Years. You are asking me what it is to be a palestinian. I think that in very simple terms it is a lack of identity. If this man finds a place, and anchor, he will always be the safest. This is the human rights. To be a palestinian is to accept the toughest love wherever you happen to be without a real sense of belonging. Strictly speaking you are wherever you are at the goodwill of the country that is accepting view. They tend to look at him as a suspect because he does not have an identity in the sense that he does not have a country. He is stateless. They have come from haifa and jaffa and jerusalem. First in 1948 as their land was occupied. They fled again in 67 and in 70 and in 78. Each time new hostilities had forced them to seek new shelter. Some have been refugees for 30 years. Some were born as refugees. No matter where they came from or where they now live these , people think of themselves as palestinians first and most have but one dream, to return to their homes in palestine. Since world war ii, the middle east has been a scene of continuous violence. In 1947, the United Nations endorsed the creation of one arab and one jewish state out of the british mandate in palestine under a partition plan which provided for the establishment of an International Regime in and around jerusalem. Israel was established in 1948. The palestinian arab states never came into being. Since then, there have been for fullscale wars, all threats to world peace. Territorial limits kept moving back and forth and between and around. During times referred to as no war, no peace. Thousands of people from all sides who fell victims to enlist attacks and counterattack. We could find a way to coexist in palestine with israel. We must get guarantees that this israel will not expand because ever since the existence of israel, it has expanded onward. They have tried to erase our identity. I started out to be a palestinian. In 1948 i was referred to as a refugee. Then i was referred to as a jordanian, an egyptian, a syrian. On the way, i heard i do not exist. And now they call me a bedouin. These people have tried to a to erase myried identity. Palestine has always believed the battleground of empires as well as the Meeting Place for the exchange of cultures. There have been waves of people who come into it. Mostly from arabia. Which is the fatherland of all the semantic people. Now these people have intermixed throughout our history. In the middle of the seventh century the arab Muslim Invasion , of palestine took place and inhabited palestine for the lord for the long course of history. Arab nationalists do not deny the jewish presence of biblical times. They point out this was the land of the canaanites and philistines, babylonians, and greeks were there at one time or another. The region was under roman occupation at the time of christ. The exodus of the israelites took place soon thereafter. The fall of the roman empire cleared the way for arab civilization to blossom. Then the muslim empire was succeeded by ottoman rule. On the Eastern Shores of the mediterranean, this would last until world war i. The 19th century witnessed tremendous upheaval. Europe had its industrial revolution. The middle east was seeking a new identity. After 500 years of ottoman rule, the idea of sovereignty began to revive. Many palestinians and other arabs launched independence movements. Since the crusades, three religions had coexisted fairly peacefully in palestine. By the 1890s, new colonies of jewish immigrants started to appear. The pogroms the jews had to face zionism, had fostered a doctrine called for recruitment of the regroupment of the jews in the land of israel. During world war i, the british wooed both the arabs and the zionists. They created a declaration that promised a british report for the establishment in palestine for a National Home for the jewish people. They noted that nothing will be done to impede the religious rights of nonjewish communities in holstein in palestine. The population of palestine was at that time. Rather than becoming independent, most of the middle east was put under french administration. The leagues covenant provided that such territories were heading for eventual selfdetermination and independence. For the palestinian arabs, the struggle had become twofold. They wanted determination of the they wanted determination they wanted termination of the mandate and repeal of the offered, appropriation by land they had owned and cultivated for generations. The period between the two wars witnessed a series of palestinian demonstrations and rebellions. The International Community has looked at the palestine question with justice, they would have recognized that here was a majority of palestinians and a minority of jews. And the majority of palestinians had rights if not equal, at least greater than the minority of jews and that ultimately, the best solution for this was one state in which both the arabs and the jews would live under one government. But there was not to be such a state. In 1947 britain placed the question of palestine before the United Nations. On the 29th of a vote was taken november, to partition the area. There was to be one jewish and one arab state. For the jews, most scarred for life from years of nazi atrocities in europe, this was cause for joyful celebration. To the arabs, any purchase does any partition they granted 52 of the land to the jewish state was unacceptable. Fighting in skirmishes continued. On may 14, 1948, a jewish state supper kind itself under the name israel. There was a nexus of refugees. There was an accident of refugees. Neighboring arab states sent troops into palestine to establish lot order. To establish law and order. It became fullscale war. Numerous u. N. Efforts to negotiate a truce or were fruitless. In september 1948, the United Nations chief mediator was shot and killed in jerusalem by a jewish extremist group. 