A Palestinian state – despite serious obstacles – could become the true democracy of the Middle East, if only Israel would let it. The world is abuzz with the news that Palestinian leadership is talking about soliciting support from the UN for a declaration of statehood (hey, remember when pre-Israel did that in 1947?). The US has kept mum on the topic so far – good for them – but Israeli spokespeople have been adamantly critical of the motions. Their main argument is that it would violate the terms of the Oslo agreements. Ignoring for the moment that the main conclusion to come out of Oslo was the agreement to keep talking and discuss the real issues later, this is a serious case of the pot calling the … Read entire article »