The image: Muhammed El-Kurd at the UN General Assembly, United Nations Photo, 29 Nov 2021.
A young man holds a speech. At first sight, this is all we see in the picture placed in front of us. If we were to see it without context, we would not know that the young man in the picture is Mohammed El-Kurd, a Palestinian writer and activist, who rose to fame after defending his family in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, from illegal eviction by the Israeli occupation. In May 2021, the local community of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, defending their homes, sparked global media attention. Israeli police later stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which together with the attempted evictions triggered a large-scale military conflict between the Israeli army and Gazan militias.
At first sight, we also would not know that Muhammed El-Kurd is addressing none less than the United Nations General Assembly, holding a startling speech about the Palestinian struggle on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, a day itself established by the General Assembly in 1977. A second glance might give us a hint: A golden logo attached on what appears to be a heavy marble podium, a blue-and-white flag in the background, displaying the earth.
What else matters for context? One could name the fragile relationship between the Palestinian people and the UN today. One where the Palestinian side feels left defenseless in the face of Israel’s settlement policies, undermining international law as formulated by the UN itself. To put it in Mohammed El-Kurd’s sarcastic words:
“Thank you for these ground-breaking speeches. I’m sure the occupation authorities are really concerned right now.”
Of course, many young, courageous individuals have spoken to the international community before. Greta Thunberg addressed the world at the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019. Syrian refugee Mohammed Badran appeared before the General Assembly to demand action for young refugees in 2016. Still, something leaves one pensive about the image of a young Palestinian man growing up under occupation, now surrounded by cold marble walls as he launches yet another attempt to awaken the world to Palestinian suffering, pride, and resistance.
The institutional meets the individual: Mohammed El-Kurd is the living and breathing reminder that the Palestinian people still exist, and that they deserve justice. That Palestine is not just the name of a place, but more importantly, human beings with aspirations, dreams, and the right to live in freedom from occupation. As the peace process is halted and international human rights organizations decry Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, the UN, despite its numerous resolutions, appears almost useless.
It is that apparent uselessness that Mohammed El-Kurd emphasizes in his speech:
“What is it that I can say today that has not been said before? How many Palestinians have stood on this platform for decades and decried the same broken promises and unfulfilled UN resolutions? How many of us have tried to articulate the atrocities that everyone at this institution knows very well and still ignores.”
Mohammed El-Kurd is not the only one pointing out the institutions’ inaction when it comes to political issues of global relevance. Greta Thunberg, when stressing the climate emergency, similarly criticized world leaders, telling them:
“You are failing us, but the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you, and if you choose to fail us, I say, we will never forgive you.”
This is, I think, what the picture of Mohammed El-Kurd addressing the United Nations represents. It represents young leaders pointing out the obvious, holding up a mirror to a global community that too often promises and too seldom delivers. Today, young leaders around the world – people who, oftentimes, do not understand themselves as political leaders per se, maybe because they have been disappointed by politics for far too long – demand serious action from the international community. For our generation, loose promises and important sounding declarations are not acceptable. Our generation demands real action, real solutions, and real leadership to protect human rights around the globe, to combat the climate crisis, to abolish Racism not only in the institutions, but also in the collective mind of humanity.
Will the international community deliver? Are we to witness human cooperation transcending the constraints of Racism, Capitalism, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, and other dehumanizing ideologies? Or will world leaders leave a whole generation of young people disoriented and disappointed with the way politics work?
The isolation of Russia in the face of its illegal invasion of Ukraine shows us how the world could work, and how it, in some instances, does works. The question is, will the international community finally treat the illegal invasion of the Palestinian territories with the same urgency, the same concern for human dignity?
Mohammed El-Kurd should not have to stand in front of the General Assembly to ask the world for action. He must, anyway. Because maybe it is this, maybe it is a young man in a blue shirt and a leather jacket, that will finally make the international community understand. Palestinians are people, and they have rights, too. The power of the picture lies in its contrast: There is a young man who deserves to live in peace and dignity, and then there is the powerful global community, shielded by marble walls, which, in that moment, could not appear more powerless.
Dalea Awada
References
Amnesty International. “Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians – A Look into Decades of Oppression and Domination”, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/, last access 20 April 2022.
El-Kurd, Mohammed. “Speech by Mohammed Al-Kurd before the UN General Assembly”, https://www.un.org/unispal/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Speech-of-Mohammed-Al-Kurd-before-the-General-Assembly-cad.pdf, last access 20 April 2022.
Human Rights Watch. “A Threshold Crossed – Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution”, 27 April 2021, https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution, last access 20 April 2022.
Middle East Monitor. “Mohammed El-Kurd addresses UN on anniversary of Palestine partition”, https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20211130-mohammed-el-kurd-addresses-un-on-anniversary-of-palestine-partition/, last access 20 April 2022.
Sherinian, Aaron. “9 People at the UN General Assembly who inspired us”, United Nations Foundation, https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/9-people-at-the-un-general-assembly-who-inspired-us/, last access 20 April 2022.
United Nations Photos [UN_Photo]. “Mohammed El-Kurd @m7mdkurd, activist and Palestinian writer and poet from Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, speaks during the special meeting in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People at the #UN. #PalestineDay”, 29 November 2022, https://twitter.com/un_photo/status/1465415848374456326, last access 20 April 2022.
United Nations. “Greta Thunberg tells world leaders ‘you are failing us’, as nations announce fresh climate action”, https://www.un.org/development/desa/youth/news/2019/09/greta-thunberg/, last access 20 April 2022.
United Nations. “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People 29 November”, https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-of-solidarity-with-the-palestinian-people, last access 20 April 2022.
