What defines Palestine? First of all it is defined by the colonial domination of the West; by persistent injustice under permanent violation of international law; and by double standards, imposed by governments, backed by the United Nations, and theorized by a good number of western intellectuals. Palestine – at the intersection of East and West, North and South -- symbolizes at once the old world, marked by the hegemony of the North, and the emergence of a new world founded on the principle of equality of peoples.

Cloaking itself in a reading of the genocide of the Jews, which a priori exonerates the state of Israel of all responsibility in the war crimes of which it can be accused since 1948, the West refuses to apply the same criteria of analysis and judgment to this conflict as it does to Iraq, Serbia or Iran. Elsewhere it lays claim to “international law,” “human rights,” freedom of the press and the right of journalists to cover wars, and proportionality. The impositions of the Serbs against the Kosovars, often real, sometimes exaggerated by the international media, served to justify NATO’s military intervention in Serbia in March 1999. But when one of the most powerful armies of the world bombarded the tiny, crowded territory of Gaza, with a population of a million and a half, ruining its infrastructure, destroying its schools and hospitals, and killing hundreds of civilians, western governments found excuses and justifications for what would otherwise be described as “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity.”

From Chapter V of “Defining Palestine,” by Alan Gresh, Deputy Director of Le Monde Diplomatique. Read the full chapter on my blog: http://open.salon.com/blog/tampsa/2011/02/16/defining_palestine