RE: Abbas makes promises to refugeeshttp://palestinenote.com/cs/blogs/news/archive/2010/06/05/abbas-makes-promises-to-refugees.aspx
comment I left online [Dear Editor,]
Excellent! Good to see that Palestinians are making a serious effort to welcome home Palestinian refugees to a real Palestinian state. HOWEVER the fact that Palestinian leadership is willing to welcome home all the Palestinian refugees to help build a real Palestinian state does not mean that Israel no longer has an obligation to comply with international law and respect basic human rights, including but not limited to the Palestinian refugees legal and natural right to return to original homes and lands.
As part of a fair and just negotiated settlement to end the Israel/Palestine conflict with a two state solution Israel should also be welcoming home Palestinian refugees- in line with international law and multiple UN Resolutions regarding every refugee's very real right to return to original homes and lands, but obviously with the understanding that Palestinian refugees returning to Israel will be legally and officially Israeli.
Abbas' warm welcome for all Palestinian refugees is a welcome step forward towards real freedom and possibility for Palestine... Obviously hard choices are ahead for individual Palestinian refugees, but at least with the rise of a real Palestinian state they are already being offered better options than the current reality of being stuck in stateless limbo and impoverished refugee camps.
[Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab]
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RE: U.S. should include Hamas in peace efforts By Daoud Kuttab
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/04/AR2010060404015.html
Dear Editor,
Delighted to see Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab pop up in your pages- but I do not like the way the Washington Post headlined his story, for I think that particular headline is misleading and distracting as ignores Kuttab's most important points as well as the importance of protecting what he refers to as the "fragile Palestinian-Israeli proximity talks that took U.S. envoy George Mitchell over a year to get started"
I am utterly and completely horrified and disgusted by Israel's commando attack on a humanitarian aid ship. I also think Israel's blockade of Gaza is and has been counterproductive and wrong- but that does not mean that armed Islamic militancy is right: Fatah, the PLO and serious secular resistance to Israel's ongoing crimes against the people of historic Palestine are being pushed off a cliff by Hamas supporters and apologists.
I do not agree with the Israelis who are urging the U.S. and Palestinians to include Hamas in peace efforts. I think it is obvious that Hamas could have and should have stepped down years ago in order to end Israel's punitive siege and illegal occupation of Palestinian land- or at least to help prove that Israel really has no intention of making peace with or for Palestine.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
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