Not serious, again

It was 1988, with the first Intifada in full bloom and the Palestine Liberation Organisation in the lead up to their November 29th declaration of independence, when I met with a few members of the PLO Executive Committee to discuss their plans. "Is this serious?" I asked. "Absolutely," they assured me. "It will be like our 4th of July."
Given this, I probed further: "What will the photo look like? What image of the day will be remembered in history?" And what will the follow up plans look like to move this "independence day" forward?
These questions were not answered. Nevertheless, announce they did. But, plan they did not. Many states gave full diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine and accorded the title of Embassy to PLO missions. The Intifada, itself, was reinvigorated. But no more was done, until the US, needing to capitalise on and sustain its new post-Gulf War alliance with key Arab states, convened the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference. A reminder of how the weak Palestinian hand still was, came in the humiliating conditions imposed on their participation in this conference. Because Israel would not acknowledge a "Palestinian people", only West Bank and Gaza Palestinians (no Jerusalemites were allowed) were involved and then only as part of a Jordanian delegation.
The period that followed Madrid did show signs of progress. The PLO emerged as the legitimate negotiating partner to peace talks. They were formally recognised as the representatives of the Palestinian people at Oslo and afterwards. But still no state or independence.
And what happened to the November 29th commemoration? In 1989 the Washington office of the PLO sent out an invitation to a reception to celebrate Palestine "Independence Day" on December 2nd! - which in my way of thinking would be like commemorating the 4th of July on the 7th of July. And in succeeding years, the November 29th date was frequently forgotten and not honoured at all.