Tuesday, August 21, 2012

My letter to USA Today RE Editorial: Israel war talk fails to ignite U.S. debate

"At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying down upon her." And so goes the moment when Alice awakes and ends the story of Alice in Wonderland.

Editorial: Israel war talk fails to ignite U.S. debate
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/story/2012-08-20/Israel-Iran-war-nuclear/57174840/1

Dear Editor,

Israel's enthusiastic push to attack Iraq and now Iran needs to be viewed in context as Israel's Jewish settlers in the illegally occupied territories have been harassing and terrorizing Palestinian men, women and children day after day after day for years. It is obvious that rather than respecting international law and universal basic human rights- and the Arab Peace Initiative, Israel has chosen to invest in and inspire religious extremism and bigotry... and bombs.... and bellicose war mongering:  "Debate" that ignores the very real plight of the Palestinians is Hasbara- and a house of cards.


Sincerely,


Anne Selden Annab
NOTES 
[Hasbara- promos & PR efforts for Zionists to convince both insiders and outsiders to believe in and invest in Israel. Hasbara tends to dismiss or ignore vitally important truths and facts, in particular about the very real plight of the Palestinians, in order to show Israel in the best possible light.]
FBI not investigating Republican skinny-dipping, drinking in Israel


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.

Guardian News: Jewish settler attacks on Palestinians listed as 'terrorist incidents' by US

Time Magazine Video: How Palestinian Bloggers Cover Protests in Their Own Villages

We Palestinian are locked in a fierce struggle for our independence....to make the matter straight and simple this is not a clash of religions...


Israel, Iran and the Nuclear Challenge... Since Israel has nuclear weapons, other countries in the region want them, too.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Cohen minimized the corrosive effects of the Israeli occupation on Palestinian economic life...."

Zahi Khouri: The Palestine Romney doesn’t know

Another Look at Palestinian Culture:"Palestinians deserve the opportunity they've been denied for so long, to build their own state and develop their culture in independence and freedom"

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."

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

The Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you




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