Saturday, August 18, 2012

My letter to the Washington Post RE Jim Hoagland Rethinking the Middle East

The Arab Peace Initiative
RE:  Rethinking the Middle East
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rethinking-the-middle-east/2012/08/17/183c7c88-e894-11e1-936a-b801f1abab19_story.html

Dear Editor,

Jim Hoagland in "Rethinking the Middle East" makes a huge and obvious mistake. He ignores Israel and all the many negative ramifications of Israel's ongoing violations of international law and universal basic human rights.

Rather than invigorating real democracy, justice and compassion modern Israel coerces insiders as well as outsiders to invest in its pervasive institutionalized bigotry and growing religious extremism- and continued flagrant violations of international law and the Palestinians basic human rights.

Israel has responded to the Arab Peace Initiative and the push for a fair and just end to the Israel-Palestine conflict by ramping up anti-Iran rhetoric, inspiring Iran to be even more bellicose. Israel is itching to pull the region into even more war. 

In hindsight perhaps America was too quick to accept the "territorial breakup" that created Israel in 1948.  That is not to say Israel should be erased, but that America should wary about trusting any modern nation state that seeks to define itself by religion rather than the rule of fair and just laws.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab


Notes
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...."

Shaping the world in which we live...


Larissa Sansour's Nation Estate project is now finally completed

This should be obvious

Hamza Kanaan Art

"If tears could build a stairway, and memories a lane...(for Palestine)

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?


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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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