RE: Oren: Direct talks needed for Mideast peacehttp://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2011-01-20-column20_ST2_N.htm
Dear Editor,
Oren and Israel do the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international law, and the future of civilization itself a huge disservice by foolishly refusing to fully understand and respect the Palestinian refugees inalienable legal, moral and natural right to return to original homes and lands: Imagine if you left your home today in the USA and were denied your right to return to your own home and land (or the right to rent an apartment) because you were deemed the 'wrong' race or religion.
The best chance for building a just and lasting peace in the Middle East is to end the Israel/Palestine conflict with a secular two state solution in line with international law.
[Futhermore] I agree that direct talks and negotiations are crucial, but I do not think it is fair to blame official Palestinian leadership (or school books) for Israel's anti-peace anti-Palestine antics... ""We are very concerned about the initiation of demolition of the Shepherd's Hotel," the Secretary of State [Hillary Clinton] declared in Abu Dhabi. She did not mince any words in her outright condemnation: "This disturbing development undermines peace efforts to achieve the two state-solution. In particular, this move contradicts the logic of a reasonable and necessary agreement between the parties on the status of [occupied] Jerusalem."" Colony freeze a must for peace
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law , general principles and other sources of international law. International human rights law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.
Core Issues
"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
The Arab Peace Initiative
Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties, the council:
1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well.
2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:
I- Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.
II- Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.
III- The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
3. Consequently, the Arab countries affirm the following:
I- Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states of the region.
II- Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace.
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
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