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HOLLYWOOD AND THE CIA — Film historian Ed Rampell details Hollywood’s entangled relationship with the CIA and the Pentagon; HOUSES OF THE DEAD: Nancy Kurshan exposes the cruel human rights offenses taking place inside America’s vast gulag of Control Unit Prisons; BROTHERHOOD OF SUMMER: David Macaray charts the history of the most powerful union in the US: the Baseball Players Association; TAR SANDS COME TO AMERICA: Steve Horn explains how the Keystone Pipeline debates have diverted attention from Big Oil’s other plans to transport Alberta’s oil into the US. PLUS: Jeffrey St. Clair on CONSTITUTIONAL ENTROPY; Mike Whitney on HOW THE BANKS TARGETED BLACKS; Chris Floyd on THE RISE OF BRITAIN’S TEA PARTY; Kristin Kolb on THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE; Kim Nicolini on the FILMS OF WILLIAM FRIEDKIN; and Lee Ballinger on POETS VS. THE ONE PERCENT.

October 12, 2009

Why Didn't the Nobel Committee Choose Quality?

Why Does Obama Get a Prize and Bush Got Shoes?

by IYAD BURNAT

When I came home from our nonviolent demonstration in Bil’in, after the soldiers shot tear gas and after seeing the violence of the Israeli soldiers, I heard that President Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize. When I heard this from the media I started to go crazy. I asked myself why. The Americans are still in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Palestine is still occupied. In the recent news I saw that the Israeli soldiers closed Jerusalem, and I heard that many people were injured. We haven’t seen anything changed. Why didn’t the committee give the prize to Bush? I remember nine years ago Bush had a good speech about the establishment of a Palestinian state in the year of 2005. We saw after the speech that Sharon invaded Al Aqsa mosque, and the American army invaded Iraq. Why didn’t you give the prize to this man at that time, and he got shoes instead? This is injustice!

I am so sorry Mr. Bush. You worked very hard, eight years with killing children, starting wars and supporting the occupation, and they gave the prize to another man.

I ask you our friends in the Nobel Committee, why didn’t you choose quality? I think your prize makes the people more violent. Do you think that Obama can make peace, and why didn’t you wait until he actually made the peace? Maybe he will invade another country. Sorry, but we are still under occupation and it makes us very crazy because we see every day and night the suffering of our children, and it’s killing us. We hear in the speeches that the president talks about peace, but nothing has changed. To deserve a Nobel prize you need to work, not talk. We need the work to be done now, not tomorrow. We need our land now, not tomorrow.

IYAD BURNAT is Head of Popular Commitee in Bilin and co-founder of Friends of Freedom and Justice – Bilin.