1949 washe spring of an armistice reached. By that time, more arab land had been taken. Israel had already begun to expand its borders. The main effect on the population was to create a great deal of panic and fear. The population for the most part was unarmed. They were confronting a wellorganized and well armed invasion. As a result, when the events like the massacre in april of 1948 occurred panic spread , through the population. 1947ulation which was in and continuing into the spring organizeds not well and had no Political Center to it. As a result, the principal and the main impulse of people was to run. To get as far away from the fighting, from the terror as possible. By december 1948, half of the population of palestine had fled. The following year, the united a work established agency for palestinian refugees. Their mandate, to provide registered refugees with food rations and Shelter Health care , and basic education. It was to be and still he is and still is financed from voluntary contributions. When work got underway, an estimated 500,000 people were getting help. By 1978 the figure had increased to 1,750,000 palestinians registered to receive care. In 1948, the assembly have resolved that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live in teeth with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest Practicable Date or be duly compensated. This has been reaffirmed by the United Nations every year since. These resolutions failed to be implemented because repatriation in accordance to these resolutions was not permitted by israel. Most of our population is a poor population. Those who have to live in caps amps live in squalor and misery and poverty. It is intolerable. Nevertheless, since the late 60s, it has been improved not only by educational services, and medical Services Provided in the camps but also for the first time in their lives that by struggling politically and militarily, they are beginning to move out of the camps. They are not forgotten people left to right there indefinitely. Rot there indefinitely. Beirut, lebanon. In its still recent past, a prosperous metropolis. Since the mid a city devastated 1970s, by an intractable civil war. For years affluent people lived in comfort here. Not the palestinians. There are an estimated 400,000 of them in lebanon. They are to be found crowded in areas that do not live up to our usual concept of a refugee camp. In urban ghettos of that seem to get worse and worse as the years go by. This is where the family lives, refugees from 1948 had resettled on the west bank. The 67 war brought them first to jordan. Then in they were forced to move 1970, into south lebanon. Now they are here in beirut. Children were born along the way. Pride boys pried themselves on being fighters already. The girls still go to one of the schools for palestinian children that has been run since 1950. The Palestinian People have the right of having its own independent Education System that lets them strengthen the National Unity and express the National Palestinian character. We like to emphasize the role of the masses in the palestinian struggle through the last 30 years. We like to emphasize the nature of our enemy and to emphasize between judaism we like to put in our peoples mind the nature of our struggle and the humanitarian nature of our social and political situation. In the early 50s, the First Resistance Group appeared. Fattah. T el in 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization is formed. 10 years later, the robot conference of 1974, the plo was recognized as sole representative of the Palestinian People. That same year the general , assembly of the United Nations accorded it similar recognition. The representative of the Palestinian People. We have this organization and it has many definite establishments in many fields. Controlling all of our different branches, our military forces, administrative committee, our central conference we have our , National Conference which would present all the organization, political organizations which represent our people. Be they invaders, tourist, or refugees, large bodies of foreigners are always resented by the local population. The palestinians have proved to be no exception. Many refugee camps have become grudgingly accepting enclaves guarded by plo soldiers. The question is the palestinian, he is at the mercy. Of others. He is always observed. Always called, always mistreated. This is the tragedy of the palestinian today. He does not have a place to go to. We should not forget that war is part of politics and we struggle by all means at our disposal. We struggle on all different fronts politically, militarily, democratically and socially. Training of the fedayeen , the fighters, begins at 18 but few who come here do not already have previous experience in weapons and weaponry. Operations states back to 1965. To some they are