Palestinians are in a dilemma. We are not sure whom to trust, whom not to trust, what to do or not to do to end the human tragedy in which we find ourselves. To be sure, there are many who pretend to know what is best for us and for our future, but history shows that much of this external advice is self-serving rather than beneficial to Palestinians.

When European Zionists first came to Palestine and attempted to supplant the indigenous Palestinians, our great grandparents turned to the British, supporting them during the First World War, in the hope the area would be recognized as a Palestinian state. The Ottomans, rulers over the territory for four centuries, had sided with Germany during the 1914-18 war. The British told us: If you just help us in this war, the state will be yours.

After the war, however, we found that British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour had made a similar promise to European Jews, leaving Britain to sort out the mess during three decades of its mandate over Palestine. After the 1948 catastrophe (Israel’s "War of Independence") that led to the expulsion of many of our people, Palestinian nationalists, such as the Palestine Liberation Organization, called for one state to be established between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea — a secular democratic state that would have a Palestinian majority.

By the late 1980s, with the encouragement of Palestinians under occupation who were waging the first intifada (popular uprising), the PLO reversed its traditional stand. It stopped calling for one state between the river and the sea and declared a Palestinian state alongside Israel. We had been told: If you just accept Israel, you’ll get your state in the West Bank and Gaza. In November, 1988, that’s what the PLO did.

More than 20 years later, Palestinians still don’t have a state and Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza have more than doubled.

It wasn’t for lack of trying. Palestinians sought peace through an attempted international peace conference, secret talks, public negotiations, back channels, superpower sponsorships, U.S. intervention, United Nations mediation and resolutions, European Union troikas and special envoys, non-aligned efforts, Egyptian diplomacy, and even the efforts of a dying Jordanian monarch. All to no avail.

While all these external countries and organizations were trying — and failing — to find a solution, Palestinians also used a variety of means to establish the beginnings of statehood. We used non-governmental organizations to create quasi governmental institutions; we created trade unions and student unions. Writers, poets, singers, actors, dancers, musicians and all forms of art and media joined in the efforts of building a nation but, at the end of the day, we were left with the Israeli occupation.

Palestinian political activists followed many movements — Marxist and Maoist, nationalist and Islamist, secular and religious — but none has had any tangible results. We resisted the occupation using non-violent and violent means. We engaged in demonstrations, sit-ins, write-ins, graffiti, underground communications. We tried stone-throwing, shooting, suicide bombings. None of these methods has worked.

Several years ago, when multilateral negotiations were attempted, Palestinians were asked to bypass their leadership — to come to the table, not with the PLO as our representative, but under a joint Palestinian-Jordanian umbrella — for peace talks. World leaders advised us to lower our hopes, to forget about the return of the 1948 refugees, and to accept the exchange of some of our prime land — now housing Israeli settlements — for smaller strips of land in the desert. Palestinians agreed to all this, yet without any real change on the ground.

Patience was called for. Moderation was demanded, confidence-building measures were requested and still nothing.

Now, U.S. President George W. Bush has made the final demand: Just get rid of your leadership, choose someone who is not tainted by terrorism, and within three years there will be a state (whose borders and nature will have to be negotiated with Israel). But when even a moderate Palestinian such as Sari Nusseibeh, the President of Al Quds University and someone who has initiated a public petition against suicide bombings, is hounded by the Israelis, what are we to believe?

When he introduced his plan, Mr. Bush made a number of demands of the Palestinians. What did he require of the Israelis? He told them to reduce the travel restrictions placed on Palestinians. The Israeli response: continuous curfews in all Palestinian cities. He asked Israelis to pull back their troops to positions they held on Sept. 28, 2000. The Israeli reaction: incursions using tanks, assassinations using U.S.-made apache helicopters leading to the total reoccupation of every city of the West Bank, the restrictions and terrorizing of nearly two million Palestinians.

Mr. Bush tells us to trust him when he promises Palestinian statehood. Trust him? His people now tell us a parliamentary system is better than a presidential one. Not long ago, they told us we should have a strong presidency.

We are living a conundrum. If Palestinian groups that are in opposition to our leadership act, carrying out attacks on settlers or on Israelis in downtown Tel Aviv, the Palestinian Authority is held responsible. If the Palestinian Authority wants to work, its prisons and police stations are bombed. If Palestinians support suicide attacks they are considered a terrorist nation. If some, such as Mr. Nusseibeh, oppose these attacks they have their offices closed down for being too influential, a threat to Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem.

