Dagens Nyheter Newspaper

15 Nov. 2023

“Palestinian Ambassador: I don’t label any Palestinian a terrorist

Palestine’s Stockholm ambassador mourns the deaths in Gaza and is disappointed in Sweden, which

did not vote for a ceasefire. She distances herself from the terrorist act on October 7 – but does not

want to call Hamas terrorists. “I will never label any Palestinian a terrorist. Israel is the terrorists –

write that in capital letters”, says Rula Almhaissen.

The flag of Palestine is being flown at half-mast facing Rådmansgatan. On the sidewalk next to the

entrance: Bouquets of flowers and grave candles.

– The flowers are sometimes stolen, but new ones arrive every day. Many in Sweden care about the

suffering of our people, says Ambassador Rula Almhaissen.

She bends down to straighten a lantern with a Palestinian flag. Around her neck she has a keffiyeh, a

Palestinian shawl.

– I wear a keffiyeh over my suit every day now, at all my meetings. It feels important. In a few hours I

will wear it when I meet Foreign Minister Billström.

What does the shawl mean?

– It is a symbol of our struggle. The resistance against the Israeli occupation.

From her pocket, the ambassador pulls out a piece of paper with handwritten numbers. It is a list of

the number of Palestinian casualties – or “martyrs” in the words of the ambassador – since Israel

launched its military offensive in response to the Hamas-coordinated terrorist attack in Israel on 7

October.

– The number of martyrs is now well over 10,000. More than 4,000 are children. Children! They have

been killed by the Israeli occupation forces.

The figures come from the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza and the ambassador trusts them to

be accurate. She mentions a former classmate of hers, the lawyer Randa, who lives in the Gaza Strip

with her children.

– She tells us that everyone is starving. That there is nowhere to run. We had contact via Whatsapp –

but three days ago the contact was broken. I don’t know if Randa and her children are alive today.

Tears appear in her eyes and Rula Almhaissen struggles to keep her voice steady as she talks about

her main focus right now: Trying to bring about a truce.

She was disappointed when Sweden dropped its vote when the UN General Assembly voted for an

immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Sweden wanted to see an article condemning Hamas’ terrorist

attacks.

Norway chose a different path and voted yes to a ceasefire. Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide

compared it with the Western world’s reactions to Russia’s war in Ukraine and explained that

Norway wanted to “counteract an experience of that we in the West have different standards”.

Ambassador Rula Almhaissen thinks that lives are valued differently in the Swedish public.

– It is a racist world. We Palestinians do not have the same value as Ukrainians. It is obvious when you

read Swedish media.

There is a large photograph of Yassir Arafat in her room, with his keffiyeh on his head. For many

years, Arafat was the leader of the Palestinian coalition PLO and the socialist party Fatah, the same

party that the ambassador belongs to.

Arafat was the first president of Palestine until his death in 2004. Three years later, the Fatah-led

Palestinian Authority lost control over the Gaza Strip. The Islamist movement Hamas won an election

in Gaza in 2006, and in the summer of 2007 Hamas took over after an armed struggle in which

hundreds were killed.

It was Hamas that planned and carried out the terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, when around

1,200 people, civilians and soldiers, children and adults, were killed. At the same time, Hamas

captured over 240 people – most of whom are now being held hostage in Gaza.

– We reject what Hamas did on October 7. They did it without any coordination with us. We have no

contact with them, says Rula Almhaissen.

The ambassador weighs her words about the terrorist act. It is important for her not to use the

stronger term “condemn”. A term her president Mahmoud Abbas also chose not to use immediately

after the attacks when he underlined “the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves”.

Hamas are not terrorists, in Rula Almhaissen’s eyes.

– I will never, ever label any Palestinian a terrorist. We are fighting against occupation and we are

fighting against an ongoing genocide. In contrast, the Israeli occupying power are terrorists. Write it

down in capital letters!

The Palestinian ambassador blames “the international community” for the terrorist act because the

outside world “has not reacted against Israel’s oppression”.

– I have personally warned about this in all my meetings in Sweden, but no one wanted to listen.

What did you warn about?

– That the Israelis undermined the Palestinian Authority and the two-state solution – and that it

would logically lead to this point. No one has held Israel accountable.

You don’t blame Hamas for the October 7 attacks?

– I have already said that I distance myself from what they did. But the international community is

also responsible. Israel has levelled up the oppression. They have stolen more land and expanded

settlements. They have unjustly imprisoned Palestinians, including women and children. They have

armed settlers and let them do whatever they want. But nobody has done anything about it. The

world has left us to face this alone.

