If it is not rampant colonialism, I don't know what it is. Though my ancestors were also rampant colonists, obviously, I hope I would have protested back then, though who knows. I can't justify it in modern times when those who know, and those who could help put a stop to it, do nothing.
On a similar tack, the Huffington Post yesterday reiterated Obama's position that said the detainees [of Guantanamo] have rights under the Geneva conventions. A former Bush administration official stated it was misguided for the administration to insist that the detainees were not subject to the Geneva Conventions or U.S. or international law.
One assumes that Obama agrees with this stance, given recognition of the rights of the detainees under the Geneva conventions was one of his first official acts. It would be nice if his government, and his administration, did less to enable a country (Israel) that flagrantly ignores the rights of the people on the land that it occupies, and did more towards working towards peace in the area by insisting, with deeds as well as words, that the declaration of human rights and other universal humanitarian resolves are not just the refuge of the occupiers and other western powers as a whole, or (hypothetically speaking) the refuge of those who might find themselves detained by a western power. That point of view is well outlined in this pdf, US/Middle-East Project: A Last Chance for a Two-State Israel Palestine Agreement, which, among other things, focuses on how much peace and goodwill adhering to United Nations resolutions would bring not just to Israel and Palestine, but to the region as a whole, thereby strengthening and supporting not only the security of the U.S., but the countries whose governments support the States. And it focuses on how time is running out. Action seems very unlikely, though, if one reads this early March article, Obama solidifies ties to Israel's military.
Links to those articles were originally found here at this British blog and at this Australian blog and at this American blog.
*Note: April 1, useful information A layman's guide to home demolitions in East Jerusalem
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