History teaches us that native people are not guaranteed victory but that they always have many options moving forward.

In this essay, I explore the challenges and the many options open for Palestinians as we enter perhaps the most challenging period of our history. George Bush's speech in front of the Israeli Knesset "celebrating" this ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the politicide that followed included this with no bit of irony:

"The alliance between our governments is unbreakable, yet the source of our friendship runs deeper than any treaty. It is grounded in the shared spirit of our people, the bonds of the Book, the ties of the soul. When William Bradford stepped off the Mayflower in 1620, he quoted the words of Jeremiah: 'Come let us declare in Zion the word of God.' The founders of my country saw a new promised land and bestowed upon their towns names like Bethlehem and New Canaan. And in time, many Americans became passionate advocates for a Jewish state."

Will his "Manifest destiny" characterize the future and will Palestinian natives follow the trajectory of America's natives? Will he be proven wrong here as he was proven wrong in Iraq and Afghanistan? We cannot guarantee anything. We only know that history is not something that happens; it is made. Further, natives can learn to analyze objectively without losing their dreams and aspirations (and natives in America have not given up). In Palestine, we actually have far more options and possibilities if we look at things objectively.

Today, there are millions of Jews who identify themselves as Zionist of various shades and who hold significant power in Western Countries. There are some 5 million Jews and five million Palestinian (Christian, Muslim, and other) who live under the rule of the apartheid Israeli state. Half the Jews who live in Palestine/Israel are immigrants. Seven million of the 10 million Palestinians in the world are refugees or displaced people. Israel stole most of the land and now controls some 93% of the land of Palestine (before the British invasion and the Balfour Declaration, native and Zionist Jews collectively owned only 2% of Palestine).