"What the Vatican did was to say
to the world that the Palestinian
people are simply not going to
be forgotten or dismissed."
The
announcement that the Vatican is recognizing the state of Palestine
knocked me out of my chair. Though the NY Times described this as
largely “symbolic” they had to acknowledge that this action really
shifts discussions on the future of Palestine, the Occupation and
Palestinian diaspora.
This announcement comes at such a critical moment when anti-Palestinian
forces have become absolutely rabid in their attacks on virtually
anyone who supports justice for the Palestinians. Such attacks
betray a level of desperation that is clearly being experienced by the
anti-Palestinian cabal, which includes the Israeli political
establishment and their allies in the USA. It is in that context
that we can understand the efforts to smash the
Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions Movement. It is also the context in
which those of us who support justice for the Palestinian people are
regularly baited as allegedly being anti-Semites.
The announcement by the Vatican should be welcomed and built
upon. Whether those of us outside of the Palestinian movement are
in favor of a single-state solution or a two-state solution is
secondary. What the Vatican did was to say to the world that the
Palestinian people are simply not going to be forgotten or dismissed.
There is one more feature to the Vatican’s announcement that deserves
attention: it brings deserved attention to the plight of
Palestinian Christians who are not being driven off their land or from
their homeland by fanatic Muslim extremists but have been, and continue
to be, forced out of Palestine by an Israeli regime that aims to
cleanse the area of its indigenous population. The Vatican is
joining the chorus of those who are saying that this, too, shall not
pass.
