ADC Supplements NY Times Report on Tax-Exempt Funds Aiding Illegal Settlements

ADC Supplements NY Times Report on Tax-Exempt Funds Aiding Illegal Settlements

Washington, DC | www.adc.org | July 6, 2010 | ADC welcomes the NY Times article, which reemphasizes ADC's on-going campaign in addressing the role American NGO's play in funding illegal Israeli settlements. The article titled, "Tax-Exempt Funds Aid Settlements in West Bank," highlighted the issue of American non-profit organizations (NGO's) funding illegal settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). The full article can be read here.

Although the article is fair and balanced, there are more components pertaining to the legality of the issue, which supplement the claims raised by the NY Times. Two key points not mentioned at length in the article are the engagement of the NGO's in discriminatory practices and deceptive fundraising. Research by ADC has uncovered that these NGO's are engaged in discriminatory practices by funding projects and activities which cannot be used by Palestinians. Such discriminatory practices are against American public policy, and NGO's are prohibited from engaging in such activity as described in the US Supreme Court Case of Bob Jones University v. The United States. In the case, the High Court agreed that the IRS can disqualify organizations that act contrary to public policy from receiving tax-exempt status from the federal government. The court upheld the IRS's disqualification of Bob Jones University as a tax-exempt organization, despite its educational mission, because its racially discriminatory practices were found to be contrary to public policy.

Further, many American NGO's are engaging in deceptive fundraising. These organizations solicit donations by claiming they are raising funds for things such as "educational purposes" or "community development" when in reality the funds are used in some cases for the purchase of weapons and paramilitary material. Deceptive fundraising can lead to an organization losing its 501(c)(3) status, as well as possible criminal actions against those perpetrating the fraud.

The article attempts to distinguish between "outposts" and "settlements;" however, it is ADC's position that there is no difference between the two, as both are illegal under international law and amount to a continuous and unjust occupation of the OPT. Any peace agreement must include the immediate freeze and dismantlement of all settlements.

ADC has been engaging with a broad range of coalition partners in addressing the issue of illegal funding of settlements. Over the past year, ADC has filed numerous complaints with the Department of Treasury against organizations believed to be in violation of their 501(c)(3) status.

Prior releases about ADC's work on this matter:

March 2009 release

August 2009 release

January 2010 release

ADC will continue looking into American NGO's funding of illegal settlement activity, and hopes to file more complaints in the very near future.

For more information about the campaign, please contact the ADC Legal Department by calling 202-244-2990 or via e-mail to aayoub@adc.org.

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Contact: legal@adc.org

202-244-2990

NOTE TO EDITORS: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), which is non-profit, non-sectarian and non-partisan, is the largest Arab-American civil rights organization in the United States. It was founded in 1980 by former Senator James Abourezk to protect the civil rights of people of Arab descent in the United States and to promote the cultural heritage of the Arabs. ADC has 38 chapters nationwide, including chapters in every major city in the country, and members in all 50 states.

The ADC Research Institute (ADC-RI), which was founded in 1981, is a Section 501(c)(3) educational organization that sponsors a wide range of programs on behalf of Arab Americans and of importance to all Americans. ADC-RI programs include research studies, seminars, conferences and publications that document and analyze the discrimination faced by Arab Americans in the workplace, schools, media, and governmental agencies and institutions. ADC-RI also celebrates the rich cultural heritage of the Arabs.

ADC Research Institute (ADC-RI) | www.adc.org
1732 Wisconsin Ave., NW | Washington, DC | 20007
Tel: 202-244-2990 | Fax: 202-333-3980 | E-mail: media@adc.org

