Reasons to be cheerful? Not yet.

If the hopes of some are to be believed these last few days could prove to have been pretty important in the history of this region and the lives of the Palestinian people. Fortunately, you don't have to rely on me for analysis. You don't even have to read some leftist rag.

You could do much worse than reading the leader in this week's Economist (Yes, to Palestinian Statehood) and Bob Fisk's article in last week's Independent (Why the Middle East will never be the same again). OK, The Independent is a bit of a rag but Fisk knows his onions when it comes to the Middle East.

A little bit closer to my area of expertise are the trends in human rights violations that occur as a result of what is happening on the political level. Much of the mainstream press in the US and Europe would have you believe that most Palestinians are ready launch a 3rd intifada if they do not get what they want at the UN. The reality is that it is the Israeli citizens living in illegal settlements on Palestinian territory in the West Bank that are scared of the result and are provoking the clashes. A friend of mine, living up in Nablus in the northern West Bank, close to many of the incidents, summed up this distortion quite neatly in his recent blog post - UN Bid & Misplaced Rhetoric of Violence

The Economist also covered this subject quite well this week in Villagers vs. Settlers: Life in the rural West Bank is a far cry from diplomacy in New York.

At Al-Haq, we have just published a new Interactive Map which displays the recent spate of settler attacks as well as the specific geographic features of the Occupation including the Wall, the checkpoints, and the administrative zones. We think it provides a powerful picture the parasitic nature of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and how they are systematically annexing land and replacing Palestinians with Israeli citizens.

(Check out our Virtual Field Visits too for a more in-depth, but equally visual, representation of the human rights violations that occur on a daily basis in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. More on these at a later date.)
 

Of course, not a lot has really changed here in Ramallah. On Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered in Clock Square to watch Mahmoud Abbas' surprisingly rousing speech to the UN General Assembly. The atmosphere was special and as much as many remain sceptical over whether real progress is being made, you could not fail to be swept along in the excitement at the prospect of a Palestinian leader standing up, in defiance of the US, and demanding that the rights of his people be upheld by the international community.

I was with friends on a balcony overlooking the square and it was a remarkable scene. I didn't have my camera so I've pinched a couple of photos from my friend, Hannah.

Unfortunately, our banner did not make Al Jazeera but it was captured by a freelancer.

It struck me whilst I was watching the crowds that our little balcony neatly summed up the role that many internationals play here. High up over the people, in our glass box, we were merely well-meaning spectators, not really comprehending what was going on (the speech was in Arabic) and bearing a message that, whilst pithy, none of the locals could understand.