an end of Israeli occupation".

"Why start a group? Because there wasn't one here. I want to help Palestine," PSC Thailand chairman Stuart Ward said. Ward, like Larsson, works for the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok.

Among the sticky issues waiting to be resolved are: the future

of Jerusalem; the border between the two states, probably Palestine

will seek a return to the way things were before the Six Day War in

1967; the right of Palestinian refugees to return, even if only to the West Bank and Gaza; and the provocative act of continually building settlements for Israelis in the occupied territories.

The Nation's call to the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok was passed on to three people before reaching a person in authority, who simply said, "No thank you. Have a good day," and hung up.

The PSC has some 20 to 30 members and meets every few weeks. Last Saturday at Chulalongkorn University, the PSC held its first public event, a panel talk titled "Where is that Palestinian state?"

Before the discussion, the documentary "The Iron Wall" was

shown. It dramatically presented how all Israeli prime ministers have supported the building of settlements in the occupied territories and showed how hundreds of kilometres of barriers will separate Israeli

settlers from the rest of the West Bank, penning in Palestinians in disconnected villages.

A panel member, professor Kraisak Choonhavan, said some "Thais come back from Israel with stories of Israel building an oasis out of the desert". They are mesmerised by the thought that Israelis are "building a perfect society", he said.

But, taking into account the plight of the Palestinians they are misruling, he said, the situation was far from ideal.

"We [Thais] are very gullible," Kraisak said, lamenting that on trips to Israel, he and other Thai politicians were not allowed to meet Palestinian leaders.

Kraisak is an MP and shadow social development and human security minister and former senator and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Attending the event were about 45 people from a variety of countries, including Thailand, Sweden, the United States, the Philippines, India, Burma and the United Kingdom.

Ekraj Sabur, who has Thai and Bangladeshi heritage, and attended the meeting wearing a chequered keffiyeh headscarf from Palestine, is studying for a master's degree in peace, conflict and development studies at a Spanish university.

"One of my best friends is Palestinian. What Israel has done has been a major source of anger for many people, especially Muslims. I am trying to expand networks with Thais and Palestinians," he said.

The only Palestinian in the PSC, a young man who wanted to be just called Sam, has spent the last ten years in Bangkok.

His family, which hails from Nazareth, felt it would be safer to leave their homeland in 1948. Eventually, they made their way to the US as immigrants. "I've never known any other Palestinians in Bangkok," he said.

Sam said, "I think that with [US President George W] Bush in power, chances for a peace deal are very slim," - a view shared by many PSC members.

"A pro-Israeli propaganda is built into our [Western] societies. That

is something I take offence to. It is

an insult to intelligent persons. You see injustice in the world, and the greatest injustice today is in Palestine," Ward, who chaired the talk, said. He sported a wristband with Palestinian flags.

For now, Palestinians - and the world - are left wondering just when there will be a country called Palestine.