Face Reality, The US Government Is Israel's Bitch

Palestinian U.N. bid teaches us about America

"El Bireh, West Bank -- The case of Palestine's bid for U.N. membership is teaching us more about the United States than it is about the stubborn Middle East. Sadly, the United States, my country, heads the list of member nations making a mockery of the international venue founded to intervene in exactly the type of crisis now facing Palestinians and Israelis.

The Palestinian case for full U.N. membership is rather simple. After 20 years of fruitless negotiating, championed by the United States, the talks have come to a screeching halt. From his first day in office, President Barack Obama sought to restart the talks between Palestinians and Israelis and failed. The Palestinians, meantime, are paying the price of that failure with every single additional day spent in the cross hairs of Israeli military rule. At long last, the Palestinian leadership has chosen to do what any other people would have done years, even decades, ago: to seek redress back where it all began, at the United Nations. Addressing the most multilateral venue in the world, Palestinian leaders have a simple request: Take a stand.

The Palestinian action is not really news. Far more newsworthy is how the United States and Israel have reacted -- with total hysteria."