SEPTEMBER 22, 2011
The Occupation That Time Forgot
The Disappearance of Palestine
by SANDY TOLAN
Counterpunch
Itโs the show that time and the world forgot. Itโs called the Occupation and itโs now in its 45th year. Playing on a landscape about the size of Delaware, it remains largely hidden from view, while Middle Eastern headlines from elsewhere seize the day.ย Diplomatsย shuttleย back and forth from Washington and Brussels to Middle Eastern capitals; the Israeli-Turkish allianceย ruptures amid bold declarations from the Turkish prime minister; crowdsย stormย the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, while Israeli ambassadors flee the Egyptian capital andย Amman, the Jordanian one; and of course, thereโs the headliner, the show-stopper of the moment, the Palestinian Authorityโsย campaignย for statehood in the United Nations, which will prompt an Obama administration veto in the Security Council.
But whatever the Turks, Egyptians, or Americans do, whatever symbolic satisfaction the Palestinian Authority may get at the U.N., thereโs always the Occupation and there โ take it from someone just back from a summer living in the West Bank โ Israel isnโt losing.ย Itโs winning the battle, at least the one that means the most to Palestinians and Israelis, the one for control over every square foot of ground.ย Inch by inch, meter by meter, Israelโs expansion project in the West Bank and Jerusalem is, in fact, gaining momentum, ensuring that the โnationโ that the U.N. might grant membership will be each day a little smaller, a little less viable, a little less there.
How to Disappear a Land
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