In a blistering 1970 interview in Beirut, a Palestinian author and politician dismantled the Western obsession with "peace talks" in one of the most incisive critiques of colonial diplomacy ever recorded. The exchange—now hauntingly prescient—reveals why oppressed peoples reject the language of compromise when their very existence is at stake.

The Interview That Exposed "Peace" as Capitulation

Interviewer: "Why won't your organization engage in peace talks with the Israelis?"
Palestinian Leader: "You don’t mean exactly peace talks. You mean capitulation. Surrendering."

With this opening salvo, he exposed the hypocrisy of demanding "dialogue" from a people under occupation. The interviewer, wedded to liberal fantasies of conflict resolution, kept circling back to the same question: Why not just talk?

But the Palestinian’s responses cut to the bone:

• On the Farce of Neutral Negotiations:
  "Talk to whom? [...] That’s the kind of conversation between the sword and the neck."
  (A metaphor for the power imbalance: Colonizers dictate terms; the colonized beg for scraps.)
• On the Myth of Colonial Benevolence:
  "I had never seen any talk between a colonialist case and a national liberation movement."
  (History’s verdict: Freedom is never won through "talks" with those who hold the gun.)
• On the Empty Demand for Surrender:
  "People usually fight for something and they stop fighting for something. So you can’t tell me even why should we speak? About what?"
  (The interviewer couldn’t answer. Because "peace" meant Palestinians accepting perpetual subjugation.)

The Revealing Climax: "Better Than Death?"

The most damning moment came when the interviewer argued:
"Well, better [submission] than death, though."

The Palestinian’s reply should echo across every generation:
"Maybe to you but to us it is not. To us, to liberate our country, to have dignity, to have respect, to have our mere human rights is something as essential as life itself."

Here, he exposed the racist core of "peace" rhetoric: That the oppressed should prefer survival over justice, that chains are nobler than resistance.

Why This Interview Matters Today

1. The "Peace Industry" Still Peddles the Same Lies
   
• Western leaders still demand Palestinians "renounce violence" while funding Israel’s genocide.
• The sword still dictates terms to the neck.
2. Dignity > Survival
   His words foreshadowed Gaza’s unbreakable will today: A people who’d rather die standing than kneel.
3. The Unanswered Question
   The interviewer never answered: "Talk about what?" Because there’s nothing to discuss when one side holds all the power.

"This interview is 54 years old. The world still asks Palestinians to surrender. Their answer remains the same."