Jordan's King Abdullah reiterates that the region will not enjoy peace and security without resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

http://jordantimes.com/?news=28079King, British FM discuss peace efforts

AMMAN (JT) –– His Majesty King Abdullah on Monday met with UK Foreign Minister William Hague and discussed means to achieve progress in efforts to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. King Abdullah and Hague underscored the need to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution and within a comprehensive regional context that ensures the restoration of Arab rights and brings about peace and security to the region, a Royal Court statement said. The King underlined the need for the international community to take effective action to move peace efforts forward, warning that a continuation of the current dangerous situation will increase tensions and ignite violence. The Monarch reiterated that the region will not enjoy peace and security without resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This will be achieved, he said, by ending the Israeli occupation and establishing an independent and viable Palestinian state on its national soil that lives side-by-side with Israel. His Majesty's visit to the UK comes on the heels of a trip to the Kazakh capital, Astana, where he held talks Sunday with President Nursultan Nazarbayev on bilateral ties and the latest developments in the Middle East. King Abdullah is scheduled to travel to the US where he will be joined by Her Majesty Queen Rania to participate in an economic forum in Idaho. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said that Jordan and other Arab and Muslim countries have a shared vision for a permanent peace, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. In a lecture delivered at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, the minister said that the end of the Arab-Israeli conflict only comes through the establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital within the 1967 borders, an agreed-on and just solution to the Pal?stinian refugees issue based on UN Security Council Resolution 194, and returning the Golan Heights to Syria as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories. 6 July 2010

IBISHBLOG: The Palestinians have set the stage for Netanyahu's Washington trip

http://www.ibishblog.com/blog/hibish/2010/07/05/palestinians_have_set_stage_netanyahus_washington_trip

The Palestinians have set the stage for Netanyahu's Washington trip

July 5, 2010 - 2:32pm

This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his entourage will be visiting Washington and meeting with Pres. Obama tomorrow, but it all comes very much in the context of last month's highly successful trip by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and an entourage of PLO leaders, the centerpiece of which was a meeting on June 9 with Obama in the White House. The logical of the Abbas visit, which had originally been scheduled to follow one week after a similar meeting between Obama and Netanyahu, originally seemed lost due to Netanyahu's cancelation of the meeting. He returned to Israel from Canada, rather than continuing on the United States, as scheduled, probably to avoid causing yet another embarrassment to Obama, given the Gaza flotilla attack. Theoretically, no one would have scheduled a meeting between Obama and Abbas before the aborted Netanyahu meeting, but neither party had any grounds or reasons to postpone it, so the Palestinians came as scheduled. As it turns out, the visit could hardly have been more successful under existing circumstances and proved to be an impressive surprise. More importantly, it has raised a significant set of challenges for the Israeli prime minister as he prepares for his delayed appearance.

The most important aspect of the Palestinian visit was the striking demonstration of Palestinian forthcomingness on peace, especially from Abbas personally. Crucially, when the PLO came under fairly heavy pressure from predictable quarters not to return to proximity talks after the flotilla attack, it firmly pointed out that while it condemned Israel's actions, no purpose would be served by bowing out of the American-brokered talks. The two issues were separate and not connected, they pointed out, and could have added that refusing to continue with diplomacy on final status issues would actually reward rather than punish Israel and pointlessly damage the Palestinian national interest. The wisdom of this decision became clear during the visit, which would not even have taken place if Palestinians walked away from the talks or put them on hold.

What the Palestinians were able to do, for the first time in many years, arguably since the late 1990s, was position themselves as a real diplomatic and political partner in peace to the US administration, something the present Israeli government has most certainly failed to do. The Americans and Palestinians found themselves in broad agreement on the most pressing points. They agreed that a way has to be found to relive the suffering of the people of Gaza without strengthening Hamas and that breaking down the commonality of interests between Gazans and their rulers is crucial. On vexed question of negotiations, it was expected that the Palestinians were going to be harangued with a mantra of returning to direct talks as soon as possible and without conditions. The Palestinian position was unusually serviceable: they told the Americans that while they are all in favor of direct talks, the proximity talks should yield some progress of some kind first to demonstrate that there is, in fact, a point to negotiating with this Israeli government. The essential point they were making, and that was accepted by the administration, is that direct talks are desirable and important, but that more diplomatic and political groundwork is needed before they can successfully be launched. The Palestinian suggestion to the Americans is that they work out with Israel what, exactly, is going to be tackled in the early stages of direct talks, and that when the US is satisfied that the talks will have merit and substance and can explain how to the Palestinians, they will agree to resume direct negotiations. It has also helped that while the Israelis have been insisting that the proximity talks focus on procedural issues and water, Palestinians have been pushing the issues of borders and security, which is an agenda that is very compatible with the White House approach....READ MORE