Palestinians are supposed to shun our president in favor of our legislative assembly, but the assembly is paralyzed by the occupation, and leading members, such as Marwan Barghouti, are arrested; others forbidden to travel. The Palestinian Authority is to be democratic and transparent and, at the same time, ruthlessly crack down and dismantle opposition groups.

Resist — you’re a terrorist. Try to negotiate — you’re told Israel won’t negotiate when it is still threatened by attacks. If there is no resistance, as was the case for many years, Israel feels no reason or urgency to respond to the calls for an end to its occupation.

No matter what Palestinians do, or do not do, they are damned to live under occupation. Whoever they choose, or do not choose, to lead them, they will not be allowed the freedoms enjoyed by most nations.

The ninety minutes I spent in the Jordan National Bank in Bethlehem said it all. I had gone to Bethlehem when I learned that curfew was to be temporarily lifted. People were loitering outside the branch shortly 9 am but the staff, which arrived at the same time, needed time to prepare before allowing the customers to come in. Lines were much longer, I was told when the Israeli incursions and curfews began, most people had withdrawn whatever money they thought they would need. Now customers had little money left and those waiting in line were using the bank for check cashing transactions and paying bills and taxes.

After three days of continuous 24-hour curfew, people learned that the Israeli restriction was to be lifted from 9am till 1 pm. The Israelis did not relate this vital information to the Palestinian population. Most had heard about it from the local Palestinian television stations, which apparently received the information from the Palestinian liaison office. The previous night I had tried to call the office of the Israeli army’s spokesman to find out if the curfew would be lifted and got the run around. "We are not sure," an army officer told me. Angered by her lack of concern to the plight of tens of thousands of Palestinians I screamed at her "you are talking about people who need to plan their lives," I said. "And we are concerned that terrorists are not allowed to move around," she retorted without any shame of holding an entire population hostage. (The following day Palestinians attacked Israeli settlers in the northern areas of the West Bank, despite the fact that curfew was not lifted in that area.)

On my way from Jerusalem and before reaching the bank, I had spoken by phone to a friend in Bethlehem who speculated that the lifting of the curfew might be extended till 3pm. When the bank finally opened around 9:30 the mood of those waiting in queue was somewhat normal until someone said that the curfew would be resumed at 12 noon and not at 1 as had been previously been thought. This brought a series of complaints. "What are we chickens that the Israelis can coop up whenever they want," said a women in her fifties. Others directed their complaints to the Arab world for their apathy. Three hundred and fifty million Arabs are living a normal life and we are penned up like mice.

Cell phones started working with people trying frantically to find out if this was in deed the case. Most were unable to get a straight answer, but one was able to confirm yes the lifting of the curfew would be over sooner than expected. The bank’s security officer moved quickly to close the door at 11 in order to allow the bank staff to finish those who already entered. A man wanting to withdraw a large amount of dollars was asked to wait as the cashier had only 300 greenbacks. One of the cell phone callers shouted that the curfew will not be restored till 1. A sigh of relief fell on the waiting customers as if they had been rewarded a major contribution. The bank’s security officer was not affected, minutes later it turned out that this good news was false and another cell phone caller delivered the bad news.

Clients were complaining about many things. One said that he has not been able to cash his check drawn on a Ramallah bank. When Bethlehem opens, Ramallah is closed and when Ramallah opens up we in Bethlehem are under curfew, he said angrily.

While waiting for my turn, I decided to speak to Susie Murad, one of the bank staff who deals with credit. How are things I inquired? We, the bank employees, must come to the bank as soon as the curfew is lifted and stay until it is re imposed, when are we supposed to take care of our personal needs, she inquired? How is work I asked trying to shift the conversation. Well, I have little work these days. The bank has decided to suspend all kinds of credit programs until the political situation clears up, and almost no one is coming to collect on credit card bills, because there are no tourists and shopkeepers are only dealing with cash these days.

Back in line, it became clear that the dollar cash flow problem had been resolved. A person with lots of hundred dollar bills was depositing rather than withdrawing. Curious about the source of this cash, I discovered that the man works for Lama Tours. "Don’t tell me that tourist have been visiting the Church of the Nativity during curfew, "I asked cynically. No, he said, rather seriously, this is from sales of airline tickets for Palestinians, some leaving for summer vacations but others permanently emigrating.

