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Thursday, May 31, 2012

My letter to the NYTimes RE Going Directly to Israelis and Palestinians

RE Going Directly to Israelis and Palestinians By SHLOMO BEN-AMI, THOMAS C. SCHELLING, JEROME M. SEGAL and JAVIER SOLANA
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/31/opinion/going-directly-to-israelis-and-palestinians.html?_r=1&ref=global

Dear Editor,

Why do SHLOMO BEN-AMI, THOMAS C. SCHELLING, JEROME M. SEGAL and JAVIER SOLANA want to reinvent the wheel?  Israel is a sovereign nation in long term and flagrant violation of international law and the Palestinians basic human rights.   There are already reams and reams of  resolutions and promises all broken so that Zionist ideologues and bigots can find more time and ways persecute, displace, discredit, and disenfranchise the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land.

In 1948 when Israel was founded Martin Luther King Jr had yet to help America understand the importance of becoming a more real democracy with full and equal rights for all.  But even so the United Nations made it quite clear that every refugee has a right to return to original homes and lands. Part and parcel of the two state solution was then, and remains now, the understanding that people should not be discriminated against because of their supposed race or religion.

A fully secular two state solution to once and for end the Israel-Palestine conflict really is the best way forward, and the ground work for that is already in place. 

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
An Anne Frank Moment
Disturbing rhetoric on race from Israeli government ministers.

There has been a big increase in the number of Palestinian homes in the West Bank which have been demolished by Israeli forces (BBC News video)

Tourism

Palestine 2012

People Power for Peace

AIPAC inspired H.R. 4133....passed by America's Congress on May 9 by a vote of 411–2 on a “suspension of the rules,” which is intended for non-controversial legislation requiring little debate and a quick vote.

The task before us is to make sure that no further nakbas, no more pogroms or unspeakable horrors, ever occur again

ATFP notes that, as the occupying power, Israel is responsible for protecting Palestinian civilians from attacks by settlers, which is an increasing and highly destabilizing phenomenon.

Open Zion....Hussein Ibish: Beware "Creative Alternatives"

Randa Jarrar: Imagining Myself in Palestine

Hanan Ashrawi: Recognizing Nakba, Reaching Peace

Haaretz Editorial: Nakba is part of Israel's history

Qalqiliya unveils 'train of return' to mark Nakba & Abbas applauds steadfastness on Nakba Day

The Key

Exodus 1948 التهجيرعام (19 photos)

The Arab Peace Initiative requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well...



"It's a simple dictum, but one that many still have trouble accepting: Israelis and Palestinians have to talk to each other if they're going to get anywhere." Hussein Ibish: We Need To Talk

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.

UN Resolution 194 Article 11: [The General Assembly]
Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live in peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest possible date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the governments or authorities responsible; instructs the Conciliation Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation, and to maintain close relations with the Director of the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees and, through him, with the appropriate organs and agencies of the United Nations.


Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Disturbing rhetoric on race from Israeli government ministers.

"This week, Yishai asked rhetorically: “So what, the State of Israel, as the Jewish state, in the name of democracy, in the name of honouring UN resolutions, (should accept) a recipe for suicide?” Likewise, when the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the separation of Palestinian spouses, the majority opinion stated: “human rights are not a prescription for national suicide”. " 

 What is behind the Israeli mistreatment of African migrants?


The recent anti-African mob violence in Tel Aviv was, sadly, no surprise. Only a few days previously, Prime Minister Netanyahu warned “illegal infiltrators” could threaten the country’s existence “as a Jewish and democratic state”, with Interior Minister Eli Yishai saying that “the migrants are giving birth to hundreds of thousands, and the Zionist dream is dying”. 
 
Cabinet ministers talk in terms of “expulsion by consent or without consent” to “preserve the country's Jewish identity”, and of “taking steps to kick out” the “scourge” of “infiltrators”. A prominent Likud parliamentarian and chair of the “Knesset Caucus to Solve the Infiltrator Problem” urged for this “plague” to be removed “without delay and without mercy”.
 
A disturbing conference held in April in Ramle gives further insight into this mainstream racism, and points to an important connection between the anti-African incitement, and the institutionalised discrimination faced by Palestinians....READ MORE

There has been a big increase in the number of Palestinian homes in the West Bank which have been demolished by Israeli forces (BBC News video)


There has been a big increase in the number of Palestinian homes in the West Bank which have been demolished by Israeli forces, according to figures released by the United Nations. Much of it takes place in what is called Area C, which covers more than 60% of the West Bank, and where Israel maintains complete control.  Jon Donnison reports from the West Bank.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Tourism


Old gold
meets flesh again
gets polished

glints in eyes
dazzles
fashions stories
to entertain
modern times
and sensibilities

Molded ibexes,
or wild goats
sit like

like sphinxes
posed at rest

Canaanite
it is called,
and it looks to me
like a clasp
for a scroll

or a napkin ring


My own habits
and hopes
and table manners
forge meaning
for me at least

fingering memories
from afar
of kids
scampering
on ancient rock



                                                           poem copyright ©2012 Anne Selden Annab

Palestine 2012

Washington Post: Saif Dahlah/AFP/Getty Images 
"Jenin today remains placid, almost sleepy. But for some observers, the story has become a sort of parable illustrating the inevitable cracks in the Palestinian nation-building project amid the utter absence of a peace process that could end the Israeli occupation."  Drama in West Bank city of Jenin shows cracks in Palestinian nation-building project