A Palestinian child runs down the stairs in Jerusalem's Old City July 5, 2010 REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: SOCIETY)

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

********************
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

FOCUS: OPINION Jordan is not Palestine By Lamis Andoni

Jordan absorbed many Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948 [GETTY]

FOCUS: OPINION : Jordan is not Palestine By Lamis Andoni

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/2010/07/2010748131864654.html

George Mitchell, the US special envoy to the Middle East, has recently expressed his frustration at the lack of progress in the stalled "peace process".

But it may be time for Mitchell to move aside, as Geert Wilders, the leader of the Netherlands' third-largest party, seems to have found a 'creative solution' to the conflict: Jordan should be renamed Palestine and become a homeland for the Palestinians.

Unfortunately for Wilders - and the Israeli right - this 'solution' is neither original nor acceptable and Jordanian officials have responded with a resounding condemnation of the proposal.

The 'Jordan option'

The plan to turn Jordan into a Palestinian homeland and to give Israel complete control over the historic land of Palestine is regularly rehashed by the Israeli right whenever there is international pressure, however minimal, on Israel to stop its expansionism. Last month, around half of the 120-member Israeli knesset, submitted "a two states for two peoples on both sides of River Jordan" proposal for discussion. In practice the proposal entails an expulsion of Palestinians to Jordan so that the kingdom becomes a de facto Palestinian homeland.

Last month, around half of the 120-member Israeli knesset, submitted "a two states for two peoples on both sides of River Jordan" proposal for discussion. In practice the proposal entails an expulsion of Palestinians to Jordan so that the kingdom becomes a de facto Palestinian homeland.

The forceful revival of what has historically been referred to as the "Jordan option" comes amid growing international pressure over the building of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Israeli right, many of whom belong to the Likud party of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, see the Jordanian option as an adequate and practical solution to plans to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Dying 'two-state' solution

The Israeli right's fear of a Palestinian state comes at a time when many Palestinians, including officials, believe that the two-state solution is all but dead.

The rapid expansion of Israeli settlements, the erection of the separation wall, and the ongoing annulment of residency permits for Arabs in East Jerusalem, has left little room, if any, for a Palestinian state.

But many in the Israeli right are concerned by the plan of Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, to establish a de facto state by building institutions and housing across the lands of the West Bank, including in areas where Israeli forces remain.

While many Palestinians are concerned that Fayyad's plan will only serve to transform the currently fragmented Palestinian territories into an entity that lacks contiguity and sovereignty, the Israeli right are afraid that any kind of Palestinian state, however distorted, will threaten their claim to the entire historic land of Palestine.

Buffer state

The "Jordan option" is deeply rooted in the idea that the eastern part of Jordan is part of the historic land of Palestine. Consequently many Israeli leaders, mostly but not solely from the Likud party, argue that the Palestinian population should be transferred "to that part of Palestine".

The idea, however, was given little credence before 1977, when the Likud party came to power for the first time. The Likud promoted the idea as an alternative to a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In 1982, Yitzhak Shamir, who became the Likud prime minister in 1983, wrote that, "reduced to its true proportions, the problem is clearly not the lack of a homeland for the Palestinian Arabs. That homeland is Trans-Jordan, or Eastern Palestine .... A second Palestinian state to the west of the River is a prescription for anarchy."

But the "Jordan option" contravenes the tacit understanding reached by the founders of Israel and King Abdullah I that Israel would accept the establishment of a Hashemite-run state in east Jordan.

In fact, Israel's early leaders saw the Hashemite entity as both a buffer between Israel and the rest of the Arab world, and a state that could absorb those Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 and the Six Day war in 1967.

