Talk of a Third Intifada: Where to from Here, Palestine? | Ramzy Baroud

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Ramzy Baroud -- World News Trust

Nov. 19, 2014

When a journalist tries to do a historian’s job, the outcome can be quite interesting.

Using history as a side note in a brief news report or political analysis oftentimes does more harm than good. Now imagine if that journalist was not dependable to begin with, even more than it being “interesting,” the outcome runs the risk of becoming a mockery.

Consider the selective historical views offered by New York Times writer Thomas Freidman -- exposed in the book “The Imperial Messenger” by Belen Fernandez for his pseudo-intellectual shenanigans, contradictions and constant marketing of the status quo.

In an article entitled, The Third Intifada, published in February, Friedman attempts to explain two of the most consequential events in the collective history of the Palestinian people, if not the whole region: “For a while now I’ve wondered why there’s been no Third Intifada. That is, no third Palestinian uprising in the West Bank, the first of which helped to spur the Oslo peace process and the second of which -- with more live ammunition from the Israeli side and suicide bombings from the Palestinian side -- led to the breakdown of Oslo.”

Ta-da, there it is: Palestinian history for dummies, by, you know... Friedman. Never mind that the consequences that led to the first uprising in 1987 included the fact that Palestinians were rebelling against the very detached elitist culture, operating from Tunisia, which purported to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people. It was a small clique within the PLO-Fatah leadership that were not even living in Palestine at the time who signed a ruinous, secret agreement in Olso in 1993. And, at the expense of their people’s rightful demands for freedom, this arrangement won them just a few perks. The uprising didn’t help “spur the Oslo peace process”; the "process" was rather introduced, with the support and financing of the United States and others, to crush the intifada, as it did.

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http://worldnewstrust.com/talk-of-a-third-intifada-where-to-from-here-palestine-ramzy-baroud

[King_David]

1. Who is this author ? nt

[grossproffit]

2. Ramzy Baroud is the founder of PalestineChronicle.com.

His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story