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| Palestinian children stand near the Ras Khamis checkpoint in East Jerusalem. A permit system, controlled by the Israeli authorities, determines who can enter Israel for work or care. Abir Sultan/European Pressphoto Agency |
License to Care by Raja Shehadeh
Raja Shehadeh in your pages, diplomatically reminding us to notice and better understand the very real plight of the Palestinians. The worse the news from Syria becomes the more I worry about how much more horrific the Israel-Palestine conflict is bound to become in time, with Palestinian men, women and children bearing the brunt of the pain and loss.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
Notes
Suspected hardline Israelis scrawled pro-settler graffiti and religious insults on a monastery outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City on Tuesday, police said, in the latest of a series of attacks on non-Jewish sites.
Israel scrambles Palestinian 'right of return' with Jewish refugee talk
King Abdullah II of Jordan: The reason behind Tehran’s nuclear programme is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Palestine's Abbas: "Despite our feelings of disappointment and loss of hope, we continue to sincerely extend our hands to the Israeli people to make peace." [Full text: Abbas address to UN General Assembly]
The Rule of Law "The real rule of law is substantive and encompasses many human-rights requirements. It reflects the idea of equality in a substantive way: not just that no one is above the law, but that everyone is equal before and under the law, and is entitled to its equal protection and equal benefit..." Louise Arbour, former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights & president of the International Crisis Group.
OBAMA: "It is time to marginalize those who, even when not resorting to violence, use hatred of America, or the West, or Israel as the central organizing principle of politics," Obama said. "For that only gives cover, and sometimes makes an excuse, for those who resort to violence." U.S. President Barack Obama challenged world leaders to tackle the recent violence rippling across the Muslim world, calling it “not simply an assault on America” but an attack “on the very ideals upon which the United Nations was founded.”
Ambassadorship is no longer reserved for elites. In this era of digital interconnectedness, we are all called upon to use free speech to foster peace, not violence. To honor Ambassador Stevens, let us uphold that responsibility in our online – and offline – interactions.
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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
"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
The Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
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