This is with reference to the article “Most difficult Intifada yet” (March 29) by Ramzy Baroud. The Palestinians are going through a very rough patch. It is not to say that they had been doing well earlier. Leadership crisis is the worst nightmare of an occupied people. Without an effective political leadership, all their efforts and sacrifices go down the drain. As the writer says that the recently ignited Intifada, as many people would like to call it, is very different in nature and the present generation of the Palestinians is different from their predecessors but their efforts are more or less directionless.

The Palestinians need a strong and common platform to launch their struggle for freedom afresh. The youth of Palestine, both in Gaza or West Bank, are more educated and politically sensible than the previous generations but due to the absence of a strong leadership, they are only getting frustrated and becoming disillusioned.

Anyway, such phases are not uncommon in freedom movements. I urge all the Palestinian youths, Muslims and non-Muslims, to learn from the mistakes of the current political leadership and try to make efforts to form a new political platform.