My letter to the Washington Post RE Taking Exception What Carter Missed in the Middle East By Elliott Abrams

RE: Taking Exception What Carter Missed in the Middle East By Elliott Abrams
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/07/AR2009090702067.html

Dear Editor,

I suspect that Zionists reading Abrams op-ed "What Carter Missed in the Middle East" end up even more convinced that Israel is right to be so hostile and dismissive towards Palestinians.

But even more worrisome is on the other side: I fear that people earnestly concerned about the besieged Palestinians will in a way give up and give in to the academic call for a one state solution. Speaking from experience I can assure you that it really is quite easy to be swept up into inspiring pipe dreams and siren songs about one shared democracy with full and equal rights magically making the Israel/Palestine conflict gently dissolve away into irrelevance. Reality check- it won't.

Kudos to Carter and The Elders for stepping up to try to help convince the world that a two state solution really is the best way forward.

On the Elder's website one can read their blogs. The most recent entry is by Mary Robinson who notes in East Jerusalem: The indignity and illegality of eviction " My fellow Elder Jimmy Carter was unambiguous in his statement that the eviction of Palestinians such as the Hanouns from East Jerusalem "is a political issue… It’s an attempt by Israel to take over East Jerusalem, which is part of Palestine"." http://www.theelders.org/middle-east/blogs/elders/east-jerusalem-indignity-and-illegality-eviction (Mary Robinson, the first woman President of Ireland (1990-1997) and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002), has spent most of her life as a human rights advocate.)

Israel as a sovereign nation really is and really has been blatantly violating international law and the Palestinians' basic human rights- day in and day out on multiple counts. Neither prayers nor curses (nor wishful thinking) will make that cruel reality go away: There is no time to waste- for everyone's sake we need to be seriously working towards a better future before this situation goes from bad to worse.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab