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http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/will-palestinian-unity-deal-work/
Let's put "Six takes on the Palestinian unity deal" into perspective... Thirty years ago six opinions regarding anything to do with the Israel/Palestine conflict provided by our hobbled fourth estate would not have been featuring a majority of Arabs and Arab Americans articulately and accurately explaining Palestinian perspectives.
Thirty years ago Israeli and ardently pro-Israel "experts" would have been doling out translated tidbits to an American audience captivated by Israeli spin. Today's American audience is not so captivated... and not so naive.
Today Palestinian perspectives have been reaching a much wider and better informed American audience thanks to the internet and the diplomatic efforts of some very wise and wonderfully articulate Arab and Arab American writers and thinkers... and poets and artists.
There is a whole world of Palestinian dignity and Palestinian stories and perspectives very much worth exploring...
Aaron David Miller claims that the unity deal is very popular on the Palestinian street, but Rashid Khalidi, professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University points out that "Hamas meanwhile has been squeezed by loss of support from Iran and the disappearance of the MB regime in Egypt last summer, as well as by the widely perceived bankruptcy among Palestinian public opinion both of its
governance project in the Gaza Strip and of its strategy of “resistance.” This has amounted to no more than pin-pricks to Israel, which produced devastating Israeli reprisals."
I think Rashid Khalidi's insight into how much support Hamas has from Palestinians is more helpful- and more hopeful.
And I like that Hussein Ibish, senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, also weighed in pointing out that "A great deal depends on many external factors"
Thirty years ago Israeli and ardently pro-Israel "experts" would have been doling out translated tidbits to an American audience captivated by Israeli spin. Today's American audience is not so captivated... and not so naive.
Today Palestinian perspectives have been reaching a much wider and better informed American audience thanks to the internet and the diplomatic efforts of some very wise and wonderfully articulate Arab and Arab American writers and thinkers... and poets and artists.
There is a whole world of Palestinian dignity and Palestinian stories and perspectives very much worth exploring...
Aaron David Miller claims that the unity deal is very popular on the Palestinian street, but Rashid Khalidi, professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University points out that "Hamas meanwhile has been squeezed by loss of support from Iran and the disappearance of the MB regime in Egypt last summer, as well as by the widely perceived bankruptcy among Palestinian public opinion both of its
governance project in the Gaza Strip and of its strategy of “resistance.” This has amounted to no more than pin-pricks to Israel, which produced devastating Israeli reprisals."
I think Rashid Khalidi's insight into how much support Hamas has from Palestinians is more helpful- and more hopeful.
And I like that Hussein Ibish, senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, also weighed in pointing out that "A great deal depends on many external factors"
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