In his Monday, May 18, 2009 blog “Obama-Netanyahu must not be Kennedy-Khrushchev” Juan Cole argues that the main problem in the Middle East is Palestinian statelessness.
“Statelessness prevents economic security and progress. And people aren't just motivated by material things. Palestinians want a concrete manifestation of their national identity, just as everyone else does...Only a viable Palestinian state resolves this huge decades-long mess in the short to medium term. I think it may be too late but am willing to see what Obama has in mind.”
In Sowing Crisis, Rashid Khalidi argues that the colonial powers did not enable the creation of independent states in Palestine and Kurdistan. These were the people that were ignored by the great powers.
The question I have for professor Cole is, if statelessness is a major problem in the region, why is this true in the Palestinian case but not in the Kurdish case? Why is the fate of one nationality so dominant in our public discourse yet another, equally important, not appearing on our radar screens? And why aren’t Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey demonstrating the high moral ground (remember the double standard argument…) and correcting the injustices done by the colonial powers by enabling the creation of a Kurdish state?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment