AT a recent New York event, Ian Williams, president of the Foreign Press Association, told an approving audience that it is time “to reclaim the narrative on Palestine.”

The phrase “reclaiming the narrative” is relatively new to the Palestinian discourse. Years ago, the mere concept, let alone its implementation, was quite alien. The pro-Israel crowd refused and still refuses to acknowledge that Palestinians, their history and political discourse matter, while some in the pro-Palestinian movement relegated Palestinian voices as if they were simply incapable of articulating a coherent narrative.

For many years, I, along with other Palestinian intellectuals raged against the misrepresentation and marginalisation of Palestine and the Palestinians, not only by Israel and its allies in the mainstream media, but also through the elitism that existed within the Palestinian movement itself.