An Analysis of Yasser Arafat’s Speech Addressed to the UN General Assembly, 1974

[This short essay was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements in History 153 (Modern West Asia) at UPV.]

Paragraph 82: The olive tree branch

The recognition of the United Nations of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole representative of the Palestinian people, and the appearance and speech of the Chairman of the PLO’s Executive Committee, Yasser Arafat, to the General Assembly in November 13, 1974[1], was a hallmark in the organization’s fight for Palestinian independence and self-determination. It also marked a shift in the organization’s policy with regards to the struggle against the state of Israel, with Arafat gradually considering a diplomatic approach. Perhaps one of the key sentences of Arafat’s speech, which in a way encapsulates his entire message, is found in paragraph 82. Arafat says: “Today I have come bearing an olive tree branch and a freedom-fighter’s gun. Do not let the olive tree branch fall from my hand. I repeat: do not let the olive tree branch fall from my hand”.[2] Most of the state representatives and delegates who were not familiar with Palestinian culture may have missed-out on this detail of the speech; however, I consider Arafat’s analogy of the olive tree branch and the freedom-fighter’s gun as a significant symbol of Palestinian struggle and aspirations.

A closer look into Palestinian culture and history would show that the olive tree has been an essential part of their economy, traditions, and identity.[3] Apparently, the Palestinian people have been harvesting olives for centuries — with olive oil being one of the main agricultural products of the local Palestine economy and a main component of their diet.[4] Hence, these century-old olive trees have become symbols of Palestinian indigeneity and identity, a proof of their claim to the land which had been occupied by the Jewish settlers.[5] Over the years, the apartheid state of Israel had cut down these olive trees, due to its association with Palestinian indigeneity, and had them replaced by imported pine trees.[6] This destruction of trees that signified Palestinian existence in the region has thus transformed it into a symbol of resistance as well.[7] Through this metaphor of an olive tree branch on one hand and a freedom-fighter’s gun on the other, Arafat warns the dangers of Zionism and its threats to utterly destroy Palestinian culture, identity, and history.

Defining Palestinian struggle for self-determination

Arafat, by the start of his speech, describes some of the goals of the United Nations, namely, the eventual dismantling of the structures of colonialism, imperialism, and racial/ethnic discrimination, as these structures are what hinder the achievement of fundamental human rights of life, freedom, security, and self-determination.[8] He claims that revolutionary groups and organizations across the world that fight against colonialism, imperialism and discrimination are themselves instruments in achieving these goals of establishing just and equal societies, and therefore like the PLO, must be granted recognition and a voice in the United Nations.[9] Their struggle, according to Arafat, is justified and legitimate, as it is a reaction towards the oppressive forces of Zionism in the region; and that the goals of the PLO are completely in accordance with the principles embodied in the UN’s Charter and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[10] He also further elaborates the historical, political, and cultural context of the Palestinian struggle against the apartheid state of Israel — reaffirming the historical claims and indigenous rights of the Palestinians and, in the process, uncovering the historical distortions made by the Zionists. Though enacted decades after this monumental speech, the rights of the Palestinians as an indigenous people to return to the land which is now the occupied territories of the state of Israel, is further entrenched and justified under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.[11] Furthermore, Arafat makes another though-provoking statement on the difference of a revolutionary and a terrorist. Debunking the various accusations from the US and the state of Israel that the PLO is a terrorist organization, Arafat points out that the dire conditions of the Palestinian people and the loss of their ancestral lands under the state of Israel were what compelled them to resist through the force of arms; that in fact, many of the heads or representatives of new independent nation-states were, during their times of struggle, also considered as terrorists by the status quo, and that in following this logic, even the United States, in its struggle for independence in the late 18th century, should also be considered as terrorists.[12]

Aside from clarifying the nature of their organization and their form of struggle, Arafat also stated that they are not by any means anti-Semitic or hateful of Jews, as they, too, recognize the struggles and the misery of the Jews under the Nazi regime in Europe and elsewhere, and that even history would tell that the Palestinians — who were the ethnic majority of the region prior to the establishment of the state of Israel — had always been welcoming to minorities such as the Armenians, Circassians, and even Jews, accommodating them into their homelands and treating them as equals.[13] Not fueled by blind religious or ethnic hatred, but sustained by a love of freedom and a yearning to return to one’s homeland — as guaranteed by international laws — is the nature of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.

[1] United Nations General Assembly Twenty-Ninth Session Official Records, “AGENDA ITEM 108: Question on Palestine (continued)*,” November 13, 1974, https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/A238EC7A3E13EED18525624A007697EC

[2] United Nations General Assembly Twenty-Ninth Session Official Records, “AGENDA ITEM 108: Question on Palestine (continued)*.”

[3] Cesar Chelala, “Palestinian Olive Tress: Destroying a Symbol of Life,” Counter Punch, November 3, 2015, https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/11/03/palestinian-olive-trees-destroying-a-symbol-of-life/

[4] Cesar Chelala, “Palestinian Olive Tress: Destroying a Symbol of Life.”

[5] Ahmad Moussa, “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People: An Indigenous rights perspective,” Mondoweiss: News & Opinion About Palestine, Israel & the United States, November 29, 2015, https://mondoweiss.net/2015/11/international-palestinian-perspective/

[6] Cesar Chelala, “Palestinian Olive Tress: Destroying a Symbol of Life.”

[7] Ibid.

[8] United Nations General Assembly Twenty-Ninth Session Official Records, “AGENDA ITEM 108: Question on Palestine (continued)*,” November 13, 1974, https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/A238EC7A3E13EED18525624A007697EC

[9] United Nations General Assembly Twenty-Ninth Session Official Records, “AGENDA ITEM 108: Question on Palestine (continued)*.”

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ahmad Moussa, “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People: An Indigenous rights perspective,” Mondoweiss: News & Opinion About Palestine, Israel & the United States, November 29, 2015, https://mondoweiss.net/2015/11/international-palestinian-perspective/; United Nations, “United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” March 2008.

[12] United Nations General Assembly Twenty-Ninth Session Official Records, “AGENDA ITEM 108: Question on Palestine (continued)*.”

[13] Ibid.