April 18, 2004

Victory for Sharon?

So according to Bush, "might makes right". The Israelis can keep stolen territory and the victims of ethnic cleansing have to stay that way. It's curious that whilst many commentators are saying that this represents a defeat for the Palestinians and a rejection of his own stupid road map by Bush, there are a few Zionists suggesting that this isn't the case. Bernard Wasserstein and David Aaronovitch think that this signals an end to a certain version of the Zionist dream. And Blair, the king of obfuscation, says er...well ok, I don't quite understand what he says, except to say it's an opportunity for the Palestinians to "move forward". I think its a real slap in the face for the Palestinians and gives Sharon a green light for more murders and possibly even ethnic cleansing. But should we be pessimistic for the long-term? Remember 1984? There was a match made in heaven. Reagan and Thatcher denounced Nelson Mandela as a terrorist. Ten years later South Africa was free of apartheid and Mandela was the President. Will this happen in the case of Palestine? Well it should. The problem here is that for all the people correctly identifying Israel as an apartheid state there doesn't seem to be an ANC demanding a one-state solution.

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