Who are the Palestinians?

Who are the Palestinians?

Who are they, and who has the right to speak for them?

Oppressed nationalities find it difficult to get a hearing because those who pretend to represent them often are political adventurers who merely exploit them—be it for imperialistic purposes of other powers or to vent on imaginary enemies their own hate of the world. This is true of the Somalis, the Irish, the Bengali, the Ibos; it is doubly true of the Palestinians because their country happens to lie at the crossroads of a world power struggle. Nowhere else do local enmities serve so many outside masters; nowhere else do foreign interests spread so much confusion about the very identity of the people whom they pretend to save.

So, first of all let us agree: like mo...