My letters to CSM & the LATimes re Locked out & Clock is ticking on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations

CSM: A Palestinian in Beirut, Lebanon, holding a symbolic key during a commemoration of the dispersal of Palestinians when Israel was created in 1948. Palestinians are among the 12 million stateless people worldwide who need to become a citizen. (Bilal Hussein/AP)

RE: Locked out: The 12 million people without a country, and their need to become a citizen: The victims of shifting borders, politics, or the happenstance of birthplace, the world's 12 million stateless people and their need to become a citizen are rising on the international human rights agenda.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2010/0704/Locked-out-The-12-million-people-without-a-country-and-their-need-to-become-a-citizen

Dear Editor,

Good to see that telling photo of a Palestinian holding a very symbolic key. However too little was said in the article about the very real plight of the Palestinians and the largest, longest running refugee crisis in the world today as Israel continues to push Palestinians into poverty and forced exile day after day after day... Is this to be the future of every modern nation- an escalating trend with sovereign powers worldwide electing to harass and evict targeted individuals and groups in order to shape a favored demographic "balance" for their state.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

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RE: Clock is ticking on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, With the U.S. as a mediator, the two have until September to prevent a diplomatic meltdown.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-danin-bibi-20100705,0,3873589.stor

Dear Editor,

Negotiations (direct or indirect) to end the Israel/Palestine conflict can not and should not be about how to dismiss and/or ignore the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but how to best respect it: Yes the clock is ticking on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations- but the onus is not on Obama or the Palestinians. The onus is fully on sovereign Israel as it stands in long term and flagrant violation of international law and the Palestinians basic human rights.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES

In 1948 United Nations (page 4 on the PDF file http://unispal.un.org/pdfs/AC1SR207.pdf ) Mediator Count Folke Bernadotte pointed out that "It would be an offence against the principles of justice if those innocent victims [Palestinian refugees] could not return to their homes while [Zionist] immigrants flowed into Palestine to take their place."

UN Resolution 194 from 1948 : The refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible

"The United Nations had certainly not intended that the Jewish State should rid itself of its Arab citizens" 5 May 1949 Application of Israel for admission to membership in the United Nations http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/85255e950050831085255e95004fa9c/1db943e43c280a26052565fa004d8174?OpenDocument

Refugees and the Right of Return

"Palestinian refugees must be given the option to exercise their right of return (as well as receive compensation for their losses arising from their dispossession and displacement) though refugees may prefer other options such as: (i) resettlement in third countries, (ii) resettlement in a newly independent Palestine (even though they originate from that part of Palestine which became Israel) or (iii) normalization of their legal status in the host country where they currently reside. What is important is that individual refugees decide for themselves which option they prefer – a decision must not be imposed upon them." http://www.plomission.us/index.php?page=core-issues-3

THE Arab Peace Initiative

Refugees, Borders & Jerusalem...

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."Eleanor Roosevelt