Occupation!

Well, well, our dear President's postcolonial vocabulary is recently expanded! Or, shall we say, his speech writer's vocabulary has expanded. (Quotations taken from the BBC.)

"There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967," Mr Bush told reporters.

"Now is the time to make difficult choices..The agreement must establish a Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people."

Holy hell! Vay mama jan! Yamma! The world leader against terr-ah actually knows how to pronounce "occupation?" And, as some other quotations imply, does this mean a return to pre-1967 borders? Is our dear Edward Said (we don't often invoke God, but God bless his soul) having a mini-revolt 'n' party in Heaven? Is Orientalism finally turned on its head?

Why is this happening, anyway? Has the Bush regime somehow deduced that an increased support of Palestine will somehow translate into "success" in Iraq?

For additional reference, check out this picture, courtesy of MSNBC. Dare we say: does America stand with Palestine? What other conclusion can we draw from this display of our great patriotism (aka our butt-ugly flag) aligned with the same display (albeit NOT butt-ugly) from Palestine? Please discuss in the comments, if you like.


WMEG has a member in Ramallah conducting some research for her UC Berkeley undergraduate thesis. We'll be able to include more from-the-homeland reactions and feedback in the next few weeks. For now, color us cautiously optimistic. These statements do not reveal a sudden abandonment of America's fetishism of Zionism. But could these public statements - from the leader of the most vocal supporter of Zionism - possibly lead to action? Let's see!