terrorists. To others they are heroes willing to put their lives on the line for the liberation of their homeland. The songs and dances of the soldiers are also the songs in dances of the refugee camps. Here, they are taught the additional subjects that they say the regular schools do not ss over alllf glo too quickly. They want to learn more about palestine, its folklore and traditions, and about the a homelandof having of ones own. Here they require the discipline which they hope will enable them to be fighters someday. Decades of exile and life in camps make it difficult for palestinians to become selfsustaining. From the beginning many started , small businesses. Lots of them still paddle cigarettes or run Delivery Services around the camps. A lucky few have turned Small Enterprises into cottage industries, which as they slowly , integrate into the local economy, offer limits in turn to other camp dwellers. For the individual, education is the key. Bassam, the eldest son goes to the university and also keeps a parttime job to contribute to the familys income. Scholarships help many students go abroad for college programs. Whether it is in kuwait, lebanon, or anywhere. Yours used to be in the community. They do accept you but you do not have the same rights and the same thing will be whether you are in lebanon or kuwait or elsewhere. Palestinians have the highest rate of University Graduates of engineers,tion, as as social scientists, as areomists, the palestinians the moral elite of the arab world. Unfortunately, there are still too many unskilled and for them there is at best seasonal and temporary work. Picking fruit for a local landowner, lebanese or jordanian at harvest time. Street cleaning or other menial jobs in the camps. For the women, domestics in the home of the more fortunate. Although there is a Palestinian Workers Union to protect them from being exploited the life of , these people remains meager and insecure. To remedy this situation and better channel the energy and productiveness of the Palestinian People, a series of workers cooperatives got launched in 1970. In arabic, it translates as steadfastness, the idea of never giving up. The palestinians see this as a productive part of the people in exile. The idea is to provide some sort of vocational training, and to equip as many of them become to become financially independent both now and , tomorrow when they will have returned to palestine. There are several fields of activity. Industrial development, and even an Agricultural Sector under which a few palestinians provide Technical Assistance in several african countries. So far, 3000 people are applied to fulltime in the workshops. Are employed fulltime in this workshop. Sew clot so claw lth, make embroideries or assemble furniture for the need of camp dwellers, they are each one of them contributing to return to selfsufficiency of people who refuse to remain any longer the word ward of the world. The plo provides other services as well schools and hospitals, Research Centers and so forth. This hospital is one of the hospitals which is one of the institutions of the plo. Our plans are divided into two plans, disaster time and peacetime. Daily, we have in this hospital at least two major operations. We have big problem, not only with the wounded, but with the refugees. Especially with the small children. As people are homeless now. We have many problems. Especially the psychological situation of the small kids and they wereup people, deported from palestine in 1940, all that they had built, they have lost everything here. Support them, we have to take the time. For many, the first move had been fair. If they lived in camps but they were still in their own country. In when Israel Occupied the rest 1967, of palestine, the camps of the west bank emptied themselves in a new mass exodus into jordan. This time it across a bridge into jordan. This gateway remains open to this day. A link for palestinians in exile and those who stayed behind. It became apparent that if they were going to rely exclusively on the arab states to wage their struggle for them, they would get nowhere. Palestinians had to take their own progress in their own hands. At the moment of the deepest collective arab failure, the palestinians began to assert themselves and to take up arms to struggle for selfdetermination. In 1967, when the rest of palestine was occupied, i was a soldier in the jordanian army. The king ordered us to withdraw without fighting. So the whole palestine fell to control. There had been resistance before, but 1967 was when the palestinian revolution will he really started. 