By Ruqayyah Shamseddine
September 25, 2010
The 65th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the 23rd of September gathered within its air-conditioned halls a theatrical advent of diplomats, dignitaries and democracy-laden autocrats.
The luminaries brought before the General Assembly their grievances, a plethora of ideals they wish to see supported and of course a typical walkout by Western delegates, seemingly on cue, at the start of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech; The mainstream media continues to sensationalize this fairly quintessential event.
Obama's only vice during his UN address and much of his campaign was branding a fairly static set of ideals as dissimilar in comparison to former US President George W. Bush; During his 2009 Cairo Speech US President Barak Obama alluded to "...America's strong bonds with Israel" one which is unyielding and "...based upon cultural and historical ties." In 2009 Obama came off as being rather docile and welcoming, his UN address on the other hand was a robotic and fatigued change in direction:
“Israel is a sovereign state, and the historic homeland of the Jewish people. It should be clear to all that efforts to chip away at Israel’s legitimacy will only be met by the unshakeable opposition of the United States. The slaughter of innocent Israelis is not resistance — it’s injustice.”
In one small paragraph we see a mountain of fallacious contentions and rather blatant lies, all seemingly laced with venomous Western brand hypocrisy.
While "the slaughter of innocent Israelis is not resistance" according to the Commander in Chief, he makes no mention of the slaughter of innocent Palestinians. Palestinian blood is cheap; they are much like victims of US imperialism - collateral damage.
There was also not a single word about the nonviolent resistant movements in Silwan, East Jerusalem or in Bi'lin where Israeli's Against Demolitions and Palestinians march in solidarity with one another against more usurping of Palestinian land.
There was no mention of the deliberate massacre of Palestinians, en masse, who live in the blockaded Gaza Strip - most recently near the borders with Beit Hannon, in the northern Gaza Strip where Israeli tank shells killed three: Ismaeel Abu Odeh, 20 years old, Ibraheem Abu Saied, 92 years old, and his grandson Husam, 17 years old.
Mohamed Amareen, a young 21 year old from Gaza City, was announced dead on Saturday morning after succumbing to wounds he sustained when Israeli tanks opened fire at him near the borders.
On Friday evening a 14-month old Palestinian boy, in the north Jerusalem village of Issawiya, died as a result of extreme tear gas inhalation during an invasion of Israeli forces in the area.
President Obama, like many Western despots, acknowledges the apartheid state of Israel and permits its unwavering attacks on the self-determination of the Palestinian people because it suits his politically perverse agenda.
The suffering of Palestinians, be it in throngs or in unpretentious numbers, is due to the simple fact that they have refused to indulge any party which attempts to subjugate their movement towards liberation - be that Israel or the United States of America.
The conflict between Israelis and Arabs is as old as this institution. And we can come back here next year, as we have for the past 60 years, and make long speeches about it. We can read familiar lists of grievances. We can table the same resolutions. We can further empower the forces of rejectionism and hate. And we can waste more time by carrying forward an argument that will not help anyone achieve a better life.
Here we see an ironic démarche being made by Obama; all the United States, along with complicit Arab regimes, has done is exhaust valuable time - not by reading a laundry list of afflictions but by ignoring them in their entirety.
● The United States of America does not simply "table resolutions" critical of Israel, it vetoes them all together; At least 42 United Nations Security Council Resolutions have been vetoed unilaterally by the United States since 1972.
● The United States of America "empowers forces of rejectionism and hate" by capitalizing on the occupation of Palestine. The torrent of endowments carried on the backs of American taxpayers which feed the Israeli military giant unabashedly promote and embolden the state of Israel, giving it the green light to continue in home-demolitions and butchery.
There was no just solution presented by President Obama during his lengthy speech on the UN floor, instead we were lambasted with more of the same. Redress blogger Christopher King put it plainly: United States President Barack Obama is no different in substance from his predecessor.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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