American hawks these days exude confidence, as their “shock and awe” campaign has turned the Middle East into their playground and they intend to have their fun. They have shown us their might and expect all to bow down before them. Sharon, the spiritual leader for these hawks, marvels as the chips fall into place. Yet a stinging point continues to be overlooked, the Palestinian plight is unique from all the other problems in the region. Our oppression is not internal in nature rather it is the result of 36 years of illegal occupation.

If there is one thing this American administration hates is not being able to group people under the labels of “good” and “evil.” American spin machines, working overtime, can dig up enough dirt to convince Americans, and perhaps even the world, that Syria is “evil,” but how can they pin this label on a captive, defenseless, poverty stricken people who are suffering in every imaginable way at the hands of America’s closest ally. So far, the solution to this dilemma has been to relegate, delay or deny.

It seems the US administration is desperately searching for countries to pick on, in an attempt to relegate the need to deal with the biggest reason for destabilization in the Middle East. The war on Iraq was a good idea, lots of ancillary benefits and over half a year of comfortably leaving Palestinians on the backburner sans criticism. Victory in Iraq has left America looking for its next scapegoat; thankfully the list is long enough for this administration not to worry anytime soon. Syria, Iran and North Korea can all be placed in the limelight if needed.

But what to do when Blair starts to nag or when Powell says something the hawks did not anticipate. Simple, move forward, but at an excruciatingly slow pace, and try to delay, delay, delay. Funnily enough, the US administration has become so experienced in coming up with reasons to delay the publishing of the “road map” that they have now placed the onus on the Palestinians for taking so darn long setting up a cabinet. The fact that it took Sharon far longer to set up his government is besides the point apparently, the important thing to remember is that Arafat stalls everything.

Perhaps though a potential danger to the hawks is Israel’s lack of diplomacy when it announces on loudspeakers that a Palestinian independent state will never exist, as commonly done by Sharon’s Likud party, or when Israeli missiles kill Palestinian children. The answer to such embarrassments seems to be easy enough; deny everything and reiterate that Sharon is a “man of peace.” While Sharon’s inner circle reassures the Israeli people that “the prime minister will not hesitate to challenge the Bush administration if he is asked to freeze settlements or lay a single finger on them,” America only cares to read Sharon’s interview with Haaretz and his unwavering, yet unfulfilled, promise to make “painful concessions.”

Palestinians can feel Sharon’s pain, like we feel Israeli fighter jets pelting our women and children, like we feel America’s denial of any such incidents. The prospect for great changes in the Middle East is high, but for Palestinians relegation, delay and denial remain the only prospects.