Quite historically significant events are taking place in Palestine, shadowed somewhat by the global economic crisis and the recent US elections (which are also two historical events!).
Of course I followed the US elections closely on the 4th of November (5th in Lebanon) and was very relieved of the outcome (I took the above photo directly of the TV at my flat in Beirut, it was 6am on 5th of November). A few days after the election of Barack Obama as the next US president, I thought back at that day and wondered "What else happened in the World on the 4th of November?" There was so much media coverage on the US elections, that most of us current affairs followers are unaware of what other events took place. My curiosity drew me to the archives online of some news agencies and papers and this is what I discovered.
On the 4th of November 2008:
- The President of Georgia, Mr. Sakashvili dismissed his army chief for "shortcomings" during the recent conflict with Russia;
- A report showed that part of a UK government aid programme for Pakistan is being used to steer students away from radical religious schools into maintream education;
- A supermarket chain in the UK used tonnes of food waiste to power its stores;
- Algeria's government moved to change the consitution, allowing President Bouteflika to run for a third term;
- Gaza once again fell under Israeli siege, blocking fuel supplies and humanitarian aid;
- DR Congo flaired up into what became these past weeks a full fledged war in the East of the country, causing displacement and provoking a humanitarian disaster.
Can one thus conclude from the above analysis that despite important events taking place in the World, no event is quite as significant as that of the election of the US president? Do we not sometimes overestimate the influence and power associated to this position and the man therein?
Anyway, back to Palestine. Last week, the Palestinian Authority posted a large one page advert in 3 major Israeli daily newspapers, something never done before. The advert was a detailed description in Hebrew of the Saudi initiative known as the Arab Peace Plan.
The Plan offers Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for an end to Israel's occupation of land captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It also proposes what it calls a just solution for Palestinian refugees. The initiative was adopted by the Arab League in Beirut in 2002 and then revived in 2007. The idea behind this one pager was that the PA believed that most Israelis were ill informed of the Plan and were influenced by biased media. It seems as if this could actually work. The Arab League appointed Jordan and Egypt as representatives of the Plan to Israel (both countries are the only Arab/Muslim countries to have diplomatic ties with Irsael). Here is the text of the Plan . Let us hope for a positive outcome...
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