'We are eager to live in peace with Israelis': Palestine's ambassador to India

Adnan Abu Alhaija, 72, has seen many a war. This one is no different. A free Palestine may not happen in his lifetime, but he lives in hope, and is even not averse to the option of living with Israelis if there is peace. Edited excerpts from an interview:

Q Do you think Hamas’s attack on Israel is a turning point for the Middle East?

A I wish this war did not happen. We had war in 2021, too. If you do not find a solution to the Palestinian cause, if the Palestinian people do not get their rights, we will see many wars. There are heavy casualties on both sides, especially now that the Israelis are bombing everything. Mass destruction to the infrastructure, to the buildings, to the people.

Q The attack by Hamas was different from the earlier ones. How do you look at what happened on October 7?

A It is important to ask why that happened. Why have Israel's crimes in the West Bank for a few years gone without any accountability?

This year, and before October 9, the Israelis killed 260 people in the West Bank. On October 9, they killed 16 people in the West Bank. I'm not talking about the death toll in Gaza. Settlers are going everywhere defended by the Israeli occupied forces.

Q Israel has said that these are human animals, and has cut off gas, electricity, water and food. How long can Gaza survive?

A This is a war crime. To describe 2.2 million people as human animals, only the Nazis can say that, or a fascist.

The situation is very bad in Gaza. They might survive for less than a week. How can you live without water? The poverty in Gaza is more than 70 per cent. Some 2.2 million people are living in an open air prison. They are asking them to emigrate to Egypt. No one will emigrate. They can kill all Palestinians, But the Palestinians will never leave their land.

Q Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to be fighting for his own survival.

A That is true for two reasons. First, if he is not prime minister, he will go to jail. Second, this is the most extreme government in Israel in 75 years. Whether it is [National Security Minister] Itmar Ben-Gvir or [Finance Minister] Bezalel Smotrich or the members of the Knesset [who hold extreme views] against the Palestinian people, they all have corruption cases.

Q There has been a sort of mainstreaming of Israel.

A Netanyahu thinks that if you normalise relations with some Arab countries, he will solve the Palestinian cause. Or he will go around, so the Palestinian cause won't be important. But we are the people who live there. If you normalise relations with the whole world, but don’t solve the problem of the Palestinian people, you will never get peace.

In the West Bank and Gaza, there are six million people; and another two million are Israeli citizens. So historical Palestine is eight million people. He should find the solution for these people. The normalisation agreement won’t give him any advantage if he does not solve the problem with Palestine.

Q What is the way ahead? There have been no conversations during the Netanyahu regime.

A The international community should put pressure. If you leave it to this extreme government, there will never be peace in the region, not just in Palestine.

We are asking for our independent state; 22 per cent of historical Palestine, which is in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. We are eager to live in peace with the Israelis. There are two solutions: Give Palestine their own state with the 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital; or the one-state solution. We are ready to live together in a democratic state, call it whatever. Otherwise, the world should bring the leaders of Israel to accountability and put pressure from the US, the Europeans and all countries in the world, and force the Israelis and this apartheid regime to come to peace.

Q How do you see the situation evolving? Especially with the hostages.

A The situation is very bad. I hope there will be a ceasefire soon. Stop this massacre, stop the killing. In the end, these hostages have their own way. We also have 5,000 prisoners in Israel. We have about 160 children in prison. I think, for the hostages and the prisoners, there will be some kind of solution to release both of them.

Q What do you expect from India?

A I expect India, as a friend of both, to be a mediator with some other countries. India is a very important country for us and for the Israelis, and important for the world. India has lots of relations all around the world, from the US to the Europeans to the Arabs. They can form a coalition to find a solution.

Q America has been pushing for Saudi Arabia to normalise relations with Israel.

A Saudi Arabia is very important. They are the leaders and they support the Palestinian cause. We have heard many statements from Saudi Arabia about this conflict, calling for defending the Palestinian people and to find a solution. In any kind of normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian cause will be there.

Q The EU has threatened to withdraw aid for Palestine, though it was opposed by a few countries.

A The Europeans are hypocrites. Now they will remember the international law. They said that Israel had the right to defend itself according to international law. While Palestinians have more than 800 resolutions from the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, that is not international law, or the crimes committed by Israel in Palestine won't affect international law. I hope the Europeans will for once be honest and look at both sides from the same point of view.

Q Hamas controls Gaza, but not the West Bank. Do the Palestinians know who is going to speak for them? Ever since Yasser Arafat, there hasn't been one leader.

A I think the effect of Israel is there. To be united, there [has to] be negotiation between Fatah and Hamas, Palestinian Authority and Hamas, or we go to election. The Israelis are refusing to let us hold an election in East Jerusalem, which has happened many times before. If we don't hold elections there, it will mean we are giving East Jerusalem to the Israelis. We will not do that. Crisis unites. As the Israelis are now calling for a national government. When someone attacks the Palestinian people, we will be united.

Q Are you saying Hamas will accept the two-state solution?

A They have said that more than once. I am not Hamas. I am not responsible for Hamas. But I have heard that from Hamas many times. But there should be a real solution; not what they have done in the Oslo agreement.