Wednesday, December 5, 2012

My letters to USA Today, NYTimes & PBS Newshour RE Palestinian statehood


RE: Jimmy Carter: Statehood key to renew peace talks
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/12/04/palestine-israel-jimmy-carter-united-nations/1746767/

Dear Editor,

Jimmy Carter's heart is in the right place,  but I am not so sure about his advice concerning a reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.  The people of Palestine are being pushed into accepting Islamists and religious tyranny rather than real freedom for Palestine.

A fully secular two state solution to once and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict is the best way to build a just and lasting peace for both Israel and Palestine. Religion should be a private personal matter, not a state funded mandate.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

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RE Raja Shehadeh's No Road Leads to Jerusalem
http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/after-the-un-vote-over-palestine-little-euphoria-in-the-west-bank/#more-8944

Dear Editor,

It is a huge tragedy that the Palestinians, the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land, are being prevented by Israel from being able to easily get to Jerusalem.  Citizenship and freedom to travel and find work, and be safe in your home, should not be based on a person's religion.

I very much hope the UN Bid helps Palestinians gain the momentum and support necessary to help end the Israel-Palestine conflict with a fully secular two state solution based on full respect for international law and basic human rights.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

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RE: How West Bank Construction Hampers Progress for a Two-State Solution
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/july-dec12/israel2_12-03.html

Dear PBS Newshour,

Good to see American Task Force on Palestine's Ghaith Al-Omari stepping up to help America understand Palestine.

GHAITH AL-OMARI:  "Public opinion over and over again believes that the two-state solution is doable, is preferable. They do not believe that it's realizable in the foreseeable future.
And this is where the risk lies. If the public starts losing faith in the realizability of a two-state solution, soon enough, they will abandon it. And if they abandon it, we end up in a crisis situation."
Doable and preferable is an important revelation and reminder as much of our news tends to focus on Islamists and cynics dedicated to continuing the conflict.

Some might say the situation already is a crisis situation as the plight of the Palestinians really is quite dire... but things can actually get substantially worse- especially if our Congress defunds Palestinian state building efforts and UNWRA. 

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab



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

The Arab Peace Initiative


"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

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

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