Friday, January 27, 2012

My letter to CSMonitor RE "As Israeli-Palestinian talks sink, fringe ideas gain traction"


RE: As Israeli-Palestinian talks sink, fringe ideas gain traction
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/0126/As-Israeli-Palestinian-talks-sink-fringe-ideas-gain-traction

Dear Editor,

Regarding "As Israeli-Palestinian talks sink, fringe ideas gain traction" the warning is wise- but this is not new news. This has been the trend for decades, with the disenfranchised and disconnected following any lead they can find that might help give voice to the very real plight of the Palestinians.

It is totally tempting and frankly quite easy to get caught up into the one state fantasies which are packaged to look compassionate, intelligent, pro-human rights and totally pro-Palestine, but really are nothing but a call to endorse a terrible status quo that enables Israel to easily continue to usurp more and more Palestinian land, rights and peace.

Building support for a real Palestinian state in order to once and for all end the Israel/Palestine conflict with a fair and just negotiated settlement is not an easy task, but there are many good and decent people on both sides who have been dedicating all their best efforts towards that goal.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
"...
there are analysts, both in the Arab world and outside it, with a solid grounding in the region who try to act as a compass on the path to a better understanding of events.... For a lively and challenging take on events in the region, there is a regular blog by Hussein Ibish, Senior Research Fellow at the Washington-based American Task Force on Palestine and a tireless Tweeter." NYTimes blogs Harvey Morris Attempting to Answer the Arab Question
http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/attempting-to-answer-the-arab-question/

"Understanding individuals as citizens, and not subjects or wards of states, reframes the state as the guarantor of the individual and collective rights of the citizenry rather than the solution to all social challenges. The idea that governance requires legitimacy that can only be achieved through the consent of the governed has become widespread in the Arab world." Ziad Asali, founder of The American Task Force on Palestine: Arabs deserve a party of the citizen
http://www.americantaskforce.org/daily_news_article/2012/01/16/1326690000_0

"The grass isn’t much greener on the other side of the wall, though. Israel is supposedly the sole democracy in the Middle East (even if this seems to be changing), and yet gender segregated streets and buses is becoming more and more common. It has been estimated that 500 bus journeys in Israel are segregated daily, which means that women are expected to sit in the back." Julie Holm for MIFTAH: Gender Divides on Both Sides of the Green Line http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=24363&CategoryId=13

"
This year at Davos, I want to talk about social and economic equity. I want to see the needs and aspirations of women, young people, our poorest and most marginalised brothers and sisters on the global agenda. It is the responsibility of each one of us to make their voices heard and to build a world that is worthy of them - a world worthy of all of us." Elders blog: Time to close the gap
http://theelders.org/article/time-close-gap


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