Tomorrow John Kerry will hold a hearing on Israel/Palestine in which there will be three Jews representing some diversity, Rob Malley on the left to David Makovsky, neocon. Never forget: Democrats are just about as involved with neocons as the Republicans are, because neocons represent an important segment of Jewish life (and Jews are a key component of the American political establishment).
There is of course just one Palestinian voice on the panel: Ziad Asali of the American Task Force for Palestine. ATFP are "good Palestinians." They support the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad, Mahmoud Abbas, the two-state solution. They were represented at J Street last year. But Seham has written on this site that Ziad Asali is at one end of Palestinian opinion. And even the Forward acknowledges in a strong piece on the status of the two-state solution, "public support among Palestinians for the concept of ‘two states for two peoples’ is losing ground to rival approaches, such as a one-state solution that would encompass Jews and Palestinians…"
I don’t know Palestinian opinion. But I would like to see more spokespeople for it in our discourse than the ATFP. The mantra of this site these days is: Freedom means participation in power (from Cicero via Nader). Palestinians have never been able to participate, except on our terms.
Mondoweiss is enriched by the many different authors who now regularly contribute to the home page.
Apropos of nothing, really, but I was thinking that, and my Mom always told me if you have a nice thought, say it!
I agree, and your mom sounds like a good person.
Palestinians have never been able to participate, except on our terms.
Couldn’t a “pro-Palestinian” (whatever that means now days, vis-à-vis international law) Jew represent their views?
Too often, the Palestinian position has to be represented by “pro-Palestinian Jews.”
Imagine a panel on civil rights in the US, where the spokespersons for blacks were all “pro-black whites.”
What difference do Palestinians find between white phosphorus Democrats and white phosphorous Republicans?