The ambassador says Israel is using Hamas’ terrorist act on October 7 “as an excuse to slaughter

everyone.” And despite many testimonies of how well-coordinated attacks by Hamas knocked out

Israeli defense lines at the same time, she expresses a conspiracy theory that Israel actually allowed

the attacks to happen.

– I think it’s strange, what happened. No one believed that the barriers around Gaza could be pushed.

Do you seriously think that Israel would have sacrificed so many Israeli civilians to get an excuse to

bomb Gaza?

– I’m just saying that it’s very suspicious. I can’t rule it out.

The Palestinian Authority rules over the West Bank and until January of this year had a security

cooperation with the Israeli state. No elections have been held since 2006, which, along with

corruption scandals, has damaged many Palestinians’ confidence in the authority.

Ambassador Rula Almhaissen blames Israel, which she says exaggerates the problems with

corruption. It is also Israel’s fault, she believes, that elections have not been announced.

– The Israelis have not allowed the Palestinians in Jerusalem to vote. Then elections cannot be held.

At the same time, it is no secret that support for Hamas is also strong in the West Bank. The question

of which party would win an election is open. In the past month, DN’s correspondent in the West

Bank has reported on protests against the Palestinian Authority and green Hamas flags on the

streets.

– Of course we will arrange elections in the future, after the ceasefire. We have already held local

elections.

At pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Swedish public places, the slogan “From the river to the sea,

Palestine will be free” is sometimes heard. How do you interpret that?

– That those who shout that out have lost faith in a two-state solution.

Why do you keep believing that?

– In the long run, it is the only feasible way. But then we must have a democratic interlocutor. You

cannot be an occupying power and a democracy at the same time.

Tens of thousands with Palestinian roots live in Sweden. Many criticize the embassy in Stockholm,

which is accused of passivity and of attending to Israel’s affairs. And the division between Hamas and

the Palestinian Authority is also noticeable here in Sweden.

When a large Palestinian conference was organized in Malmö in May, the PLO advised against

participating in it. The Social Democrats listened- but the Social Democratic member of parliament,

Jamal El-Haj from Malmö still participated, for which he was criticized even internally within S.

– It was not strange that we did not support the conference in Malmö. Hamas does not recognize the

PLO, says Rula Almhaissen.

So it was a Hamas conference, then?

– Yes.

In Malmö and in other Swedish cities, honking cars celebrated with Palestinian flags, just hours after

the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel. The ambassador does not see it as obvious that they were

celebrating Hamas’s killing of civilians.

– They mostly celebrated the idea of breaking the 16-year-long blockade that Israel has imposed on

the Palestinians in Gaza. I think it was a celebration of the hope to end the oppression, says Rula

Almhaissen.

Hatred of Jews is one of Hamas’ hallmarks, and many are frightened by the celebrations in Swedish

streets after the terrorist group’s massacres. But the ambassador does not think that Swedish Jews

need to be afraid.

– We have no problem with Jews. Our problem is with Israel.

What is your view on Hamas?

– They have chosen a different path. We support a peaceful, diplomatic path. But no one appreciated

it. Instead, we were accused of not being the right partner for peace.

Are you from the Palestinian Authority ready to take over in Gaza at a later stage?

– Why not? Gaza is part of Palestine and eventually we will, as part of a larger solution that also

includes the West Bank.

It has been nine years since Sweden recognized Palestine as a state. Rula Almhaissen calls Sweden’s

decision in 2014 brave – but says that Sweden in 2023 “is no longer the Sweden we knew”.

– The Sweden we felt could have led the campaign for a ceasefire. Because that’s what it is about

now. We must stop the damned war.

Fact box 1:

Palestine’s ambassador Rula Almhaissen

Age: 47 years

Family: Husband. Two daughters, 15 and 14 years old, and two twin sons who are 7 years old.

Background: Born in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria. The family comes from Hebron. Has worked

in the Palestinian Authority for 24 years. The post as Palestine’s Stockholm ambassador is her first

post abroad.

Fact box 2:

Sweden recognized Palestine nine years ago

The Swedish government announced Sweden’s recognition of Palestine as a state in October 2014.

The aim was to “contribute to the goal that Israel and Palestine can live side by side in peaceful

coexistence”, according to Sweden’s foreign minister at the time, Margot Wallström (S).

Now three Swedish parties in the Swedish government cooperation – KD, L and SD – want to revoke

the recognition of Palestine. L recently wrote in a debate article: “Send the Palestinian ‘ambassador’

home” . However, that will not happen, according to Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M).

Palestine’s ambassador Rula Almhaissen says that she has best contact with S, MP and V in Swedish

politics. She is disappointed in Sweden’s decision to freeze aid to Palestine after the terrorist act on 7

October. “A hasty decision that affects those in need. Hamas does not receive a penny from the aid,”

says the ambassador.”