I left the bank in a hurry trying to get back to Jerusalem before getting stuck in the birthplace of Jesus under a round the clock curfew. The roads were filled with cars and a number of civilians near the ministry of education were trying to direct traffic. Palestinian police had always directed this corner and this led me to ask one if he was a member of the Palestinian police. "Not yet" said a young man wearing a white T-shirt. Somehow it sounded like some one still wanted to have the honor of wearing a Palestinian uniform even though the Palestinian Authority was in disarray.

Palestinians are in a dilemma. They are not sure what to do or not do, who to trust and what they have to do to end the human tragedy that they find themselves. To be sure there are many who pretend to know what is best for us and for our future, but history shows that much of this external advice is self serving rather than beneficial to Palestinians.

When Jewish Zionists first came to Palestine and attempted to replace the indigenous Palestinians, Palestinians tried to side with the British with the hope of freedom after world war one. The Ottomans who had reversed Arab improvements over fifty years, had sided with Germany. After the war the Brits reneged on their promises to Arabs revealing a parallel promise made by Balfour to the Jews. In the aftermaths of the 1948 catastrophe that led to the expulsion of Palestinians, the nationalist’s call was for a secular democratic state.

In the late 1980s, with encouragement from Palestinians under occupation who were conducting an intifada a popular uprising the PLO reversal of its traditional stand. It stopped calling for one state between the river and the Mediterranean for all its citizens and declared a Palestinian state alongside Israel. More than twenty years later, Palestinians still don’t have a state and Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza have more than doubled since then. No peaceful effort was spared. Palestinians sought peace through an attempted international peace conference, secret talks, public negotiations, back channels, super power sponsorships, US intervention, UN mediation and resolutions, EU troikas and special envoys, non-aligned efforts, Egyptian diplomacy, and even the efforts of a dying monarch. All to no avail.

While externally all these countries and organizations tried and failed, Palestinians also used a variety of means of trying to get rid of a foreign immovable military occupation. Palestinian efforts included using NGOs to create quasi-governmental institutions, trade unions and student unions were added to the struggle. Writers, poets, singers, actors, dancers, musicians and all forms of art and media was included in the efforts of nation building but without success at ending the core of the conflict, the Israeli occupation.

Palestinian political movements included Marxists and Maoists, Nationalists and Islamists, secular and religious but without any tangible results.

In resisting the occupation Palestinians used a variety of methods. From non violent to extremely violent. From demonstrations, to sit ins to write ins to wall graffiti, underground communications to stone throwing, shootings, and suicide bombings. None of these methods have worked.

Palestinians were asked to bypass their leadership, to offer representatives other than the PLO, to accept a joint Palestinian-Jordanian umbrella for peace talks. International leaders called on Palestinians to lower their hopes and aspirations, forget about the return of the refugees and accept exchange of their prime land for smaller strips of land in the desert. And Palestinians agreed to all this, yet without any real change on the ground.

Patience was called for. Moderation was demanded, confidence building measures were requested and yet nothing.

Now US president George Bush has made the final demand. Just get rid of your leadership, choose someone who is not tainted with terrorism i.e. a quisling and within three years there will be a state whose borders and nature will have to be negotiated with Israel. Even a moderate Palestinian like the president of Al Quds University, Sari Nusseibeh who has initiated a public petition against suicide bombings, is harassed and restricted by the Israelis. US position, public discomfort, but the Israeli occupation’s facts on the ground persist undeterred.

When he introduced his so called peace plan, the US president made a number of demands of the Israelis. What did Bush require of the Israelis? Scale down travel restrictions to Palestinians. Israeli response, continuous curfews in all Palestinian cities. Israel was also asked to remove its troops back to their locations on September 28th 2000. Israeli reaction, incursions using tanks, assassinations using US-made apache helicopters leading to the total reoccupation of every city of the West Bank, the restrictions and terrorizing of nearly two million Palestinians.

President US Bush wants Palestinians to trust him when he promises statehood, if the leadership is changed. We are now told a parliamentarian system is better than a presidential one. Earlier we were told that we should have a strong presidency. Four months ago the same George Bush demanded of the Israeli army to withdraw "immediately" and "I mean today and not tomorrow." Result no withdrawal at no cost from the American superpower.

