Mr. Bargouthi was very delighted to meet these young men and women, and gave a short speech where he thanked them for all their efforts and dedication to the PAC and to the Palestinian community. Mr. Bargouthi explained, “ the PAC is the voice of the Palestinian community here in America. We are law abiding citizens, we don’t intend to harm anyone or breake any laws or discriminate against anyone.” Said Mr. Bargouthi. He went on to say “ The purpose of having an International PC is precisely to protect the Palestinian Community. If we are successful in building a PC in every part of the United States and around the world, then we can be heard, understood, and respected just like any other organization. This means protection and welfare to our Palestinians Communities around the world.”

I asked Mr. Bargouthi if he was only interested in building the PC only in the United States? He replied “ No, the PC must be established all over the world, unless we have a congress in every part of the world, not just in America but all over the world, the International Palestinian Congress (IPC) will not happen just yet.” The IPC is now working in Australia, Brazil, and Latin America. So far, Australia has the smallest number of Palestinians. Elections will take place sometime in Mid December, depending on that everything goes well, in the rest of the United States. So far N.Y., N.J. and Washington D.C. are the first PAC established States. It is not clear where the elections will be held, but most probable they will be held in N.J.