I suppose the media hasn't given this much attention, since they figure Americans don't remember what happened two weeks ago.

Iraq's prime minister said Sunday that he has ordered a halt to the U.S. military construction of a barrier separating a Sunni enclave from surrounding Shiite areas in Baghdad after fierce criticism over the project at home.

"I oppose the building of the wall and its construction will stop," al-Maliki said during a joint news conference with the secretary-general of the Arab League. "There are other methods to protect neighborhoods, but I should point out that the goal was not to separate, but to protect."

He did not elaborate but added "this wall reminds us of other walls that we reject, so I've ordered it to stop and to find other means of protection for the neighborhoods."

Al-Maliki: No Wall in Baghdad Community

But what do we find in an AP article from yesterday?

He lied. The barrier is still going up. It is certainly reminiscent of Bush's famous denial that the U.S. government spied on American citizens without a warrant.

Hey, over at Truthdig, we just posted a really thoughtful, searing piece:

Chris Hedges, former Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times and author of the bestseller "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" examines the way Israel's security wall has ripped a mortal gash in the lives of Palestinians living in its shadow, and argues that there can be no hope for peace in the Middle East as long as America continues to aid Israel in its dehumanizing practices.

Hedges: "Until we grasp that these militants do not come from another moral universe, until we face our own complicity in their creation and the awful violence now underway in Lebanon and the occupied territories, we cannot begin to understand the gross injustices that fuel these militant movements.  It was, after all, the $10 billion in loan guarantees by the United States that made this barrier possible."

http://www.truthdig.com/...

Most people probably know by now that the "Roadmap" for Middle East peace has flown out the window.  Perhaps this is a good time to look at one of the most important underlying assumptions of that plan - namely a Palestinian state.  After the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, there was a chance that a Palestinian state would emerge in the West Bank and Gaza after protracted and difficult negotiations.  But for a two-state solution to be workable, both states must be viable entities.  Unfortunately, the territories turned over to the Palestinian Authority were never more than isolated enclaves - lacking jobs, infrastructure, water, and most importantly, hope.

The Imagined and the Actual Palestinian State

Source: http://www.americantaskforce.org/...
Source: http://www.afsc.org/...