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The Palestinian-Israeli conflict touches on all Americans as it has figured centrally in U.S. foreign policy at least since 1968 when the Johnson Administration provided Israel with its first supersonic aircraft in order to achieve a military edge over its Arab neighbors. While this history makes it incumbent upon all Americans to participate in finding a solution to the conflict today--the major stakeholders in the struggle for Palestinian self-determination are Palestinians themselves.
Since the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the consequent displacement and dispossession of Palestinians, the Palestinian national body has been fragmented several times over. Today Palestinian identity is bantustanized into those who are citizens of Israel vs. those who are residents of East Jerusalem vs. those who are under occupation in the West Bank vs. those who are under occupation and siege in Gaza vs. those who live in refugee camps throughout the Arab world vs. those who exist in a global diaspora. Such fragmentation limits the potential for organizing among Palestinians to decide on a collective future and its concomitant strategy. Moreover, external involvement both imperial (i.e., the US) as well as regional (i.e., Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon) has divided Palestinians into broad categories of "good" and "bad" in relation to the U.S. and European political establishment. In order to transcend these divisions and engage in a process of self-represented self-determination, Palestinians in the U.S. seek to coalesce themselves into a cohesive body that can join other parts the world over from South America, Canada, Europe, the Arab world, the Occupied Territories, and Israel. The PMA seeks to begin this conversation, agree in theory on its value, encourage its attendees to join the USPCN and participate in its Second Popular Conference, and to introduce a resolution to the general Forum body.
