My letter to the LATimes RE Israel pushes Palestinians to acknowledge its Jewish character.Palestinians reject the demand as 'racist'

RE: Israel pushes Palestinians to acknowledge its Jewish character.Palestinians reject the demand as 'racist' and see it as a trap to force them to make concessions on such issues as the right of refugees to return. By Edmund Sanders
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-israel-jewish-state-20101019,0,6335179.story

Dear Editor,

Thanks for publishing "Israel pushes Palestinians to acknowledge its Jewish character, Palestinians reject the demand as 'racist' and see it as a trap to force them to make concessions on such issues as the right of refugees to return."

It is not the Jewishness of "the Jewish State" that is so worrisome- what is worrisome is how Zionists immigrating to Israel have chosen to define and defend Israel as "The Jewish State". Yes, in 1948 the UN called Israel 'The Jewish State" but the UN was also quite clear about the importance of respecting the Palestinian refugees inalienable legal and natural right to return to original homes and lands.

60 years later Israel as "The Jewish State" has been perfecting the nefarious art of persecuting, impoverishing and displacing the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land.

The vast majority of Palestinians have already been pushed into forced exile. Israel would have become a very different country had the Palestinian refugees been able to return to their ancestral homes and properties and benefited from full citizenship rights all along, shaping a more honest and compassionate Israel for everyone's sake.

In "Who made Netanyahu the leader of the Jewish people?" Tony Karon mentions the fact that "only around 39 per cent of the world's Jewish population live in Israel; the other 61 per cent have freely chosen other countries as their home (more that two thirds are in the US). So, Mr Netanyahu is demanding not only that the Palestinians recognize the right of Israel's Jews to maintain their dominance over the country's non-Jewish minority, but also to recognise Israel as the patrimony of the majority of the world's Jews who do not live there."

Furthermore, Israel's economic success, despite its brutal treatment of the indigenous Palestinians, sets an example for Islamists and religious tyrants worldwide seeking to fuse 'church and state' ...and as an American writer Ernie Brock points out so beautifully in a recent op-ed on bumper sticker slogans:

"Mixing religion with politics is just as damaging to religion as it is to government. It drags religion down from exalted heights into the muddy, worldly mire of power struggles. It makes government oppressive since there will always be differences of religious opinion causing factions to strive toward dominance. Mixing religion and government makes God Himself responsible and answerable for human strife and folly.

There are passages in the Quran, the Torah and the Bible that can be used to justify all sorts of cruel behavior and intolerance. People of good will and decency tend to quote selectively the kinder and more love-centered passages of their hallowed texts. Christianity has evolved a lot since the days of Savonarola, the Inquisition and witch-burning.

The Taliban and al-Qaida exemplify movements to unite religious doctrine and government. Will our nation’s disgust for their barbaric actions inspire an equal and opposite reaction that creates our own American Christian Taliban?"

The Israel/Palestine conflict creates negative ramifications worldwide- and the conflict itself exasperates Israeli angst and the very real plight and suffering of the Palestinians. We need a golden rule peace for both Israel and Palestine: A fully secular two state solution to end the conflict really is the best way forward.

Sincerely,
Annie Selden Annab
American homemaker & poet

Growing Gardens for Palestine
The Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you