Paul Calvert spoke with Nabeel Hamouz about the vote

Nabeel: This is something you can never actually agree on because you will have people who are pro Israel and you will have people who are pro Palestine. You can never say I am pro both; this is a fact we are living in.

As a Palestinian I say this is what I am living in. I'm living in this fact that I will never be able to be pro both. Actually look for peace with two nations in one country. We do speak about two nations, three religions in one country; two states - the Palestinian state and the Israeli state, which already existed according to the United Nations, but it's impossible. I don't think Israel is that dumb; they will never allow Palestinians to rule themselves without them being in control.

That is the fact that we are living in. We know that to go from Bethlehem to Ramallah, which is just the next city to Bethlehem, you have to go through a checkpoint. If you are looking for a Palestinian state that means Israel has to move the checkpoints. We need to have freedom and we need to have our own borders with other countries, for example with Egypt. Is Israel willing for that? Do they want to stay in control and what kind of state are we talking about? This is the things that everyone is actually assuming now and guessing what's going to happen, but until the 23rd you don't know what Mahmoud Abbas is actually after. I know he has spoke before and he has said so many things, one of them is that we want to have a foundation as Palestinians to go and ask for our rights. Human rights are actually there and it has been put by the United Nations, as a Palestinian we do have human rights. We are not living in them; we do need freedom; we do need security for our kids. There are things required by our government that they need to apply and get sorted out for us, which is quite impossible for them to do it right now without a Palestinian state.

Paul: You say you want to be able to control your borders. How difficult is that going to be for someone like Mahmoud Abbas when you have Hamas who are a terrorist organisation? They want to bring weapons into the land and let's say for instance you want to control the Egyptian border, is he able to deal with the terrorist weapons that come into the land?

Nabeel: Terrorism is sadly a thing we are living in. Terrorism is not a Palestinian thing. I'm a Palestinian and I'm not a terrorist. We have Hamas that is recognised as a terrorist group all over the world. There are many terrorist groups in Britain, America and every single city there is terrorism. Terrorism is something that is inside someone's personality. The government, if they ask for a state, they need to be able to control their own nation in a way so you won't have crimes. In England you have police on the streets. They are there to control the crimes on the street; well they cannot control every single crime, but they put police men and women there to actually try to decrease it. I am not saying that we are assuming that Hamas is going to go and get guns and fight Israel. First of all many Palestinians are already disagreeing with the Palestinian state or Mahmoud Abbas going to the United Nations asking to become a Palestinian state. Hamas is just a group and I believe personally that our government is going to be able to control Hamas and make sure that this country can be safe under the Palestinian government.

Paul: What will happen if you don't get a Palestinian state when it is voted for?

Nabeel: Well this is the one thing everyone is worried about, because we know the pressure the US President is going through at the moment because of the election; plus we know what Israel are aware of and we know what the Palestinians are actually missing. I don't know what the US President wants to do in this situation, whether he is going to be able to win the Palestinian government and lose the Israeli government because they are disagreeing with it. There are so many questions.

The action that is going to be after the meeting that's going to happen on the 23rd, it's not going to be one reaction from all the Palestinians or all the Israelis. All we can say is remain calm in this situation; to think wisely and see what's going to happen afterwards.

It is the question that everyone keeps asking, so what's going to come up next? We've lost our land; we were kicked out in 1948 and then in 1967 and now we are living in 2011 and we can't say ok these are the right of Palestinian refugees to go back to their land, but with this new thing that Mahmoud Abbas came up with, refugees are going to lose their homes. This is the thing that the reaction could be bad if we're not going to be recognised as a Palestinian state. At the same time it might be bad if we do get recognised. You have people who agree and disagree and at the same time I don't know what's going to happen.

Paul: If you do get a Palestinian state will this be the end of trouble or is there a long process of negotiation ahead?

Nabeel: No this is the beginning; the beginning of being recognised. I totally agree with what Mahmoud Abbas is up for. I agree with it because this is the beginning for us as Palestinians to rise and to follow. There is a saying here that where technology is that you need to follow it and this is what happens here in politics. Politics is rising up so we need to be a part of it. If we say that there is a nation living on a piece of land that is missing their rights, we don't have this weapon to go and fight with. I don't mean weapon as in fighting; this is something I really hate, because when you say Palestinian you say terrorism. We do fight Israel, the Israeli Government; we fight it with many things. We don't fight with our weapons. I am fighting for my right to live as a person; as a Palestinian human. I fight for it through learning; learning in school and becoming a more successful Palestinian man who is fighting for his right to be able to live and I want to live it peacefully no matter who's around me. I am not saying I am going to kick out the Israelis and kick out the Americans and the British and everybody who is in this country to live in my country just with the Palestinians. I say I want to live in peace and at the same time I need my rights that I have lost. This is something that every single person would be asking for and looking for. If you are living and you have this mobile phone that belongs to you and somebody stole it, you have the right to ask for it and fight for it. You can fight in so many ways; you could go and sue this person who stole your phone; you can go and speak to him nicely and lots of other ways. There are so many things to do to get your phone back and every single Palestinian has his way to look for his rights. I don't think it's a crime when a Palestinian is asking for his right to live peacefully and to get his right as a human and all the needs that he is missing because of the situation we are living in and we didn't ask for this situation.

Paul: Are you a refugee from 1948 or 1967?

Nabeel: From 1948.

Paul: What happened to your family in 1948?

Nabeel: Everybody knows the history. The British took control of the land; then they handed the land over to Israel, which is a fact some people might disagree on.