Between Philadelphia and Saladin … the winding path of Palestinian leadership

Palestinians have never needed to forsake their beliefs to claim their right to independence or to live dignified lives in their ancestral homeland. This faith, regardless of creed or doctrine, refers to one’s relationship with the Creator. The prophets of the three Abrahamic religions, all sent by one God, stand equal in completing the divine messages. Yet, the manipulation of religion by political leaders, both in Palestine and beyond, has been a recurring theme, with sacred texts often mined to serve personal agendas. Even secular leaders who did not believe in any religion found religious authorities to justify killing, displacement and family separation in religion’s name.

The recent resurgence of discussions about the “Philadelphia Corridor” prompted an investigation into its name, wondering about the connection between a narrow strip linking Egypt, Gaza and Israel and the city of Philadelphia in the US state of Pennsylvania. The more accurate term, Philadelphi Corridor, is an Israeli code name coined when the Gaza Strip was handed over to the Palestinian Authority. Palestinians, however, call it the Saladin Corridor.

Throughout Palestinian history, a pattern emerges where leaders’ external loyalties have often overshadowed the Palestinian cause itself

Bakir Oweida

Reflecting on this, memories surface of a tumultuous incident in Gaza set against the backdrop of regional tensions between Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Egypt and Abdul-Karim Qasim’s Iraq during the early 1960s. Students, myself included, surrounded the Saladin Middle School, pelting stones at the principal when he came out to calm us down. The principal was the renowned poet Mu’in Bseiso, a prominent figure in Gaza’s Communist Party who passed away in a London hotel on Jan. 23, 1984, at the young age of 57.

The echoes of past political dynamics continue to resonate in the current Palestinian situation. Throughout Palestinian history, a pattern emerges where leaders’ external loyalties have often overshadowed the Palestinian cause itself. I am not singling out  Bseiso, but rather the ideological affiliations of Palestinian leaders that have frequently led to decisions that placed Palestine’s interests as secondary. The phenomenon spans decades, with numerous examples in both recent and distant history.

Had the Palestinian leadership consistently prioritized domestic concerns over broader ideological commitments or external allegiances, the current reality for Palestinians might be markedly different. There is a prevailing belief that a more internally focused approach could have yielded more favorable conditions or, at the very least, a different set of challenges than those faced today.

• Bakir Oweida is a Palestinian journalist who pursued a professional career in journalism in Libya in 1968, where he worked at Al-Haqiqa newspaper in Benghazi, then Al-Balagh. and Al-Jihad in Tripoli. He has written for several Arab publications in Britain since 1978. He worked at Al-Arab newspaper, Al-Thadamun magazine and the international Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. He has also worked as a consultant at the online newspaper Elaph.

This article first appeared in Asharq Al-Awsat.