(Photo of Ramallah protest, photographer not identified)
From the media, we’re accustomed to the most egregious lies about the conflict between Palestinians & Israel. But the coverage of Obama’s trip reaches levels of banality & deceit never scaled before--except for admission by most of the media that the trip was pointless. On the street, where we like to call a spade a spade, we call it horse shit (asking pardon for the scatology).
Obama & Netanyahu kept that frosty drama going so we don’t see any photos of them hugging & they still kept up their mad faces. But Obama was met with a red carpet, state dinners, & reportedly many streets were lined with children waving US & Israeli flags. Strained relationship my ass! But you expect such sycophancy when Obama comes bearing billions of US tax dollars in military equipment, weaponry, & missile systems.
It’s when Obama headed for the West Bank to meet Abbas that the story really takes a dive & the level of banality crescendoes. The media reported Abbas was going to talk to Obama about the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners (including hunger strikers & small children) subjected to abuse & torture in stinking Israeli prisons. There were those who remained skeptical since Abbas has been such a sniveling, groveling servant of neoliberalism in Palestine. These latter were not disappointed in their skepticism.
Imagine that as hunger strikers are nearing death, as Palestinians are burying activists tortured to death in Israeli prisons, as 30 children were being manhandled & hauled in by Israeli soldiers for throwing stones; only months after the barbaric bombing siege of Gaza; as Zionist settlers continue to expropriate Palestinian lands, & Israel is throwing up new settlement housing--Abbas greets Obama with a bear hug. A betrayal witnessed round the world!
While the media showcases photos of Israeli children waving flags, the photos of Palestinian children at a youth center near Ramallah dancing for Obama, posing for photos with him, bowing & shaking hands with him are hidden behind a paywall. Is Abbas, the master groveler, tutoring children in the arts of sycophancy? Or are these the children of the elite being schooled to identify with the colonizer rather than their fellow Palestinians?
Their are, thank heavens, many photos of Palestinians who met Obama with the dignity of the intifada & of political resistance to apartheid & deceit & groveling. Protest camps were set up on proposed settlement sites with banners directed at Obama, saying “You promised hope and change--you gave us colonies and apartheid.” Protestors in Ramallah & Bethlehem held protests drawing on the heritage of the US Civil Rights Movement, with masks of Martin Luther King & teeshirts emblazoned with ”I have a dream.” One poster showed an image of Obama with the slogan “No hope,” & another said “Obama: persona non grata.” One eloquent Palestinian protestor said, “We’d like him to come here & visit the museum of apartheid.” Posters, hung along the streets of Ramallah & Bethlehem, were torn down or defaced. Some people threw their shoes at Obama’s image.
These are the forces of social transformation & of justice for Palestinians. There isn’t a single case in human history where groveling won justice. For Abbas & the elite class, groveling provides comfort & wealth. That’s why he’s gotta go along with Netanyahu & Obama! Long live the intifada!
No US aid to Israel! Boycott all Israeli products (barcode beginning 729)! Support Palestinian intifada!
Obama meets Netanyahu and the clique. Porn in the "holy" land..
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