But it is precisely the fact that Israeli leaders intentionally turned Jordan into the absorber of the largest Palestinian refugee population that is now being used to justify transforming it into a substitute homeland for the Palestinians and forcibly sending more.

Immoral and illegal

Today Jordan is home to about 1.9 million Palestinian refugees, more than 337,000 of whom live in the country's 10 official refugee camps.

The argument that the majority of Jordanians are of Palestinian origin and that Jordan is therefore already the de facto homeland of the Palestinians is hypocritical and erroneous.

There are no precise statistics but it is true that at least half of Jordan's population of about 6.2 million people are of Palestinian origin. But that is a result of Israeli expansionism and a deliberate policy of emptying Palestinian lands of Palestinians.

If Jordan was the original home of the Palestinian people, Israel would not have had to demolish around 450 Palestinian villages or to devise policies to expel the Palestinian population.

Moreover, there was already a community with its own traditions, costumes and dialect specific to the east of Jordan before the establishment of Israel.

Furthermore, the whole principle of evicting a population, erasing their villages, and bringing in settlers so as to change an area's demographics is simply immoral and illegal under international law.

Perpetual war

The fulfillment of the right wing dream of turning Jordan into Palestine cannot happen without a gradual or mass expulsion of Palestinians from Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, along with the use of force against Jordanians.

It presents, therefore, a scenario of continuous war and conflict that cannot possibly end Israel's "Palestinian problem".

But even though this 'vision' cannot be easily fulfilled without resorting to all out war, it must be taken seriously as it offers an excuse to force yet more Palestinians from their homeland.

Over the years, two variations of the "Jordan option" have developed. The first is based on "transferring" the Palestinian population of the East Bank and even Israel "proper" to Jordan, where the Palestinian homeland is to be established. The second scenario is based on establishing a Palestinian state in Jordan, which would also include the Arab-populated areas of the West Bank.

Both options have been rejected, but the proposals have remained alive as a stick with which to threaten the Palestinians and the Jordanians and to counter perceived threats or the international community's verbal support for the establishment of a Palestinian state. In other words, Israeli leaders use the "Jordan option" whenever Israel is in time of crisis.

Dispossessing 'infiltrators'

The fact that 53 knesset members have been strongly pushing the "Jordan option" is testimony to the level of isolation Israel currently feels. But, instead of addressing the core issue of Palestinian national rights, the leaders of the Israeli right are raising the spectre of further dispossession of the Palestinian people.

What has made this proposal more threatening to both Jordan and the Palestinians is that was preceded by a new military order that allows Israel to expel those deemed not to have the 'right' Israeli paperwork as "infiltrators". As the Israeli daily Haaretz reported, according to this order residents of East Jerusalem, Palestinian citizens of other countries and even those who hold Israeli passports could be classified as "infiltrators" and expelled.

Under the guise of assuring "judicial oversight of the extradition process", Israel has effectively established a new plan for the gradual but large scale expulsion of Palestinians to Jordan, thus making the "Jordan option" all the more real.

In rationalising his controversial proposal, Wilders argued that "the West has to protect Jerusalem" and "to stop the offensive by leftists and Muslims to destroy Israel".

Spoken in the tradition of his party's anti-Muslim views, Wilders both exposed and echoed the concept underlying the "Jordan option": That, like so many other racist ideas, it cannot be implemented without resorting to force and the exclusion of "the other".

Lamis Andoni is an analyst and commentator on Middle Eastern and Palestinian affairs.

Refugees cross the remains of the Allenby Bridge over the River Jordan in 1967 [GETTY]

Vintage American Art: The First Sunday

Vintage magazine cover and advertising art from the Golden Age of American Illustration

You can help Magazineart.org: Subscribe to magazines; buy books about magazine design or books about American illustrators; or simply visit our advertisers.

Is Gaza just a diversion tactic?

Is Gaza just a diversion tactic?

