Dr. Barghouthi’s speech at the West Eastern Divan Orchestra concert

The appearance of this orchestra in Ramallah is a sign of freedom that all Palestinians look forward to.

August 21, 2005

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, addressed a packed concert hall on Sunday in an intermission speech.  He announced to warm applause that Daniel Barenboim’s concert at the Ramallah Cultural Palace, played under the banner of “Freedom for Palestine” and broadcast worldwide, represents a dream of Palestinian intellectual Edward Said fulfilled.

This orchestra’s success in performing in Ramallah, he said, can help educated the world about how the Palestinian people suffer from occupation, injustice, and poverty.

Barghouthi said that the Palestinian people are eternally in love with education and music, as well as peace and freedom.  Their spirit has sustained a hope of freedom for decades, and has moved mountains and changed history.

He reiterated what Barenboim had said, that it is impossible to have true fraternity until there is liberty and equality among all people.

He addressed the orchestra itself saying that their appearance today in Palestine is a symbol of the freedom that all Palestinians look forward to and strive toward.  He stated that no one in this region, including Israel, will ever be free and secure unless the Palestinian people attain their right to freedom and security.

Dr. Barghouthi expressed his gratitude in the name of the Palestinian people for the musicians of the orchestra, for their talent, hard work, courage, optimism, and for the trust in their Palestinian hosts that made Edward Said’s dream come true.  He is certain that one day they will play in East Jerusalem as part of a free, democratic, and prosperous Palestine, without occupation, settlements, or the Apartheid Wall.  Only then, he said, can we truly say that Edward Said’s dream, and our dream, has come true.

Dr. Barghouthi reminded the audience that all conscientious citizens as well as international law have agreed that the Apartheid Wall must fall, and that settlements should be removed from all Palestinian lands.

While the media concentrates on the Gaza Strip, he concluded, our gathering today affirms that we have no intention of allowing Gaza to be made into a giant prison or isolated from the rest of Palestine.  The appearance of the West Eastern Divan orchestra is a reminder to all the world that the occupation must end and that the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza will be free.