THF QUESTION OF PALESTINE 7 grave concern “ that the denial o f [Palestinian] rights has been aggravated by the reported acts o f collective punishment, arbitrary detention, curfews, destruction o f houses and proper­ ty, deportation and other repressive acts against the refugees and other inhabitants o f the occupied territories,” and then went on to “ reaffirm the inalienable rights o f the people of Palestine.” O n e year later. Resolution 2627C recognized “ that the people o f Palestine are entitled to equal rights and self-determination, in accordance with the Charter o f the United N ations.” ) Despite these unambiguous determ inations, the Palestinians remain so specialized a people as to serve essentially as a synonym for trouble— rootless, mindless, gratuitous trouble. They will not go away as they ought to, they will not accept the fate o f other refugees (who have, apparently, simply resigned themselves to being refugees and therefore are contented as such), they cause trouble. Recent crises involving the Palestin­ ians in Lebanon and Jordan are cited as instances to prove the point. And if the commentator happens to be more sophistical* ed, he may also allude to the “ fact” that the Palestinians are part o f what is doubtless a fearsom e event, the resurgence of Islam.3 According to this som ewhat paranoiac view , if even the President o f the United States refers to the Palestinian problem as an intrinsic part o f the M iddle East peace, it is because of Muslim oil, Muslim fanaticism, Muslim blackmail. W hat all such material partially screens is something totally intractable, something that totally resists any theory, any one-plus-one explanation, any display o f feelings or attitudes. I refer to the plain and irreducible core o f the Palestinian experience for the last hundred years: that on the land called Palestine there existed as a huge majority for hundreds o f years a largely pastoral, a nevertheless socially, culturally, politi­ cally, economically identifiable people whose language and religion were (for a huge m ajority) A rabic and Islam, respec­ tively. This people— or, if one wishes to deny them any modern conception o f themselves as a people, this group of people— identified itself with the land it tilled and lived on (poorly or not is irrelevant), the more so after an almost wholly