Addressing the settlement question is key to Middle East peace

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PLEASE GO TO THE ORGINAL LINK TO READ THE STORY IN FULL

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/106983-addressing-the-settlement-question-is-key-to-middle-east-peace

Addressing the settlement question is key to Middle East peace

By Nadia Hijab, co-director of Al-Shabaka - 07/02/10

This time the Israelis have given Barack Obama plenty of notice. They announced a master plan to expand Jewish settlements in occupied East Jerusalem a full week before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to visit the president on July 6.

So Obama hasn’t been blindsided like Joe Biden, who was slapped in the face with a settlement expansion announcement on the day of his visit to Israel in March. But that’s unlikely to make the president any happier about the Israeli defiance of the settlement freeze, to say nothing of international law, and it portends yet another collision in what Israeli ambassador Michael Oren has been quoted as describing as a tectonic shift in American-Israeli relations.

The proposed Jerusalem master plan — objectors have 60 days to submit reservations — would henceforth apply the same zoning and construction procedures to both East and West Jerusalem in another attempt to cement the city’s forced unification. Most of the planned expansion will swallow up privately owned Arab property — but whether on private or public land, the entire Israeli settlement enterprise is as illegal in East Jerusalem as it is in the rest of the territories Israel occupied during the 1967 war.

The Israeli settlers clearly think they have the upper hand: Even if Obama wants to get tough with Israel, the November elections will give him pause. Democratic candidates need all the money and votes they can get and the alternative new American Jewish lobby, J Street, is not yet strong enough to counter the electoral clout of the long-established Israel lobby.

The settlers thus continue to thumb their nose at the international community and get away with it, as they have done for 43 years and counting. In fact, on the same day that the master plan was announced, Israel began new housing construction in the Shepherd Hotel complex in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. When those plans were announced a year ago Hillary Clinton demanded Israel cancel the building permits. Now that the fuss has died down, the building has started up.

Israel has made terrible changes to West and East Jerusalem in architectural and human terms, inexorably squeezing Palestinians — Muslim and Christian — out in favor of Israeli Jews. As the Jerusalem-based lawyer Daniel Seidemann noted in a recent article on ForeignPolicy.com’s The Middle East Channel, Israel has issued only 4,000 permits for private Palestinian construction in East Jerusalem although the population has quadrupled to 280,000 since 1967 (and would have been higher if not for Israeli measures). Palestinians are forced to choose between building “illegally” on their own land and risking home demolition or — as Israel would prefer — leaving altogether.

Withholding permits is just one way that Israelis “cleanse” Jerusalem of Palestinians. Others include forced evictions, cancellation of residence permits, the separation Wall, cutting off the rest of the West Bank from Jerusalem, and just plain harassment. In Sheikh Jarrah, for example, settlers mounted loudspeakers to blast music around the surrounding blocks.

The settlers can do a lot of damage between now and November. If the American administration is unable to rein its Israeli ally in before then, they might want to ask their European or other partners to do so. After all, Jerusalem is not recognized as Israel’s capital and embassies are based in Tel Aviv. The last two countries of a handful of countries to have embassies in Jerusalem — El Salvador and Costa Rica — moved them back to Tel Aviv in the wake of Israel’s war on Lebanon in 2006.

It is also time to forcefully remind Israel not only that everything it is doing in occupied East Jerusalem is illegal but also that its sovereignty does not extend over West Jerusalem either. The major powers — including the United States and the European Union — still consider Jerusalem a corpus separatum as provided by United Nations General Assembly resolution 181, which partitioned Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state. This status can only be changed by a Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement. That’s partly why despite repeated attempts by Congress to get successive American administrations to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, they have not done so.

Certainly the Obama administration cannot afford to let Israel’s actions go unchallenged. Although settler attacks on Palestinian Jerusalemites are not well covered in the Western media, Arabs and Muslims see heartbreaking scenes on their television screens further inflaming sentiment in a region in which America is embroiled. Obama would do well to get America's allies to take action right now and then bring America's full weight to bear behind peace — and justice — after the November elections.

