Editor's note: As the violence escalates in the Middle East, CGTN's Sr. International Editor Abhishek G. Bhaya spoke with Palestinian writer and activist, Tara Alami, to delve into the long-term solutions for peace. With global Palestinian diaspora uniting in concern and solidarity, Alami, who lives in Montreal, Canada, offered valuable perspectives on their emotions, anxieties, and actions during these trying times. The views expressed in the video are her own and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Edited excerpts:

CGTN: What are your thoughts as a Palestinian observing the situation from a distance? And how is the Palestinian diaspora in Canada and other parts of the world reacting to this?

Alami: Yeah, thanks for this question. I think that every Palestinian in exile is feeling immense grief and anger, especially those of us who are currently based in the imperial core, you know, like the U.S. and Canada.

As of this morning (Monday, October 16), the death toll was over 2700 Palestinians, including 1030 children in only nine days. So, Gaza has not seen this amount of, this disproportion of massacres since 2014. And so, this is the most Palestinians that have been killed since 2014 in the shortest amount of time – over 1000 children in nine days.

CGTN: Looking at the violence that is escalating with every passing day, I'm reminded of a saying often attributed to Gandhi that "an eye for an eye will only make the world blind." What do you think is the long-term solution for peace in the Middle East as a young Palestinian?

Alami: We want liberation, we want decolonization and we want to return to our lands. This is a really important part. There are millions of Palestinians in exile. There are refugees. Now there’s the third generation of Palestinians in exile who have been refused the right to return to their land. And so the only solution is decolonization and the only solution is the liberation of Palestinian people on land from Zionist settler colonialism and imperialist hegemony and interventionism, the return of all Palestinians to our land.

So, we want an end to the continuation of this ongoing nightmare, this ongoing catastrophe against Palestinians. We want an end to the theft of our land, we want an end to the murder of our people, and we want the return of Palestinians in exile, like me and my family and millions of others who have been refused the right to return who can't even visit until and unless we have a foreign passport like a U.S. or Canadian passport. And so, this is the only solution that we want, and that is the only real and justified and legitimate solution to the colonization and imperialist intervention in Palestine and in the Arab region.

CGTN: As a young Palestinian, does the word hope has any meaning for you. Are you hopeful that you will see an independent Palestine, an independent state in your lifetime?

Alami: Yes, of course. I do have hope that my people will be liberated and I have hope that my land will be liberated. We have to have hope. The people in Gaza who are being bombarded by U.S.-funded airstrikes have hope. They have hope for life and liberation, and so those of us in exile, we also have hope for life and liberation that people living under military occupation in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, the people living within the territory, the lands that were occupied in 1948, which are now called Israel, they also have hope for liberation.

And so yes, of course, we have hope. Our grandparents had hope when they were exiled and the refused the right to return in 1948. Our parents have hope and we also have and our children will also have hope. We have to have hope that we will achieve liberation within our lifetime, until liberation is achieved.

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