fate of palestine

The prospects for the Palestinian movement look quite grim, is my take on
the situation.  Israel is moving toward an outright annexation of the
settlements, and physically walling off the rest of the West Bank.  If
Israel can get by without Palestinian labor, this might mean a pitiful
Palestinian mini-state ghetto if and when Arafat unilaterally declares
statehood.

It does no good to blame this entirely on Israel.  If the Palestinians
cannot come up with anything better than inchoate rage and riots, backed
by threats of war by Arab dictators, then I guess this is the outcome.

On the other hand, there might be an 11th hour chance that a strategy of
non-violent resistance *with the aim of Palestinian rights as workers and
citizens in a unified secular state* could still work.  But I doubt it.  I
guess it's just what the post-modern cynics call a metanarrative pipedream, 
premised as it is on common class interests.

Score another victory for ethnic and religious holy war, the wonders of
pre and post modern particularism.

RH