Meanwhile, the Israeli settler movement may find that its accelerated colonization of East Jerusalem to create facts on the ground may boomerang by refocusing attention on the status of the city as a whole, East and West.

Nadia Hijab is co-director of Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network.

My letter to the New York Times RE Israelis, Palestinians and the Divide

RE: Israelis, Palestinians and the Divide
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/opinion/l02mideast.html?ref=opinion

Dear Editor,

What a good batch of letters regarding Nicholas D. Kristof 's painfully informative op-ed “The Two Sides of a Barbed-Wire Fence”! I like how you started with the typical hard core Zionist propaganda, and then shifted through some other much more enlightened and compassionate responses- to end on that perfect letter highlighting a crucial point: "Unfortunately, many still refuse to see that Israel now behaves as a colonial power trampling on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which arose from the ashes of World War II."

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." This is still true today- and each and every Palestinian child knows this as an absolute fact.

The Palestinian refugee crisis is the largest, longest running refugee crisis in the world today: UN Resolution 194 regarding the very real need to respect the Palestinian refugees very real right to return to original homes and lands remains ignored by sovereign Israel, demonized by many myopic ideologues, and dismissed by misguided pundits who simply do not understand the vital importance of empowering fair and just laws and policies- and an end to institutionalized bigotry on all sides of every border and line on the map.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab


Please note from the start: "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

Palestinians in Beirut Hope for More Rights

http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Palestinians-in-Beirut-Hope-for-More-Rights-97422299.html

Palestinians in Beirut Hope for More Rights

Paige Kollock | Beruit 29 June 2010

Photo: AP

A Palestinian man shouts slogans during a protest to demand civil rights for Palestinians refugees, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, June 27, 2010.

Related Articles

• Palestinians in Lebanon Demand More Rights
• US Envoy Meets Palestinian President in West Bank

Lebanese politicians are considering easing restrictions on Palestinian refugees, after 62 years.

Like the tangled electricity wires at Bourj al Barajne camp outside Beirut, the situation of Palestinians in Lebanon is complicated.

Despite the fact that many have been living in Lebanon for generations, they are still refugees, and as such are forced to live in squalid camps, are denied access to the state's social security, health-care or education systems, and can only work in menial jobs. Many are growing frustrated with their conditions.

Abou el Walid is a community leader at the Bourj al Barajne. “We are suffering,” he said in his native Arabic. “We lived the hardship and we do not need anything but living in a decent way. We want to be proud; we need the right to work and the right to own property, and rights to live as a human being.”

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, there are an estimated 400,000 Palestinian refugees living in 12 camps throughout Lebanon. They are descendants of families who fled the fighting in 1948 that eventually created the state of Israel.

Brahim Al Ashwah is a 47-year-old father of six who also lives in the camp. He says he wants to buy a house for his son so that he can get married, but does not have the money.

“You can barely find a job here,” he says. “No one will hire you because you are Palestinian. You cannot work in a company because you are Palestinian. No health insurance, no life at all. I have a boy in university. I pulled him out because even if he graduates, he cannot find a job.”

During the weekend, thousands of activists marched to the Lebanese capital to demand rights for Palestinians. Under the watchful eye of Lebanese security forces, they urged the country's politicians to approve a draft law that would give them employment and property ownership guarantees.

Although some Lebanese politicians are considering giving Palestinians more rights, opponents argue that could pave the way to their naturalization.

Since a vast majority of the refugees are Sunni Muslims, Christian leaders fear such a large influx of citizens could tilt the sectarian balance, as well as increase competition in the job market and strain Lebanon's economic resources.

Manal Kassab, who is half Lebanese, half Palestinian, was among them. She says Palestinians do not want citizenship, just dignity. "There is no need for the Palestinians to be naturalized and they do not want to be naturalized,” she said. “They wanted to be treated as a special category in Lebanon and to abide by all the international conventions; having the right to work, right to ownership, but the nationality is not a need."

