In trying to Palestine’s prospects of independence and peace with Israel, one is reminded of Tolstoy’s observation that ‘All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’. This is to say that, successful claims to independence share common features, but the circumstances of Palestine’s aspiration for independence are distinctively its own.
Despite this, comparisons have been, perhaps, inevitable. In this, some key principles appear to be universal to successful independence movements; they reflect a bonded political identity, they occupy a relatively clearly delineated territory, and they share a common grievance. These criteria apply to Palestine.
Two specific comparisons of, so far, unresolved claims to independence that are sometimes cited as similar to Palestine are those of Western Sahara and West Papaua. Where Western Sahara, West Papua and Palestine are similar is that their territories have been occupied by another, numerically large population.
In Western Sahara, under the banner of the Polisario Front, the Sahrawi people fought to achieve independence from colonial Spain when, in 1975, their territory was invaded by neighbouring Morocco and Mauritania. In this respect, Western Sahara bears closest similarity to East Timor and its........