“We must demand recognition of Palestine- because Palestine exists. It is not something we need to “earn” or “prove we deserve.” It is our homeland. It is our right.”
Marwan Yaghi, Political Officer for the Palestinian Mission, was amongst the speakers in the ‘Viva Palestina! Latin America Stands in Solidarity’ session at this year’s Latin America Conference. You can read an edited version of his speech published below.
Friends, executives, members, delegates: it is a pleasure to be here and an honour to speak with you today.
Allow me first to thank Rob Miller, Matt Willgress and the Cuba Solidarity Campaign for their efforts and their important work and for today’s significant event. I am truly humbled to be among such a remarkable panel; alongside my friend Louise Regan, Dr. Aleida Guevara, and Gawain Little.
As a Gazan myself with family still there, and after losing 44 members of my own family in one F-35 Israeli Missile, I must be honest- my faith in humanity has been deeply shaken over the past 15 months. Fifteen months of genocide in Gaza will do that. 15 months where the most powerful countries in the world could have intervened, but failed to do so.
I’ve found it hard to keep my faith in the goodness of humanity when so many of my people have suffered so much, so long, and so openly.
I’ve found it hard to keep believing in the purity of the human spirit when confronted with those who would blame us for a catastrophic situation that did not start in October 2023, but long before, in the UK in 1917, when the British Empire promised our land to others.
And yet, whenever I’ve felt this way, I have been humbled by the spirit of those who were the direct victims of all these atrocious crimes.
How my people in Palestine stayed steadfast and true to themselves despite the cruel aggression, the outsized violence, the unsparing destruction they were subjected to.
How, even at the bleakest moments, they never lost faith: not in themselves and not in the future.
I was humbled when I saw people stitch together old clothes to make winter clothes for children.
I was humbled by those who created classrooms in tents to teach some of the 625,000 children who have gone without an education for 15 months.
I was humbled by the heroism of our ambulance drivers, who never stopped trying to reach the wounded, despite they themselves becoming targets for these mindless aggressors.
I was humbled by the courage of our doctors and health workers, of whom more than 1,000 have been killed, who stuck to their work, and whose commitment to the welfare of their communities never wavered.
In their example, in their strength, in their determination… that is where I see hope in humanity.
Friends, the situation in Palestine is not just bad- it is catastrophic.
We talk about a ceasefire in Gaza, but what has Israel really done? It has turned its guns on the West Bank. In Jenin and Tulkarm, refugee camps are being flattened, homes are being destroyed, and over 70 people have been killed since early January.
Over 20 thousand have been displaced, and settler terrorists- yes, terrorists- are rampaging across the West Bank, burning villages, torching farmland, and killing Palestinians with full protection from the Israeli occupation army.
Meanwhile, Gaza is gone. A wasteland.
The people of Gaza call themselves “the people of the tents”—because their homes, schools, hospitals, and universities have been bombed to nothing, and everything turned to tents. The death toll has climbed past 61,000 and will only rise. And that’s just from the bombs. It doesn’t count the people Israel has killed with starvation, disease, and cold.
And yet, it is not over.
Israel is still pushing forward, still expanding its colonial occupation, still talking about a future in which Palestinians do not exist. This is not just apartheid. This is not just occupation. This is genocide.
Friends, we must be clear about the problem if we want to solve it. Israel’s goal is simple, the end game for them is simple: to remove Palestinians from their land: by force, by starvation, by economic destruction. They will use any means necessary.
But, we are not going anywhere. Actually, if there is any place to go back to, it is my hometown: Elmasmya near Eld and Yafah. This is what my father told me recently after he went back from the south to the North.
Brothers and sisters, the time for words alone is over. We need action.
Illegal settlements are not communities, they are war crimes. When it comes to illegal settlement goods: we don’t label them, we ban them. They are the products of a war crime. The UK must condemn and sanction the Israelis’ settlement project as a whole, as it’s a state sponsored project.
We need a full arms embargo. Not one bullet, not one missile, not one drone to a genocidal regime.
We must call out the double standards. If Israel were any other country, it would be under sanctions. It would be isolated. But on the contrary, the Netanyahu who is wanted by the ICC is being received and rewarded by countries like the US.
Lastly, we must demand recognition of Palestine- because Palestine exists. It is not something we need to “earn” or “prove we deserve.” It is our homeland. It is our right. There is nothing called ‘the right moment to do it”.
It is either do it and do it now, or you are complicit in the suffering of the 14 million Palestinians around the world.
Friends, this is a turning point.
The world is waking up. The people are ahead of their governments. Millions are marching for Palestine. This is our moment.
Do not stop. Do not waver.
Keep pushing, keep fighting, keep demanding.
For Gaza. For the West Bank. For all of Palestine.
For justice. For liberation.
And for a free, free Palestine!
- Mawan Yaghi is the Political Officer for the Palestinian Mission – you can follow him on Twitter/X and Instagram.
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