We want to have economic relations with Nigeria but… – Palestinian Envoy
You have spent over 20 years in Nigeria as an ambassador which makes you the longest serving diplomat in the country. What’s your reaction to this?
I can claim, definitely with pride, that I’m the longest serving diplomat in Nigerian history. By the grace of God, I have never faced any incident, whatsoever, that might disturb or affect the image of my embassy in Nigeria. Nigerians have been friendly and cooperative both officially and unofficially. I don’t have any bad memory here. They have shown sympathy and support for the Palestinian cause.
During your earlier stint in Nigeria, were you here as an ambassador?
I was the deputy ambassador with the rank of counsellor before I was posted to India. And from India, I was given a choice to choose from four countries. Without any hesitation, I chose Nigeria and I’m glad to be here. Nigeria has a new president whom I know as a high quality leader. President Muhammadu Buhari was the one who founded the diplomatic relationship between Palestine and Nigeria during his first tenure as the Military Head of State. During my first stay in Nigeria, he always showed support and sympathy and even enquire about the situation in Palestine. When late President Yasser Arafat passed away in 2004, in the morning around 8a.m., he was not only the first former Nigerian head of state to show his sympathy and condolence but also the first Nigerian citizen to visit the embassy to sympathise with the people of Palestine on the death of Arafat. I had the privilege to receive him and I remembered the way he expressed his feelings. It was a true, honest and genuine feeling. When he became the president, I was very happy for many reasons. Nigeria needs such a wise, determined, clean and capable leadership to rule the country.
What do you expect of his government in relation to the course of P
He already showed very good signals. We do not request any president, whoever, to support us blindly. If we do something wrong, let them say that we are wrong. The just course of Palestine is an unquestionable matter. Palestinian Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Saleh A. Fhied, in this interview, talked about his over 20-year experience as a diplomat in Nigeria and how the Israeli occupation of Palestine is affecting the establishment of economic relations with Nigeria. Nobody can deny the fact that we are the last nation on earth still under occupation, facing Israel for behaving above the international law. We have been engaging with them in peace talks for 20 years. They have signed the Oslo agreement in 1995. It is 20 years now, what more do they want? They had occupied Palestine, East Jerusalem and Gaza in 1967 civil war for six days. Can’t they withdraw within 20 years of time? This is a big question for them. We also reiterate that the long overdue independence of the State of Palestine, after 67 years of occupation and dispossession continues to be the only key to establishing peace and will contribute to regional and international peace and stability. We hope that the walls of violence and exclusion built by the Israeli occupation will be torn down and replaced by peace and justice based on a recognition of equality, freedom and dignity for the people of Palestine as well as all people of the region. We need strong leaders with good quality to point out to Israel that they are not against it as a country but against its behaviour as above the international law. World leaders should call Israel to stop its crime against humanity in the Palestine occupied territory, and to stop violating the sanctity of both the Muslims and Christians’ holy sites and implement all international legitimacy decisions regarding the conflict in Palestine. That’s why we are calling for international protection and a very clear international support for the two-state solution, which must be more than lip service. And Nigeria can assist very positively and use its weigh, pressure and strength along with other powerful nations to pressure Israel to embrace peace with the Palestinians; peace that will lead to Palestinian Independent State with East Jerusalem as its capital. President Buhari showed that signal during his speech at the 70th Session of United Nations General Assembly where he mentioned that the world has no more excuses or reasons to delay the implementation of the long list of Security Council resolutions on Palestine.
It must have been a disappointment to Palestine what happened at the UN assembly during the last administration when there was a vote and Nigeria took a different position to what it was known for. What’s your reaction to this?
I would rather prefer to speak about the future not about the past. The past has gone. Only good past will not go. We felt so much disappointed and angry. The expectation from Nigeria was high and we were 100 percent guaranteed, that’s why we felt offended and displeased. Nigeria, impossible that it would vote against or abstain from voting. That is the pain. Anyway, that’s past, we now stick to the future. How to cope with each other and promote our bilateral relations with Nigeria, what we can do to help Nigeria or Nigeria to help us? These are what we concentrate on. That is my assignment here which I hope will be possible with the help of President Buhari-led administration and Nigerians both Muslims and Christians. Palestine is not pure Muslim nation, we have Christians and we live, struggle and work as one nation to gain our freedom from the Israeli occupation.
After the abstention by Nigeria, some diplomats came out to say that they were disappointed because Nigeria had earlier promised to vote in favour of Palestine. What can you say about that?
Talking about the issue now will bring more pain. Let us concentrate on the future, let’s have hope in the future which we believe is always better that the past.
What are the areas of cooperation you have with Nigeria?
We have long years of good relationship with Nigeria and this is based on an enduring and immutable principle of friendship and understanding. We are sure that these unbreakable ties will continue to grow and gather strength in the years ahead. And, by the grace of God, it will be under the leadership of President Buhari. At the moment, we don’t have any trade relation with Nigeria. We want to grow our good relations with Nigeria to include economic relation. This, however, is facing some difficulties, though not our fault. Our economy is suffering from the hands of Israel. They (Israel) control everything in Palestine and consider it a captive market. With their occupation of Palestine, we cannot export to Nigeria and if we cannot fulfil an agreement, we will not sign it. We can sign other bilateral relations with Nigeria and this is my assignment. Meanwhile, we have a good number of Palestinian expatriates in Nigeria, like engineers, doctors, businessmen who are residing in the country for a very long time and without any criminal records. I’m requesting Nigerian government, private sectors and Nigerians in general to make good use of their presence here. They are highly professionals.
What are your challenges in Nigeria?
I am living like ordinary Nigerians. I enjoy what they enjoy. I suffer what they suffer. My wish for the country is to have a constant power supply, good transportation system, education, health and so on. Nigeria deserves to be better than this and it will be, by God’s grace.