Stella Dallas, Dissident Voice, Nov. 14, 2009
Among the most prominent of President Obama’s hope-based initiatives was his promise to re-frame America’s approach to the conflict in Palestine, epitomized in his June 2007 speech in Cairo, where Obama called for a “new beginning between the United States and Muslims”, a new dawn based on equality and mutual respect rather than the vestiges of a “colonialism that denied rights and opportunities” to Muslim majorities held prisoner to proxy regimes without regard to the legitimate aspirations of their people. The speech was welcomed by tens of millions of people all over the world willing to believe, despite mountains of historical evidence to the contrary, that America had finally resolved to remake itself as a facilitator rather than an obstacle to justice for the occupied and abused people of Palestine, and by implication, for the poor and dispossessed throughout the Muslim world.
Tags: Goldstone report, Hillary Clinton, Israeli war crimes, Mahmood Abbas, Netanyahu, Obama’s gamesmanship, Palestinians, President Obama, Stella Dallas, the Cairo speech, UN Ambassador Susan Rice
Peace and Justice Post 
November 16, 2009 at 3:34 am |
This is an excellent article. Can a sane man argue with Ms. Stella Dallas’ explanation as to why the peace process restarted by President Obama only a few months ago has failed? I think not.
I remember the precise moment at which I realized, with a sinking feeling in my heart, that the peace process was doomed: the moment Obama’s UN ambassador Susan Rice told the reporters that US government had “serious concerns about many recommendations in the (Goldstone) report.” I was astonished that President Obama had allowed her to criticize the eminent South African jurist respected through out the world. Until that moment I had assumed that President Obama was fair minded; but her statement made sense only if it was Obama’s intension to discredit the report. The Goldstone report was Palestinians’ only hope to get some justice for the horrors and crimes committed upon them by Israel in the Gaza War. As I heard her statement to the reporters, a question arose in my mind: Does Obama really think that peace can be built on a foundation of injustice?
Now the question is: What will happen now? Will the Palestinians unilaterally declare independence from Israel the way people of Kosovo declared independence from Serbia with tacit encouragement and approval of the US and the European Union? Netanyahu, as expected, has threatened to take serious action if the Palestinians act unilaterally.
Yesh Prabhu, Plainsboro, NJ
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