Head of Palestinian Mission visits UvA: “Even I cannot carry my own identity”
The head of the Palestinian Mission in the Netherlands, Ammar Hijazi, spoke on Tuesday afternoon during a discussion at Room for Discussion about the situation in Palestine. In a packed hall, he emphasized how Palestinians are repeatedly confronted with erasure and expressed his appreciation for students who resist it.
Erasure. If there is one word that the Palestinian representative Ammar Hijazi repeatedly uses during his interview at the debate platform Room for Discussion (RfD) in the E-Hall on the Roeterseiland campus, it is that. For a well-attended audience—ultimately with more visitors than seats—he outlined the history of Palestine on Tuesday afternoon.
At the invitation of RfD and the Arab Student Association Amsterdam, Hijazi spoke for an hour in depth about the country he has represented in the Netherlands since September. The first half hour of the discussion resembled a history lesson. Hijazi spoke about, among other things, the founding of the precursor to the United Nations, the Nakba, and the UN partition plan for Israel and Palestine. Events that—all briefly summarized—have more or less had the same outcome: “Erasure after erasure after erasure of Palestinians.”
One example he mentioned is the ability to identify yourself as Palestinian in official documents. Hijazi said: “I am a diplomat. I already have many more rights and opportunities than the average Palestinian, but even I do not have the most basic right: to carry my own identity on my own identity card.”
Trust in the law
The conversation with the head of the Palestinian Mission in the Netherlands—formally not an ambassador, because the Netherlands does not recognize Palestine—became especially interesting when his diplomatic work and the current situation of the Palestinians were discussed. Hijazi, who has been responsible for the Palestinian representation in The Hague since September 2024, was repeatedly asked in different ways whether he still has faith in international courts and diplomacy. He ultimately responded with a question: “What is the alternative?”
He later answered that question himself: the alternative is the Board of Peace of American President Donald Trump. Or, in other words: the law of the strongest. “Then everything is determined by people with big guns who say: I want this piece of land, I want to take that piece of land.”
The attitude of the Netherlands toward Palestinians, Israel, and the genocide in Gaza also came up during the conversation. When Hijazi was confronted with a previous statement in which he said that one is “either on the side of international law or on the side of colonialism, genocide, and war crimes,” he skillfully dodged the follow-up question of where the Netherlands stands. Jokingly, he said: “Apparently, you want to ruin Dutch-Palestinian relations.”
Questions from the audience
Questions from students in the audience, among whom several keffiyehs could be seen, focused primarily on one topic: what can we do to help Palestine and to prevent its erasure? In response, Hijazi mainly expressed respect for the students and the generation “that is aware, ready to act, and stands up against inequality.” He advised continuing to draw attention to the Palestinian situation in Gaza and the West Bank through social media, to keep discussing it among themselves, and to hold politicians accountable for the decisions they make.
“I don’t have a list of things you can do,” Hijazi said. At the same time, he urged those present to continue what they are doing and emphasized that, in his view, the Red Line demonstration “moved mountains.” He said he believes that the actions taken have led to discussions in the Netherlands about additional measures against Israel and have made the country more critical of new settlements in the West Bank. He expressed hope that students would continue this work. Or, in his own words: “Be the good people we claim to be, and carry on.”
