I Saw it in Palestine

Peace Prize? Huh?

Last Thursday, we blew a crater on the moon, Obama was awarded the peace prize, and I went to bed with a headache. Let's just say that it was a weird day.

Obama himself said that he didn't yet deserve the peace prize and honestly I agree with him. When I am in Palestine, I hear nothing but frustration for Obama's unwillingness to do anything more than say the right things while Israel continues to build more and more settlements. Between this and the way that the Goldstone report on Gaza has been buried, the middle east peace process is stalled - giving Israel plenty of time to change the "facts on the ground" by building more and more settlements. Clearly, the Nobel Committee gave Obama this award to encourage future work for peace. I'm pretty sure this strategy will only work is everyone who greeted the announcement with a resounded "huh?" pressures Obama to really stand up for peace.

So who do I think should have gotten the Nobel? Well, if the committee really wanted to honor nuclear disarmanent efforts, then past nomaniee Mordechai Vanunu would have been an excellent choice. But I'm sure that none of you will be suprised that I know a small village in the South Hebron Hills full of people who deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. Take one man - we'll call him H. for his own safety. He was elected head of the South Hebron Hills nonviolent resistance organzing committee and has been beaten, arrested, and harassed for his work. If Obama gets a peace prize, H. certainly deserves it.