You really can't take sides in that situation over there. There is plenty of reprehensible to go around. The Isrealis whack the Palestinians, the Palestinians blow stuff up...the Saudis behead people in the public square...the Afghanis throw acid on schoolgirls and stone people for adultry, real or accused. We are not even mentioning Iran and Iraq. On and on and on. I think the best we can hope for is a deal where most of the people leave each other alone. Given the built in violence of the region's religious factions (Islam, Judaism and Christianity) more than that may not be possible. Part of the problem is poverty and disenfranchisement, but a huge component is mythology.

When an American Arab is considered no better than a janitor, I HAVE EVERY RIGHT IN THE WORLD to condemn this kind of arrogance! Read the BBC story, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7729046.stm

It's so easy to say that there's enough blame to go around. Well, of course there is! We're dealing with human beings. No one is blameless. (Though I don't know what Afghanistan has to do with this. It's not considered part of the Middle East and Afghanis are not Arabs.)

But in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict it is clear who has the disproportionate share of power. It is clear who bears the disproportionate share of pain, misery, economic strife, and lacks basic civil freedoms.

The United States has played a long time enabler to Israel's delay tactics for a permanent solution. It has allowed Israel to change the facts on the ground with settlements, economic subjugation, seizure of property, and walls, while the United States sits by, occasionally wagging a finger when the Israeli government gets really out of hand.

Yes, blame goes around. I'm no defender of political skills and ethics of the Palestinian Authority. But in the Middle East, Israel has never been more secure and the Palestinian people never more put down. In America, antisemitism is rightly seen as flat-out unacceptable in just about every context. Anti-Arab racism, on the other hand, can be openly expressed without shame.

Thank You

You might be interested in my current post on Gaza (click DogWoman below).

Also, my Thanksgiving post about our friends the Al-masouds, which you can find here:
http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=46111