If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The UN General Assembly has now voted, by 138 votes to 9, with 41 abstentions and 5 no-shows, to recognize the existence as a state "of the State of Palestine on the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967."
A series of Israeli measures against Palestinian soccer culminating in an attack on a stadium in Gaza during last month's confrontation with Hamas has fueled growing international soccer opposition to the Jewish state's policies.
Obama is engaged in the latest round of political conflict at home, all too reminiscent of the tiresome campaign just past, while real conflicts brew in global hot spots.
"The most recent war was more severe and vigorous than the Operation Cast Lead," Mr. T., a Palestinian medical doctor said. The eight-day Israeli offensive in November lasted for fewer days and brought fewer casualties, but it was nonstop and relentless, and everywhere.
The world spoke, but the U.S. proved itself incapable not only of acting in concert with the world, but of admitting the reasons why it could not. The U.S. remains the critical player, but because of the constraints our deformed politics has imposed on this and past Administrations, Washington appears incapable of fulfilling that role.
Over the past decade, Porto Alegre in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, has achieved global resonance as the site of the first World Social Forum in 2001.
Israel's hysteria and America's arm-twisting against the resolution gave the Palestinians a victory, a victory that the United States and Israel both elevated to historic proportions.
It seems so obvious that now is the time, with the recent events in Gaza and the United Nations voting for Palestine to become a non-voting member, the urgency is upon us.
Perhaps the most important implication of Palestine receiving recognition as a state, at the UN General Assembly, is the fact that international laws ...
Palestine had no problem getting an upgraded status at the United Nations, isolating Israel and the United States and giving Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas the boost in stature he so badly needed. OK, so what happened?
Indeed, Hamas' actions set back the cause of Israeli moderates. And Israel's actions set back the cause of Palestinian moderates. More salient to those of us in the United States, Obama's actions hurt both.
Anyone who thinks that there is a possibility of peace between Israelis and Palestinians is either delusional or just hasn't been paying close attention to that part of world for the last 65 years.
The votes of the U.S. and other Western states on Palestine's application for a UN status upgrade from "observer entity" to "observer state" will be absolutely critical to keeping alive the current slim hopes of achieving peace in the Middle East.
To me, the blockade of Palestinian territories has been inhumane and unjust. My heart aches for the suffering of the Palestinians in those territories...
An independent and free Palestine alongside a safe and secure Israel is a plan upon which the entire world agrees. What is needed now more than ever is political will to give the peace process a serious boost.