That is because most Palestinians still hope they will return to their lives, families and properties in what is now modern-day Israel. In the mean time, activists have presented a draft law to members of Parliament outlining their requests. Requests they say would allow Palestinians access to a normal life.

A Moment of Childhood and Happiness- UNRWA Gaza Summer Games 2010

http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=727

A Moment of Childhood and Happiness - UNRWA Gaza Summer Games 2010
The children storm towards the swimming pool and the sea. There is great anticipation, huge expectations. Who will get to go in first? In the far corner, another group of children are half sitting on their chairs, half lying on the table. They are in deep concentration as they paint blue skies, flowers, animals and trees on a poster-sized piece of paper. Children's songs are heard from an open area under the canopy. Some girls are skipping rope nearby.

You are in Gaza - more specifically on the beach, in one of the camps set up by UNRWA for the 2010 Summer Games.

For four consecutive years, UNRWA has run the Summer Games to give the children in Gaza psychological relief and a sense of childhood and happiness. With broad encouragement and support from the community, the Games feature activities such as sports, arts and crafts, traditional dance, song and theatre.

Eight weeks of fun

This year, as was the case in 2009, some 250,000 children are expected to take part in eight weeks of fun offered in 144 locations across the Gaza Strip, including 38 purpose-built beach locations, orphanages and children's wards.

This year's Games opened through a moving torch festival held on 13 June. Some 50 children were involved in a relay over 17km from Deir al Balah to the UNRWA Field Office in Gaza City, where an UNRWA student lit the Summer Games flame. Pleased with both local and international support for the Games, John Ging, director of UNRWA operations in Gaza, reminded the audience of the responsibility we all have in helping to change the circumstances of Gaza's children to a more positive environment in tune with their wonderful spirit and potential.

Record breakers

A unique opportunity to prove that potential to the entire world will arise already in early July, when the children will be involved in a record-breaking attempt for the Guinness Book of World Records. Building on last year's success, Gaza's children will set out to smash their won record for kites flown simultaneously. Not nearly satisfied by a single-record breaking event, the children are posed to break the record for the number of basketballs bounced simultaneously later in the month, on 22 July.

With world records as the true highlights, the UNRWA Summer Games constitute the largest youth recreation initiative in the region, providing a rare chance for children in Gaza to explore artistic talent, develop new skills and take part in team-oriented activities. For children, traumatised by conflict and violence, this tranquil, yet creative space for respite, learning and companionship is critical in their development.

The Games therefore build on and complement the ongoing work by UNRWA to teach openness, respect and tolerance in its schools - all based on the universal values of human rights. What better than to learn these values on the Gaza beach?

Rebuilding

On 28 June, a Summer Games recreation facility on the beach in Nuseirat was vandalised. UNRWA immediately rebuilt the camp and children were back having fun less than a day after the attack.

My letter to the Washington Post RE Tensions build in Palestinian neighborhood over plans to demolish 22 houses

RE: Tensions build in Palestinian neighborhood over plans to demolish 22 houses
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/30/AR2010063004147.html

Dear Editor,

Constantly usurping land, rights and life- home by home and family by family, Apartheid Israel has been intentionally impoverishing, displacing, and disenfranchising the native non-Jewish population of the region... generation after generation after generation. The trend is quite obvious. As is the fact that Israel's ongoing violations of international law creates an escalating catastrophe in the Middle East- with many negative ramifications worldwide, as people give up hope that there will ever be justice or peace.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

Words to Honor

My letter to the NYTimes RE The Two Sides of a Barbed-Wire Fence by Nicholas Kristof

RE: The Two Sides of a Barbed-Wire Fence
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/opinion/01kristof.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Dear Editor,

Thank you for publishing Nicholas Kristof's glance at the very real plight of the Palestinians. I hope your newspaper seeks out and publishes many more honest explorations of the situation so that the American public and our elected leaders, our business leaders as well as our religious leaders can have more productive and relevant conversations regarding the best way to help end the Israel/Palestine conflict for everyone's sake.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab