The Palestinian cause

I was reading an excellent article by Rob Marchant in The New Statesman about the growing antisemitism on the left, when the words "it hurts the Palestinian cause" popped out at me quite unexpectedly. Then it hit me. Almost every decent article or blog post about antisemitism absolutely has to remind readers that antisemitism is bad for - you guessed it - palestinians!

Funny thing is, nobody tells us what exactly this Palestinian cause is. A quick google search reveals that there are a lot of Palestinian causes. Depends on who you ask, but you shouldn't loose your time asking just anybody.

We all know what Hamas would say. They also speak for the PA, in terms of goal, although they can't agree on the means. Their version of Palestinian cause is ultimately what Israel has to deal with, since they are their people's leaders. In their struggle to liberate themselves from even the slightest scent of racism, too many western intellectuals find themselves right (or rather left...) on the opposite side, playing into the hands of racist dictatorial thugs whose goals are fundamentally different from those of their idealistic supporters.

I wonder when was the last time a journalist stopped typing to think - really think - what the Palestinian cause means. Is it too much to ask a journalist to add a few explanatory words about his/her personal views on "the Palestinian cause"?