Why Palestine? It?s hard to overstate the significance of Israel/Palestine to global politics. Some say that Barack Obama?s success or failure will be judged on whether a resolution to the conflict is reached during his presidency. For others the issue has deep moral resonance. As an indication of the fault lines in America, Hampshire College?s recent decision to divest from companies that do business with Israel has been both repudiated and celebrated as a major breakthrough. Ali Abunimah, editor and founder of The Electronic Intifada says that Palestine matters precisely because it is the site of the last Western colonial project in the Third World and that opposition to Israel is also opposition to US hegemony in the region. Abunimah, Brian Van Slyke of Hampshire College?s Students for Justice in Palestine, Kanwal-Shazia Chaudhry a Doctor in Brooklyn who recently traveled to Gaza with the American Medical Mission to Gaza, and Hannah Mermelstein, co-founder of Birthright Unplugged take on the question of why Palestine matters. Less