In Ramallah, thousands celebrate Palestine at the UN amid doubt it will result in meaningful change

Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank city of Ramallah gathered outdoors Thursday evening to watch a simulcast of President Mahmoud Abbas address the United Nations General Assembly, and celebrate the raising of the Palestinian flag at UN headquarters. Despite the excitement at the event, many of the onlookers were skeptical of the achievement and voiced criticisms of Abbas’s announcement that the Palestinian Authority is no longer bound by the Oslo Accords.

“Tell me, what will the U.N. do tomorrow? I don’t know why he went,” said Omar Yassin, 23, an employee at a phone store near the screen set up in central Ramallah that projected the UNGA events. “The issue has become boring, he does the same step every year,” he said.

Many said it was within Abbas’s purview to declare the Oslo period over, which in its most far-reaching interpretation would mean a collapse of the Palestinian government in the West Bank and a calling on of Israel to once again take control of Palestinian civil affairs. Yet after years of building momentum in the international community—with a growing number of countries recognizing Palestinian statehood—Palestinians lamented there are few, if any concrete changes on the ground. Thus, they also expected no significant shift in how the West Bank is governed following Abbas’s speech.

“There are many international resolutions that give the Palestinians rights on the basis of the 1967 borders, but the Israeli occupation is prolonged, and building settlement and violating Palestinian human rights,” said Muntaser Dar Shreteh, 23, a lawyer from Ramallah who stressed while it “is a right for the Palestinians, a right for Mahmoud Abbas to end this Authority and let Israel manage it and hold responsibility,” he wanted firmer action from the international community to pressure Israel. “We hope and wish that the UN applies this decision [ending the Oslo Accords] through the Security Council.”

Others felts Palestinian efforts at the UN were fruitless.

“There’s not solution because the Israeli are committing crimes every day, every day there is occupation, raping [of the land], and arrests. The Ibrahimi Mosque and al-Aqsa are gone, what are we going to do—keep talking for no reason? We want freedom, yet there is no freedom. We are occupied,” said Umm Ehab, 55, who watched the speech from downtown Ramallah with her grown son. “It’s all useless,” she concluded.