Monday, November 26, 2007

Heading for Annapolis

Fantasy vs. Reality in Palestine-Israel

By KATHLEEN and BILL CHRISTISON
CounterPunch

In Jerusalem.

"......These establishment Palestinians, in the assessment of one serious Palestinian analyst, are almost desperate for some kind of American involvement, as the only hope of ever overcoming Israeli intransigence and moving toward a peace agreement. They believe that, because the U.S. has now become engaged and supports Mahmoud Abbas, this will bring at least a credible peace process, and they operate on the naïve assumption that if you get a peace process, you'll get peace.

But, back in real life, where Palestinians live with the grim daily realities of the occupation and the remembrance of two wasted decades of unproductive peacemaking efforts, any mention of Annapolis is greeted with cynicism and black humor. To the assertions of wishful thinkers in the establishment that Condoleezza Rice has a good understanding of the Palestinian position going into Annapolis, the Palestinian man in the street offers a short video on his mobile phone -- a clip circulating so widely that it is difficult to find anyone who has not seen it -- showing a flirtatious Rice with bouncy curls and swinging hips, singing to a line-up of "moderate" Arab leaders seated in front of her (the ones known to be more or less in the U.S. pocket) that they are "good boys" for having done the U.S. bidding......."

***

The reference is to the video Shater, Shater, which I will repost!

No comments: