My letter to the NTimes RE "West Bank Land, Empty but Full of Meaning "

Khaled al-Saidi, right, said his family bought land in E1, between East Jerusalem and Maale Adumim, in the 1990s. The Israelis have told him to leave. Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times

RE: West Bank Land, Empty but Full of Meaning
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/world/middleeast/e1-on-west-bank-is-empty-but-full-of-meaning.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_ee_20121218&_r=0

Dear Editor,

A person might be very tempted to usurp an 'empty' patch of their neighbor's yard, but clearly such a move crosses a line, a legal and a moral line:  Israel knows that West Bank E1 land is Palestinian land and yet is intentionally crossing a crucially important line and then obfuscating so as to more easily continue on with the nefarious practice of demolishing Palestinian homes, pulverizing Palestinian communities and pushing even more Palestinians into poverty, forced exile, and despair.... and extremism.

Israel is also pushing its own citizens into extremism and religious bigotry with its anti-Palestinian/anti-Palestine policies.  Full sovereign respect for international law, basic human rights, and real democracy would go a long way towards calming down the situation and laying the ground work for fair and just negotiations to finally and completely end the Israel-Palestine conflict with a fully secular two state solution.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Raja Shehadeh reflects on the UN resolution to recognise Palestine as a non-member observer state

Human Rights Day 2012: Palestine refugees and human rights

12-12-12 National Geographic photo of the day: Art Student, Jerusalem 1926.

Beyond the UN vote: New futures for Palestine and Israel: The Israelis and Palestinians are not as far apart as experts make them out to be. All issues are resolvable if there is vision, intentionality and political will.
 
Israel's Jewish extremists vandalize Jerusalem monastery

Israeli authorities 'to demolish West Bank road'


Israeli separation wall threatens world heritage site of Battir's ancient terraces

 

Gaza: 'My child was killed and nothing has changed'

Mesha’al oils Israel’s propaganda machine with his statement

At Hamas’s anniversary celebration in Gaza last week, the organization’s Politburo leader Khaled Meshaal delivered one of the most cynical, damaging and dangerous speeches in the history of the Palestinian national movement

They Call It Victory

 

Almond Blossoms and Beyond

Israel's education ministry 'suspends program' over Palestinian novel

Palestinian Artist Khaled Jarrar Chips Away at the Wall

Raising Peace

Israel must develop a clearer vision not only for the interests and aspirations of the Palestinians but also for its own long-term survival

It is urgent for both sides of this conflict to understand that their best interests lie in coming to an agreement that will make them both better off. 

  I Am From ... a poem by Saba Abu Zaanona



Israel is not the only country in the region that has either restricted the rights of or discriminated against Palestinians

"...The only way to honor our tragic histories is to create a future for our children free of man-made tragedy. This means making peace fully, completely and without reservation, between Israel and Palestine."

Clarifying why Arab and Muslim Americans should be smart rather than stupid

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

Empowering Peace & Palestine

The Arab Peace Initiative

Palestinian Refugees(1948-NOW) refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.

"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 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

The Balfour Declaration of 1917

".... it being clearly understood that nothing
          shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
          rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..."