Palestine...a power without influence

Writer: Rami Mahdawi

Not every power is visible, and not every country is strong because it has an army, and people who do not have the balance of military and economic power are not necessarily without power. In modern politics, there is a force that creates fear, a force that creates need, and a third, quieter and deeper force that creates conviction, bias, and trust. Between those who can impose a fait accompli by force, and those who can influence the way the world sees things, a wide area of ​​influence is formed called “soft power.”

From this particular angle, Palestine appears to be an exceptional case. Despite the occupation, the absence of full sovereignty, and the imbalance of power, it possesses symbolic, moral, cultural, and humanitarian capital that exceeds that of more stable and wealthier countries. However, the paradox is that possessing the elements of power does not necessarily mean possessing influence. Power that is not managed remains a possibility, a symbol that does not turn into an institution remains an emotion, and sympathy that is not translated into a network of relationships, interests and positions may decline as soon as the world’s cameras turn elsewhere.

Palestine does not suffer from a problem of absence from the world. On the contrary, it is perhaps one of the most present issues in contemporary political and humanitarian memory. The name Jerusalem transcends the boundaries of geography to include history, religion, and human conscience. Bethlehem is present in the memories of hundreds of millions around the world, and the keffiyeh has surpassed its Palestinian owner to become a global symbol of freedom and protest, while the olive tree, key, and Palestinian embroidery have turned into visual vocabulary that carries the complete story of a people. As for Palestinian literature, music, cinema, and art, they have often reached places that traditional diplomacy could not reach.

But the question is not: Does the world know us? But what did we do with this knowledge?

This is where the difference between image and influence begins. For a person in a distant city to sympathize with Palestine is important, and for a demonstration to take place carrying the Palestinian flag is something that has political and moral value, but soft power becomes influence only when sympathy turns into a sustainable position, the position into a relationship, the relationship into an institution, and the institution into the ability to influence the decision. Politics does not live by emotions alone, no matter how fair they are. It is also lived by networks of interests, knowledge, relationships, and the ability to make your presence important to others.

The Palestinian has long and rightly relied on the justice of his cause. But the justice of the issue, no matter how clear, is not a complete political strategy. If justice alone were enough to change history, the occupation would not have continued for all these decades. We need to move from simply proving that we have a right to building the capacity that makes ignoring this right more costly politically, morally, and culturally. Specifically here, soft power becomes part of the liberation battle, not a diplomatic luxury or a public relations campaign.

This requires redefining Palestinian diplomacy itself. Diplomacy does not begin at the embassy and end at the doors of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A university that builds an international partnership practices a form of diplomacy, an artist who takes Palestine to a global festival does so as well, and a writer, researcher, doctor, businessman, student, athlete, and cultural institution are all capable of expanding Palestine’s space in the world. In a time when societies influence governments as much as governments influence societies, it is no longer enough to talk to capitals; We have to talk to universities, unions, cultural institutions, the media, the private sector and new generations.

Here the importance of the Palestinians in the diaspora appears. We have a qualitative Palestinian presence in Europe, the Americas, the Arab world, Africa and other places, and we have scholars, academics, businessmen, doctors, writers, artists and politicians who have a real influence in their societies. But there is a fundamental difference between the presence of successful Palestinians in the world and the existence of a global Palestinian network of influence. The first is the success of individuals, while the second is a nation’s project. The real challenge is how to transform these dispersed energies into permanent bridges between Palestine and the world, without reducing them to occasions of solidarity or summoning them only when disaster strikes.

On the other hand, we must be liberated from a dangerous idea established by decades of conflict, which is that tragedy must be the primary Palestinian product for the world. Palestine is not a funeral open to history, and the Palestinian is not a human being who is only seen when he is killed, displaced, or loses his home. This country produced poetry, novels, music, thought, art, universities, institutions, and human energies, and despite all attempts to uproot it, it was able to produce life in the same space that was intended to produce despair.

Even Gaza must not remain in the global imagination only as rubble. Gaza is a sea, a memory, universities, writers, artists, children who dream, and cities with a history. Jerusalem is not only news of a new incursion, but rather one of the most important cities in the world, spiritually and culturally. Bethlehem is not a seasonal image at Christmas, but rather a Palestinian window open to the global human conscience. When we restore these meanings, we will have begun to liberate our image as well, because the occupation does not seek to control the land only; He wants to control the definition of landowner.

However, building soft power abroad poses a difficult question at home. It is not possible to build the image of a strong state with weak institutions, nor to defend freedom before the world without protecting its spaces in our society, nor to demand that others respect our narrative while not giving culture, knowledge, media, university, and critical thought the status they deserve. Soft power is not a good advertisement for a bad reality; In essence, it is a reflection of the kind of society we want others to see and respect.

The opportunity facing Palestine today is as great as it can be missed. The world is rediscovering Palestine, and new generations are asking, reading and discussing, far from many old stereotypes. But the world's attention does not always belong to anyone. The wave of solidarity that does not turn into an institution recedes, the emotion that does not turn into knowledge weakens, the knowledge that does not turn into a relationship remains distant, and the relationship that does not turn into influence remains powerless to influence when major decisions are made.

Therefore, the next Palestinian question should not only be: How do we make the world hear us? We have heard the world too much. Or how do we make him see us? He saw us in the most brutal and clear images. The most important question is: How do we make the world reckon with Palestine?

This is the real transition from soft power to influence. From having your cause present in the conscience until it becomes present in the decision, from being a symbol of solidarity to becoming a partner that cannot be ignored, and from asking the world to stand with you because you have a right, until you build, alongside the right, a network of culture, knowledge, relationships and interests that makes standing with Palestine part of the world’s vision of its interests, values ​​and future.

Palestine does not need to invent its soft power; She's had it for a long time. It owns man, the novel, Jerusalem, history, culture, spread, and symbol, and above all, it owns a cause that has been able, despite a century of attempts at abolition, to remain alive in the conscience of the world.

What we lack is to bring together this dispersed power into one national project. Because countries and peoples do not only become influential when the world knows that they exist, but also when their existence becomes part of its calculations. Perhaps our next battle, in addition to the battle for land, freedom, and sovereignty, will be the battle to transform Palestine from an issue that the world cannot forget, into a force that the world cannot overcome.