June 5, 2017, will mark 50 years since the Six Day War — half a century of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. The Palestinian public is very mindful and conscious of this date. Fifty years after the occupation, the leadership in Ramallah is well aware that time is running out on the patience of their people to give diplomacy a chance.

With this in mind, the Palestinian leadership is planning a major Palestinian and international political and public campaign on 50 years of the occupation. A senior PLO official in Ramallah told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that “50 years of military occupation spells to every single Palestinian that we, with whatever means we possess, have to end our humiliation and gain our independence. Strategically, June 2017 is an opportunity to place the Palestinian issue on the international agenda.”

According to the official, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the PLO organs are planning a massive international campaign aimed at several goals.

One important objective of the campaign would be galvanizing Palestinian public opinion to a common struggle with the Fatah leadership that combines resistance and hope. The campaign would aspire to convince Israeli public opinion that the occupation and settlement expansion are untenable — that there is a price for these policies. Also, it will try to enlist the international community, mainly the members of the Middle East Quartet (United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia), to make 2017 the year of Palestinian independence.