In the 1980s, we grew up under occupation in the West Bank, hearing of the corrupt billions of the PLO leadership in Tunis. That disconnect between the leaders and the people has never diminished the righteousness of the Palestinian cause, or any other just cause for the matter.

Political leaderships of resistance groups are often molded by assassination. The Hamas of today is not the same as that of the 1990s, after Israel's assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin (its wheelchair-bound elderly spiritual leader). Similarly, the reason we have Oslo is that Israel had assassinated Abu Jihad and Abu Iyad, and eventually Abu Ammar, leaving us with Abu Mazen.

The struggle remains one of self-determination, where each Palestinian has a say in Palestine's governance and use of land.