Robert Fisk: Dreams of a ‘helpful’ America keep Palestinians hoping

Robert Fisk
The Independent
September 22, 2011

“We will be a democracy among the guns,” he told me once. And yes, he said then, he loved the United Nations.

In Ramallah yesterday, they didn’t love the UN but they understood its uses. Quite a few shopkeepers, all men of course, even suggested that they wanted Barack Obama to veto a Security Council vote on “Palestine’s” statehood, since this would finally prove to all Arabs that America was not their friend. No one suggested that Obama, who so blithely declared a new relationship with the Muslim world in Cairo and called for a Palestinian state by 2012, might – in the spirit of Woodrow Wilson – courageously support a vote for “Palestine”, albeit at the cost of his re-election. But then again, that would be fantasy, wouldn’t it?

In the streets, there were drums and recorded martial music and children who climbed on the tired lions, and youths who plastered the walls with posters showing an American fist holding the scales of justice. “Palestine’s” golden tray was empty, of course, Israel’s filled with the usual statistics (750,000 Palestinians detained since 1967, more than 6,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails, Israel in full control of more than 50 per cent of the West Bank, 519,000 Israeli settlers in 144 colonies in the occupied “Palestine”…). It was a kind of jamboree, which Majdi summed up rather well, although not so bravely that he wanted to give me his family name.

“These people are celebrating without knowing the outcome of the UN vote,” he said. “We have to wait these two days to see if we should celebrate. Oslo was a waste of time – the only one who won was Israel. They only had 100,000 settlers here in those days. But American mediation has been a nonsense. They interfere in other Arab countries and support revolutions – but when it comes to Palestine, they don’t care.”

Read full article here

 






 
Print this page.

Comment Rules


3 Responses to “Robert Fisk: Dreams of a ‘helpful’ America keep Palestinians hoping”

  1. As for the “Israelis”,God will judge them at the great white throne Judgement anyway,
    America only needs to get ready for the firestorm! rev. chapter 18

  2. “It is getting really, really hard to run a small business in the United States today. Politicians love to give speeches about how much they love small businesses, but when they get into office they just soak them dry.”

    Hey,that is why the Politicians run for office.
    that is why we have “Politicians” instead of “Statesmen”!
    Please, look up the definitions of both those titles and when the shock wears off and your eyes see—
    AFTER YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE AND REALIZE THAT OUR GOVERNMENT USED TO BE FILLED WITH STATESMEN,
    NOW WE HAVE NOTHING BUT POLITICIANS IN BOTH ILLEGAL PARTIES~REPUBLICRATS

    I CHALLENGE YOU PAUL SUPPORTERS

    VOTE CONSTITUTION PARTY STRAIGHT TICKET!

  3. Palestine is the worst of all reservations in the world.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes