The Arab Spring, in particular the uprising in Egypt, has had joyful consequences for Palestinians in the Gaza strip. The lifting of the four-year-old blockade this week by Egypt now frees Gaza residents partially from the oppressive yoke of the Israeli regime. This is what every freedom-loving citizen of the world has been longing to see. It is the start of a shift in Middle East politics and heightens hopes justice will finally prevail for the Palestinians. It shows that the Egyptian peace agreement with Israel was no peace agreement at all, but was simply a way to further imprison the Palestinians, keep US aid flowing to Hosni Mubarak and legitimize the Zionist state. It also reveals yet again the moral bankruptcy of the Israelis and the US government on the issue of the Palestinians. How shameful to see US President Barack Obama backtrack on his supposed solution to ensure that Palestinians have a viable state based on pre-1967 borders, by later telling the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) that he didn't really mean it, but wanted to say instead, “ … based on the 1967 borders, but with mutually agreed land swaps”. We all know what that means: Israel would get what it wants at any cost, including Jerusalem as its capital, and no removal of any of the illegal settlements built on stolen Palestinian land. The American Congress support for Israel was telling, in all its craven and bizarre stage-managed ovations for Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, during his speech on Capitol Hill. Obama added, which was to be expected, that the US would try to block any attempt by the Palestinians to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September. The US has no power to veto such a move, so it is expected, and hoped, that 135 or maybe even as many as 160 out of the 192 members will vote in favor of a Palestinian state. Israel and the US are increasingly isolated in terms of world opinion on this issue. The Palestinians need to declare their statehood come September and add a few other riders, including the right of return of millions of their displaced people. There is no other way in the face of US and Israeli intransigence. __
