Palestinians want their freedom: It’s not for Americans to decide
President Obama, let Palestinians write their own destiny
by SHARI MOTRO on SEPTEMBER 20, 2011
Mondoweiss
Palestinians are poised to bring their quest for statehood to the United Nations this week. If they follow through, the Obama administration intends to veto it. This would be a mistake.
I am an Israeli-American, and I voted and campaigned for Barack Obama because I thought that Bush and McCain’s brand of support for Israel was destroying it. I believed that Obama’s vision, his words, and his past gave us something to be hopeful about. In particular, I was swept up by a speech hegave in Philadelphia in the spring of 2008, a speech about race.
Referring to historic and ongoing disparities between whites and blacks in this country, Obama listed injustices that also plague Palestinians in Israel and in the occupied territories. Segregated schools. Legalized discrimination in housing. A lack of economic opportunity and basic services that helps create a cycle of violence, blight, and neglect.
“I have asserted a firm conviction,” he said, “that, working together, we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds…. For the African-American community, that … means…teaching [our children] that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.”
(More here.)
by SHARI MOTRO on SEPTEMBER 20, 2011
Mondoweiss
Palestinians are poised to bring their quest for statehood to the United Nations this week. If they follow through, the Obama administration intends to veto it. This would be a mistake.
I am an Israeli-American, and I voted and campaigned for Barack Obama because I thought that Bush and McCain’s brand of support for Israel was destroying it. I believed that Obama’s vision, his words, and his past gave us something to be hopeful about. In particular, I was swept up by a speech hegave in Philadelphia in the spring of 2008, a speech about race.
Referring to historic and ongoing disparities between whites and blacks in this country, Obama listed injustices that also plague Palestinians in Israel and in the occupied territories. Segregated schools. Legalized discrimination in housing. A lack of economic opportunity and basic services that helps create a cycle of violence, blight, and neglect.
“I have asserted a firm conviction,” he said, “that, working together, we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds…. For the African-American community, that … means…teaching [our children] that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.”
(More here.)
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