If the opposition acts, the Palestinian Authority is held responsible. If the Palestinian Authority wants to work, its prisons and police stations are bombed. If Palestinians support suicide acts they are considered a terrorist nation. If some oppose (as in Nusseibeh) they are declared as weak and ineffectual. If the office of the President is to be shunned then the natural place to be given room to maneuver is the Palestinian parliament. But this too has been paralyzed by the occupation, which arrests its members (like Marwan Barghouti) and denies its members freedom of travel, which is enshrined in all international treaties. The Palestinian Authority must be democratic and transparent and at the same time crack down, if need be using state security courts, as Al Gore advised, to dismantle opposition groups.

If there is resistance, Palestinians are branded terrorists and Israel (with US backing) insists that terrorists will not be rewarded. When Palestinians are asked to negotiate rather than resist Israel refuses to negotiate under "terror." If there is no resistance, as was the case for tens of years, Israel feels no reason or urgency to respond to the calls for an end to its occupation. No matter what Palestinians do or not do they are damned to live under occupation. Whoever they choose or not choose they will not be allowed natural freedoms provided to all people of the earth.

It was an unusual wedding by all counts. The bride was Patricia Ghabar a Palestinian from Bethlehem. The groom, Wael Hashweh from Gaza. The officiating pastor Reverend Hanna Masaed also from Gaza. The wedding, however, had to take place in Amman, Jordan. That was the only place the wedding participants, closest family member and priest could meet. A friend of the family living in Jordan, Tamara, was asked at the last minute to stand in for a bridesmaid. The happy couple had met a few years ago, when Patricia had gone to Gaza to visit her father who runs the Gaza branch of the Bible Society.

Reverend Masaed pastor of the Gaza Baptist Church has his own travel problems. His wife, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin has been denied an entry visa to Gaza. Her ‘sin’ was that she extended her visitor’s visa while in Gaza a crime that seems to have upset the Israeli embassy in Jordan who had given her the original visa to travel to Gaza. She never overstayed her visa and her repeated attempts to get a new visa have been denied. Her lawyer is going to the Israeli high court trying to get the Israeli interior ministry to issue her the visa to visit her husband in Gaza. For his part he comes every now and then to Jordan, by way of Egypt.

This strange wedding is just one of the many problems every day Palestinians continue to face despite calls by US president George Bush on Israelis to ease the movement of Palestinians. Palestinians from the West Bank are strictly forbidden to travel to Gaza via Israel. They can, as the bride will do after her honeymoon in Turkey, travel to Gaza via Egypt. Gazans are completely to travel to the West Bank, not even by way of Jordan. The Lod airport has for some time been forbidden to Palestinians, and the Gaza International Airport opened so ceremonial by former US President Clinton has been taken out of order by Israeli bulldozers ploughing it up.

Travel restrictions are not simply restricted to Palestinians from the West Bank getting into Gaza or vice versa. Moving from one city to another, from cities to surrounding villages and moving between Jerusalem and the nearby cities has become such an ordeal that Palestinians spend more effort and time, often risking life and limp just to move from one place to the other.

Israelis claim that these restrictions are necessary to protect Israel from Islamic suicide bombers. None of the Palestinians who have attacked Israelis has ever been a person issued a normal permit. The result is simple. Only the innocent every day Palestinians suffer while those whom Israel says it wants to keep out, seem to have no problem in crossing into Israeli territory. And these travel restrictions are fuelling so much anger and frustrations that all of Israel’s efforts to build walls and reoccupy major cities will not dent.

Palestinians of course are not interested in yet another attempt at easing the travel restrictions; they want an end to the occupation. When Palestinians and the rest of the world call on Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian lands, they want to be free of this scourge that has affected the lives and minds of every single Palestinian.

After a honeymoon in Turkey. Wael and Patricia will return to their new home in Gaza. They will travel via Egypt and will have to go back to Amman every time they want to meet the rest of the family.

The United States government is dangling the hopes of salvation through by suggesting that Palestinians get rid of their present leadership as a way to qualify for a possible independent state some three years down the line. These calls will certainly fall on deaf ears so long as the average Palestinian like Wael and Patricia can’t travel more than a few kilometers without waiting for hours at yet another Israeli checkpoint and can’t even plan when the next time they will meet with their extended families.