Isn’t there something seriously wrong with our world when a people who have been wronged for over a half-century are treated as pariahs? Wherever the Palestinians turn, they find every door shut. Whatever they do to obtain even a fraction of their rights, they face insurmountable obstacles. Time and time again, they pursue international justice only to discover that it doesn’t exist for them. Recognized legal channels lead them nowhere. Promises made that their own state is on the horizon are consistently broken. When, in frustration, they turn to violence, they are branded as terrorists.
Events earlier this month illustrate just how hopeless their situation truly is. That was when their own leader Mahmoud Abbas let them down. Under heavy pressure from the United States, the Palestinian president chose to delay a UN Security Council vote on the Goldstone report recommending Israel’s referral to the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes committed during Operation Cast Lead.
