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| A section of Israel’s barrier between the Shuafat refugee camp and the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Zeev. (Oded Balilty/Associated Press) |
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/opinion/palestinian-candor-or-a-slip.html?_r=1&ref=global
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/opinion/sunday/israels-fading-democracy.html?ref=global
Dear Editor,
In the New York Times today (8-5-2012) a Zionist letter writer cynically misconstrues Maen Rashid Areikat's comment that "No human being would accept remaining under a discriminatory regime that denies him basic rights. Sixty-four years of a relentless struggle for freedom by Palestinians is a testament to that."
Meanwhile the Israeli author & former speaker of the Knesset Avraham Burg has a provocative column "Israel’s Fading Democracy" asserting that "Israel arose as a secular, social democratic country inspired by Western European democracies." ... Israel can argue with Israel about Israel for eons- romanticizing the past in many different ways, while decrying the future as if the fully sovereign and heavily armed nation state Israel is about to disappear. But it is a shell game as long as that country called Israel is persecuting, oppressing and displacing the native non-Jewish men, women and children of historic Palestine.
A fully secular two state solution to once and for all end the Israel Palestine conflict won't stop Zionist letter writers from misconstruing Palestinian peace efforts, but it will at least help stop Israelis from usurping even more Palestinian land and rights- and it will help curb the zealots and religious 'scholars' and crooks and cynics who thrive on the continuation of the conflict.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES
Songs and Pictures from Palestine: Thyme & a poem
Tales from the West Bank: Palestinian Raja Shehadeh chronicles life during occupation
Palestinian villages face demolition to create IDF training ground
Violent attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property, mosques and farmland had increased by 150% over the past year.
Palestinian officials point out that US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is undermining peace... "What this man [Mitt Romney] is doing here is just promoting extremism, violence and hatred"
'Separate and Unequal' is Unacceptable to Palestinians
"If you have to modify it, it isn't really a democracy."
Romney Versus the World Bank
World Bank says Palestinian economy unsustainable noting that "Israeli restrictions remain the biggest impediment to investing, creating high uncertainty and risk"
Do you support as a solution to this conflict the emergence of a fully sovereign state of Palestine on the territory occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem? Yes or no?
********
The Office of
International Religious Freedom (
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/
) Given the U.S. commitment to
religious freedom, and to the international covenants that guarantee it
as the inalienable right of every human being, the United States seeks
to: Promote freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries
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."
"It is in Israel's vital interest to come to a
complete resolution
of
the conflict between it and the Palestinian people sooner rather than
later, relieving the weight of this tragic conflict from both of our
peoples' shoulders. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to the world." Maen
Rashid
Areikat: The
Time for a Palestinian State Is Now
"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
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