1967, we have had our own weapons, our own soldiers. Three years later, within 48 hours, three airliners were hijacked and forced to land in the jordanian desert. The hostages were freed and the planes destroyed. Palestinians had made the complacent world aware of their plight through dramatic news headlines. That same year in jordan, violent clashes occurred between palestinian and jordanian troops. Many died on both sides, and many palestinian fighters left for another exile, to lebanon this time. And many other places. The spirit of resistance and determination was not dead. What had been common scenes just moved to beirut as palestinians continued to rally to their cause. During the 60s, yellow is the stage. The october war had instilled a new sense of pride to the arabs. On the occupied west bank, this was expressed through more and more demonstrations against both the military authorities and if you rise jewish settlers on arab lands. The result was tightened security, numerous arrest and for some, deportation. Now, the new until bridge had become the road to exile. Thats 00, they would go to the bridge. They told me that from here you can go but you cant come back. I said from there, i will come back to my country. It is my country. Us by the way they treated the people. Demolishing houses, villages, treating people the way they are treating them. That will create more hatred. They are filling the camps, working in the cans and raising their kids in the camps. They said i was in a vacuum of in my hometown. I cant open my pharmacy. They are not living there. I have my land, my house, my interest, i am living here. Im having not a that time. Still, i want to direct my hometown. This is a temporary haven for many palestinians. The only alternative to israeli prisons. Phase to hang me from my feet with my head upside down and they began to beat me. Israel concedes that some excesses working committed. They said a disciplinary measures were taken were cases have been documented and denies that torture was ever a state policy. The uns special committee to investigate israeli practices in the occupied territories were basic its out on witnesses and press reports within and outside israel, they stated the indications were very strong that torture that occurred torture occurred. It continues to occur. My wife and my children are being killed. I have my son. For two months, i have food. Here is my son. He is lost. Many others are gone and many others will never return. For these men who have never known the land they can call their own, the rebirth of palestine is the cause. Killings and hangings, bullets and tax leave indelible marks in the minds of the young. Proof is easy to find in the middle east these days. Wherever their parents were killed, during one of the many conflicts, these rewards. Re the the memory of the parents lives on in the recollection of their sons and daughters. I will be a doctor. My country needs me. Edward speed remarks that one of the saddest days to see is that for Young Children no alternative exists to the gun. Being placedsis is on widening the educational experience of each child so that the day is not defined by exercises with a gun. There is a palestinian dialect that is different than our syrian or egyptian. There are traditions. There are costumes. And planned organization are different. Popular stories. You have essentially, a community. It is a cohesive National Community with us which associates itself with the land. I believe the present generation cannot be called as moderate as the older generation , that is why i think now is the to have aortunity settlement with the israelis. This is including the establishment of their own independence of what remains on society that was occupied in 1967. Visitng home for a short is the help of most palestinians. During the months when the Israeli Military implement this right at family reunions, thousands tristate advantage of it. To get the permit is long and difficult. The screenings by both sides are meticulous. It is easier for palestinians looking to leave the areas, especially if they are not requesting a right of return. Once by the bridge, there are further checks. Long hours of waiting before being called to board one of the buses. Some have to return time after time, hoping that tomorrow they will get their chance. Side of the river there will be more security, body searches, customs duties that make it necessary to gifts or purchases behind. Some do not go back by way of the bridge. They find her own way across borders. This illustrates the conflict between what is justifiable to them and what is inexcusable to others. This took place in israel. Indexing 74, following a raid at the school there by the democratic front. Children and for adults were killed that day. There are differences of opinion among palestinians about the extent to which violence is justifiable. The killing of innocent civilians or travelers at the airport brought Widespread International condemnation. We are against all of this violence. To look atremember this case from all of its angles. Is still except responsibility he still epts responsibility for violence. Over 100 were killed. Men, women and children. Similar military actions have been taken over years by israel against palestinian caps. In some cases, following guerrilla raids. Violence reads hatred, retaliation brings only further retaliation. I an eye for an eye is often paid at high interest rates. The implementation of their rights is the key. They are there, they are a fax. Like it or not, no formula can be found. That does not take right into the equation. From the creation of the United Nations to this day, no topic has been the subject of more deliberation. Adopted the council allimportant resolution 2402. Resolutionthis objectionable. 2. 