But despite Palestine getting squeezed out of the picture by US-Israeli hysteria over Iran, and the continuation of the Arab Spring developments, it is crucial to bear in mind that the Palestinians are generally a low- to non-priority.
For Washington, they have no strategic value, only intermittent tactical value. Palestine basically functions as a diplomatic lever when the White House needs to adjust regional tensions. Washington also uses the Palestinians as an example of how difficult gaining independence can be, falling into the category of democracy prevention - a highly visible pattern in US foreign relations. And postponing Palestinian statehood - and thus sustaining Israel's occupation of Palestine - helps keep Israel in the mode of militancy, its primary function in the US-Israeli "special relationship." Past utility, the Palestinians are considered a trifling entity by policymakers.
Western Europe makes the occasional compelling pronouncement, but falls in line with US policy. Middle Eastern leaders have been disinterested throughout the conflict's history, with consideration usually given to the Palestinians' plight unsettling their own domestic populations, and therefore the stability of their regimes. This, of course, is now in flux.
Nevertheless, the Palestinian national movement is further off the agenda than normal. Italian-Jewish chemist and Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi was quoted as saying in 1982, during Israel's devastation of Lebanon, "Everybody is somebody's Jew. And today the Palestinians are the Jews of the Israelis." While I don't think Levi was equating Israel's occupation with the Holocaust (and nor would I), there is a chilling parallel, and that is the international disinterest in the suffering of both people. Though Holocaust studies have been in vogue since the 1980s - when the coast was sufficiently clear; which is when intellectuals can be relied upon to move in - the suffering of Europe's Jews while they were suffering was less a priority.
With Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu evoking the Holocaust in his rhetoric condemning Iran, it is important to actually learn from this barbarous historical event, not submit to its exploit for political agendas. And one of the Holocaust's vital lessons is to confront the problem while it's happening, not decades later when it is, in fact, too late.
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