Thoughts on Rashid Khalidi
There has been, from the beginning of the 2008 Presidential campaign to cast Barack Obama as either a closet Muslim or a Muslim sympathizer who would threaten the security of Israel. Most of this is an unveiled attack on Islam. There's also the assumption here that if one is supportive of Palestinian rights one is anti-Israel -- or worse, anti-Jewish.
Barack Obama is friends with Rashid Khalidi, a former Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago and now the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. Born in New York, Khalidi is a Palestinian. He's said some "controversial" things. An attempt at linking Obama and Khalidi is part of the ongoing smear that Obama is "palling around with terrorists," as Sarah Palin puts it. As a Palestinian American, it is natural that Khalidi supports Palestinian rights and that he has criticized, indeed, condemned, Israeli actions against the Palestinians. Palestinians strongly oppose Israeli occupation.
Obama has come out clearly in support of a two-state solution, which is American policy. Of course, many in the Christian Right oppose the two-state solution because they believe in Greater Israel. Not only do Christian Zionists support Israel they are the strongest supporters, both politically and financially of the Settlements.
So, Barack Obama went to dinner to honor a friend and colleague from the University of Chicago. So, he said nice things about Khalidi. Does that mean that Obama supports the PLO, which has become the Palestinian Authority, and is a threat to Israel? That's the charge. While in itself the charge is without merit, there is a bigger issue here. If we are to have any semblance of peace in the middle east, then America must stop treating Islam as a terrorist-laden religion. I mean, who are our "allies" in Iraq, if not Muslims?
My suggestion here -- stop making a controversy out of something that doesn't merit it!
Barack Obama is friends with Rashid Khalidi, a former Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago and now the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. Born in New York, Khalidi is a Palestinian. He's said some "controversial" things. An attempt at linking Obama and Khalidi is part of the ongoing smear that Obama is "palling around with terrorists," as Sarah Palin puts it. As a Palestinian American, it is natural that Khalidi supports Palestinian rights and that he has criticized, indeed, condemned, Israeli actions against the Palestinians. Palestinians strongly oppose Israeli occupation.
Obama has come out clearly in support of a two-state solution, which is American policy. Of course, many in the Christian Right oppose the two-state solution because they believe in Greater Israel. Not only do Christian Zionists support Israel they are the strongest supporters, both politically and financially of the Settlements.
So, Barack Obama went to dinner to honor a friend and colleague from the University of Chicago. So, he said nice things about Khalidi. Does that mean that Obama supports the PLO, which has become the Palestinian Authority, and is a threat to Israel? That's the charge. While in itself the charge is without merit, there is a bigger issue here. If we are to have any semblance of peace in the middle east, then America must stop treating Islam as a terrorist-laden religion. I mean, who are our "allies" in Iraq, if not Muslims?
My suggestion here -- stop making a controversy out of something that doesn't merit it!
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