Arafat’s Gun and Olive Branch Speech

On the anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat, the former chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), we remember his infamous gun and olive branch speech. Arafat’s speech to the General Assembly on November 13, 1974, was a key point in the organization’s fight for Palestinian independence and self-determination. As part of their colonial occupation, Israel has been cutting down olive trees due to their association with Palestinian culture, replacing them with imported pine trees, and thus transforming the olive branch into a symbol of Palestinian resistance. Through the metaphor of an olive branch in one hand and a freedom fighter’s gun in the other, Arafat warned of the dangers of Zionism and its plan to eradicate Palestinian culture, identity, and history. The speech also marked a shift in the organization’s policy concerning the struggle against the state of Israel, with Arafat gradually considering a diplomatic approach, leading to him signing the Oslo Accords in 1993, effectively making “peace” with the Israeli occupation. The Oslo Accords have long been in tatters because of decades of Israeli violations of the agreement. In the 30 years since the signing of the Oslo Accords, the number of illegal settlements has at least tripled, and the Jewish settler population in the occupied West Bank has more than quadrupled. Today, the Palestinian masses largely reject Oslo, with resistance against the occupation intensifying, culminating in the offensive of October 7. #YasserArafat #GunAndOliveBranch #Palestine