2 is not accepted by 242 is not accepted. The second thing, it didnt mention the National Rise of talked to themd as if it was the copper between the arab states. Geneva, 1973, since the first session of the geneva peace conference, several developments have taken place. The United Nations general thembly requests participation in all peace efforts. Israel remained opposed to this on the grounds that among other things, 242 cause for negotiation among states. The po oh is not a state. They have always refused to do with groups that they see as bent on destroying israel. In 1974 and 75, the General Assembly proclaimed its resolution. These respectably affirmed the inalienable rights of the Palestinian People. It is mentioned in the united that they have their own liberal rights. Including the right for selfdetermination. For the repatriation to their homeland, we see to it that the settlement should take into all of these rights of the palestinians. United nations, new york. 1924 1974. I appeal to you further to aid our peoples return to it homeland from an involuntary exile imposed on it by force of arms. I tyranny, by oppression. So that we can regain our not have our land and to live in our National Homeland, free and sovereign, enjoying all the privileges of nationhood. Today, i have come bearing in all of ranch and a Freedom Fighters bearing an olive branch and a Freedom Fighters gun. Branchleft the olive fall from my hand. Oliveat, do not let the branch fall from my hand. We havent states, we havent a home. We except misery. We kept a very important thing, our will and determination. We started from zero but now we are of the important number. We are not after 10 years or three years. We want our rights, we want to go back and live in . Time philastine. This was given to us by god. I think the christians are well educated and well cultured. Scientific arts and literature, i think as a small nation we can take part. This is my feeling. I am ready to start from zero, even. Do not deny the people who are as an honors owners the right to go back. They must treat me as a human being. United nations, new york, 1978. We are complying today in the summarily ceremony with the specific recommendations that the charter mandates to our organization. Recognition of the fundamental rights of the peoples was constitutes mankind. Ladies and gentlemen, today we commemorate for the first time, the International Day of solidarity. 1974, tackling the political s. Pects of the palestinian reaffirmed the rights of the Palestinian People. It is the right to selfdetermination. The right of the palestinians to return to their homes. Committee ofhed a exercise. Right from the start, some chose to prejudge the committees a work. They claimed it would not be partial. In order to encourage the contribution of all sectors. In worke participating as observers. An invitation repeated in 1977. The committee made its recommendations after careful and objective consideration and in strict conformity with its mandate. These recommendations were based u. N. Nd resolution resolution. Solution could be envisaged without taking into account the right of the Palestinian People. The realization of these willenable rights contribute to a solution of the middle east crisis. The plo as a representative of the Palestinian People should in all conferences in the middle east held under United Nations offices. Inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by israels ability to withdraw completely from all territories so occupied. The recommendations were widely supported in the security council. The assembly subsequently endorsed the committees recommendations by 19 favor, 16 against an 30 an extension. In its second report, the committee reaffirmed their validity and the urgency of the plantation. The assembly reconfirmed its endorsement by an even a larger boat. Vote. Israel and some other countries have persisted in imposing implementation, we are convinced these recommendations would form just. Sis for no reference is made to the right of israel to exist as an independent state. Is notwer is that this in the committee. Their worry is unfounded. At as much as it is a member state of the u. S. U. N. Israel was created by United Nations. Made for aesolution palestinian state which israel does not wish to recognize. I am a human being. If they want us to abide the humanity of humility, they must treat me as a human being. You are watching American History tv, 48 hours of programming on American History every weekend on cspan3. Follow us on twitter at cspan history for information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. American history tv is on cspan3 every weekend, featuring museum tours, archival films and programs on the presidency. The civil war as well. Heres a clip from a recent program. Hearingsld a series of outlining the problem and basically came up with title ix, the 37 were long amendiginal idea was to the Civil Rights Act and include the word gender. There was quite a bit of pressure from civil right leaders to not change those laws. A compromise was to put it in just education. Why didnt they want to change those laws . It was a feeling that you put gender in it and a change to the laws. It ignored the intersection analogy. You can watch this and other American History programs on our website where all our video is art. That is cspan. Org history. Seven major fires struck San Francisco between 1849 and 1851. Closed, and megastorm the Sacramento Valley with 30 feet of water. Theext, they talk about floods that coincided with the population explosion caused by the California Gold rush. Explains that as towns and cities were destroyed, citizens just rebuilt them. Hosted by the California Historical society in San Francisco. Time,roduction