"I am the Son of the Nakba": The Saint's Exclusive Interview with The Palestinian Ambassador to the United Kingdom: H.E. Dr Husam Zomlot

“Tell me. Tell me how you still have hope. Because I look and I see no hope.”

An hour before Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom, H.E. Dr Husam Zomlot, spoke to over 800 students, he prepared for his 12 October speech surrounded by faculty members and a few students in the basement of Younger Hall.

There, a student who had recently emigrated from Palestine sought comfort.

“I look, and I see no hope. How do you have hope?”

Her sentiment is shared by many. Over the past three years, approximately 77,000 Palestinian and Israeli people have been killed, with children accounting for a disproportionate number of the casualties. Despite opposition from people around the world, the killing continues. 

In online forums and communities across the world, many are confronting the reality that the international community cannot stop genocide even when the world mobilises.

In an exclusive interview with The Saint, Zomlot made clear that where others see a lack of progress, he sees revolutionary change.

The brutality of the last few years “brought us to a very dangerous moment in our history. If the murder of tens of thousands of children on [our] screens, in real time, was to be accepted and normalised, we were doomed.” He paused. “But we [are] not doomed. Because of you. Because of the student movement, because of the youth movement.” 

Zomlot spoke about the encampments, the protests, and the boycotts that occurred immediately following Israel’s 2023 siege on Gaza. The interview came just a few weeks after the UK government's historic announcement that it would introduce a new sanctions regime targeting settlements in the occupied West Bank. To the ambassador, these actions represent a “tide that [students] have made to shift. You [all] have brought the British government to its knees.” Zomlot commended the government for fulfilling its “legal obligation to impose sanctions.” 

The decision has been met with immense opposition by Israel, particularly from the Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa'ar, who slammed the sanctions as “morally distorted.” 

“Sanctions are a tool, not an end. It’s not an objective,” Zomlot said. “Under military occupation, [do] subjugated [people] have the right to resist? The answer is yes according to international law,” Zomlot said, but stipulated that resistance should never include the targeting of civilians. “We have the right — and the obligation — to resist. We need to encourage, promote, [and] support non-violent resistance, and boycott is the definition of non-violence.” 

Zomlot believes the new sanctions regime will be critical in forcing an unwilling Israeli government into negotiations. Even with Israeli elections quickly approaching, Zomlot does not believe a new government will bring about change. “Netanyahu is the product, not the problem. Nothing will change until they [the Israeli government] realise they are not above the law.” 

So far, however, international law has done little to help Palestinians. The United Nations’ repeated calls to end the genocide in Gaza have been ignored by major world powers, as have the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu. Despite its failings, Zomlot believes in the power of the international system, but sees one necessary modification. 

“The issue is not in the law: the law is clear. The issue is not even in the institutions of the law. The problem is in political enforcement.” When asked if he believed there should be a global police force tasked with enforcing international law, Zomlot replied, “Yes. [We] need to make sure we have an enforceable mechanism for international law. You cannot leave conflicts to be resolved by the people in conflict because usually there is an occupied and an occupier. Peace must be enforced.” 

Zomlot has seen the need for enforcement up close. In May, he visited the West Bank, an experience he described as “heartbreaking”: “Settler terrorism is rampant,” “state-sponsored terrorism is rampant,” and “Palestinians are defenseless” against it all, he said. “We are facing hooligans, militias, and terrorists, backed by the occupying power and armed to their teeth [with] full impunity,” Zomlot said. “In the West Bank, the suffocation is vivid. They are trying to give you two choices, like they do in Gaza. Either die or leave.” 

Zomlot was born and raised in a refugee camp in Gaza, where he lived until moving to the West Bank to attend Birzeit University. Now, even university life has changed completely. 

“They killed many of my fellow students [in my] time, and arrested many of us,” he said. “But there were limits. Now, [the Israeli government] has crossed all red lines.” He believes that the Israeli government wants to “strip universities of life” — more specifically, the “national life” of Palestinian culture. “You [can] go and study math, but you are not supposed to study your history, your narrative, your heritage.”

To Zomlot, this prospect seems incredibly dangerous. In his view, the destruction of universities is an attempt to destroy Palestinian national identity. “We did not have academic marriage at Birzeit. But we had a collective marriage,” he said. “We had a sense of community, a sense of togetherness, a sense of unity. I was born in Gaza, so that was the first time I would meet my fellow Palestinians from the West Bank, from inside Israel. [It was] the first time I felt whole as a Palestinian and among the Palestinian family.” 

The “Palestinian family” Zomlot envisioned is dynamic and varied. “Palestine before the creation of Israel was a cradle of civilisations,” he said. “Diversity is our strength, and we can accommodate everyone. Israel can’t.” 

In the future, he hopes to see a version of Palestine with cultural, religious, and intellectual freedom. “[I dream of] a state that can utilise its huge heritage and become a hub between west and east, a state that can respect all of its citizens, be [they] Jews, Christians, or Muslims,” Zomlot said. He imagines “a state of builders, scientists, poets — we’re famous for them,” he added with a wink. 

Before that can happen, there needs to be justice, Zomlot added. “We are not children of a lesser god. It's as simple as that. What any other nation enjoys, we must enjoy. God is not a real estate agent. He does not distribute land. There are no chosen people. There is no one better than the other.”

“Equality is the key word here. And equality means that our life is worth [the same as] all other lives, particularly the lives of our children. They deserve a future.”

Despite all the opposition, Zomlot believes that this future is possible. “I’m very hopeful. Very hopeful. I think finally the floodgates are wide open,” he said, referring to a recent increase in popular support for Palestine. “Israel has committed big strategic mistakes. It has won the battle, but it has lost the war. People see the injustice, and they now believe the threat is to all of us.” If people can get away with mass murder, “what does that mean for the rest of us?”

By the end of the talk, over 800 people were on their feet. I saw many familiar faces in the crowd, each with different worldviews but seemingly united in their belief in the fundamental human right to life. Political disagreements are numerous in student communities, and it is easy to get caught up in them. Zomlot’s recommendation was simple: “Stop looking for unity in thinking, [and] start looking for unity of purpose.”  

Photo provided by Rayan Al Mahrouqi