I’ve been reading your blog the past few months and it has been really insightful. Keep up the good work.

James

Hope all is well with you in Ramallah. Your writing on the feelings of Palestinians about Obama’s win is humbling; it’s a reminder of how much, or rather how little, the U.S. has done to help the peace process and listen to both sides of the conflict. It’s very easy for us, especially here in the U.S., to get caught up in the excitement of Obama’s win and forget that all of the issues facing the U.S. will still be there when he steps into office. The past few days I’ve been reading and hearing about Obama’s supposed plan to appoint Bill Clinton as an envoy to Kashmir to help aid the peace process between India and Pakistan, and I can’t help but wonder if Obama’s incentive is diplomatic or militaristic. Does he really care about the people of Kashmir’s right to self-determination, or does he simply see Kashmir as a problem that is getting in the way of U.S. military involvement in Pakistan and Afghanistan? Right now Kashmiri separatist leaders are praising Obama, but I’m curious as to what they would have to say if they saw the transition of Indian soldiers occupying the streets of Kashmir to American ones. I guess the only thing we can do is wait and see…

You’re the man, good writing, and nice response – keeping it classy.

Interesting thoughts and insight. I agree with some of what you said especially that the US administrations have a definite bias towards the government and people of Israel. (Which I have to admit I share to a certain degree – its just the way I am:)
I believe that the Palestinians and the people of Ramallah are right not to expect too much from President-Elect Obama, at least in the short term.
He has a LOT of issues on the domestic front which require his full attention and think he would be doing a disservice to his electorate if he didn’t deal with those first.

We are just back from a three week trip to South Africa. Fascinating. You’ll have to head there at some point.

Thank you for your comment; this is the type of dialogue that I like to encourage on this forum – although I’d prefer if you left a name or something to that effect.

I’ll respond to your comments in a separate post, as it brings up some of the most commonly heard rhetoric in this conflict.

Keep participating,

Dan

just so you know i am using your blog for a school project.
-julia

[i think we've got a journalist on our hands....:) ]