I wrote recently about Sweden recognizing Palestine and the UK parliament voting to urge the government to do so. This was noteworthy in that they were the first western European countries to take this action. But as this map shows how, year by year, other countries around the world have recognized it long before Europe got around to doing this. The isolation of the west on this issue becomes pretty glaring.
Mano Singham
Just another Freethought Blogs site
it doesn’t seem to happen as much anymore, but I can remember when any time a supporter of Israel was asked why it was so hard to achieve peace with its Arab neighbors, the very first thing they would say was, “But, country X won’t even recognize Israel’s right to exist as a country! How can you have peace with someone like that?”
I want to point out that Iceland is considered a European country due to it’s history. This to the point that is that joined the European Economic Area. And even not taking that into account it is considered a western nation.
So it is the first western country to recognize Palestine.
For more European nations I think that in the near future at most the other Scandinavian countries will recognize Palestine.
The rest of Europe still follows the lead of the US on this subject.
“For years now, Israel has been appearing in world media mainly as a country that occupies the Palestinian lands. Press photos of Israelis almost always show heavily armed and armored soldiers confronting protesting Palestinians, often children. Few of these pictures have had an immediate dramatic impact, but the cumulative, incremental effect should not have been underestimated.
A truly alert diplomatic service would have alerted its government long ago. But our foreign service is thoroughly demoralized. Headed by Avigdor Lieberman, a brutal heavyweight bully considered by many of his colleagues around the world as a semi-fascist, the diplomatic corps is terrorized. They prefer to keep quiet.”
http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/index.html
If the rightwing corporate media in the US (NBC/CBS/ABC/CNN/FOX etc.) were to be believed, only a few do, and probably only muslim countries.
That video surprises even me. I didn’t know many of those countries recognized Palestine, given that many still toe the line the US sets out. But it makes me question why they don’t normalize relations with Palestine or at least grant them the same status as a country like Taiwan.
What a striking video! A real surprise. No wonder Israel dismisses the UN general assembly, and the US follows suit as instructed by the Israel lobby.
Israel is following a very rational policy…expand as much as possible while you can. US support of this policy is irrational however, and against its own interests. And, this is where money an power come into play.
So far, accusations of anti Semitism and appeals to the memory of the Holocaust have worked…but the recent brutality in Gaza was so sickening that I think we are all moving beyond.
There is a patten somewhere:
Critical of US -- anti americanism
Critical of Israel -- antisemitism
Critical of Islam -- islamophobia
Critical of feminists -- anti feminism
Critical of policies in African countries -- racist
Critical of Government interventions -- libertarian right winger
Critical of Government non intervention -- lefty liberal big government supporter
Labels replacing reasonable discussions -- as seen on other FTB blogs.
Label you opponent and you are done with them. No further engagement necessary.