http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/userletter/?id=3181&letter_id=7379907141&content_dir=congressorgSubject: Diplomatic efforts regarding ending the Israel/Palestine conflict once and for all, with a just and lasting peace.
Dear President Obama,
Please tell Hilary Clinton (and any one else you know who weighs in on the Israel/Palestine conflict) that Jerusalem is not yet the official capital of Israel: The international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the city hosts no foreign embassies.
Zionists and their supporters like to say "Jerusalem" as short hand for Israel's diplomatic efforts, while referring to Palestine's diplomatic efforts as "Ramallah". What is good for the goose really should be good for the gander. Either also say Jerusalem (or perhaps East Jerusalem) for Palestine's diplomatic efforts, acknowledging both Israel and Palestine's claims, or use the more diplomatic "Tel-Aviv & Ramallah" as short hand for the two sides.
Furthermore, please do all you can to try to help end the Israel/Palestine conflict by supporting the emergence of a fully sovereign Palestinian state. Not a prison camp for the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land but a real nation state where people are free and respected citizens.
Yes, I know direct negotiations between the two parties are the only way to actually end the Israel/Palestine conflict, but we can all do our part to help calm things down by better understanding the actual conflict, and taking care not to exasperate existing tensions with what we say and do.
The proposed American veto of Palestine's UN Bid is already being used to fuel angry anti-American rhetoric and many distracting commentaries and conjectures. All the world is watching- and the very real plight of the persecuted, impoverished and displaced Palestinians continues to grow more and more dire.
Did you listen carefully to Abbas' UN Bid speech.... Hussein Ibish of the American Task Force on Palestine did and he sums it up quite well in a recent article by pointing out that: "Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ moving speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Friday was certainly the high point of his career. His address will be forever remembered because Abbas was able to do what no Palestinian leader has ever done in the past: make the moral case for Palestinian independence in a clear, coherent, reasonable manner at the highest international forum." http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=315757
Ibish wisely keeps his eye on the ball and concludes "Now is the time to move beyond the theatrics at the UN and return to what is achievable. This means continuing to build the basis of a Palestinian state through international support and providing funding for institution-building. It also means serious work by all parties to lay the groundwork for successful negotiations, so that domestic political dynamics in the key societies involved can be aligned with their stated policies of seeking a genuine two-state solution."
A fully secular two state solution to once and for all end the Israel/Palestine conflict really is a worthy goal and an excellent investment- for everyone's sake.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
American homemaker & poet
NOTES
Help Build A Golden Rule Peace for the Holy Land
GROWING GARDENS FOR PALESTINE
The Arab Peace Initiative
"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
"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://plodelegation.us/palestine/core-issues/
GROWING GARDENS FOR PALESTINE
The Arab Peace Initiative
"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
"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://plodelegation.us/palestine/core-issues/
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