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Thursday, June 7, 2012

My letters RE To placate settlers, Israel to build additional 850 apartments in West Bank & Miko Peled's Six days in Israel, 45 years ago -My Israeli general father knew the 1967 war was an opportunity...

UNWRA photo- Palestinian refugees 1949
RE: To placate settlers, Israel to build additional 850 apartments in West Bank
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/to-placate-settlers-israel-to-build-additional-850-apartments-in-west-bank/2012/06/07/gJQAZLVUKV_story.html

Dear Editor,

At least you headlined it- as Israel continues to generously subsidize and empower institutionalized bigorty and religious extremism and a continuation of the Israel-Palestine conflict with all its many negative ramifications.

Palestinian writer
Joharah Baker asks in a recent op-ed: "What kind of passion would urge an American Jew living in Miami Florida to work endlessly to plant Jewish settlements in the heart of what is clearly Palestinian territory? What drive pushes these people to believe in a cause so much they would sacrifice money, time, effort and legal obstacles to reach their goal of Jewish control over Jerusalem? It is a drive that has allowed the occupation which began in 1967 to continue, thrive and flourish. If it were not for this near-manic obsession with Israel as a Jewish state, (regardless of how faulty this premise is to the rest of the world) , the 1967 defeat may not have turned into the lifelong nightmare it is now. " 

Israel's racist laws and walls are wrecking havoc everywhere they can reach... tragically for all that reach goes all the way to our Congress here in America where foolishly far too many of our elected leaders are as myopic as the religious leaders who once used the bible and every excuse they could find to justify slavery.


Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES

June 1, 2012 - 3:13pm
May 29, 2012 - 10:26am
May 23, 2012 - 4:13pm 
ATFP Expresses Alarm at Footage Showing Settlers Shooting at Palestinians in the Presence of Israeli Soldiers
May 22, 2012 - 9:57am
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RE: Six days in Israel, 45 years ago -My Israeli general father knew the 1967 war was an opportunity for peace.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-peled-israel-palestine--six-day-war-20120606,0,3821348.story

Dear Editor,

One state is what is now with Jewish immigrants, citizens, and settlement projects generously subsidized by the sovereign state (Israel) and its many fervent supporters and propagandists while individually and collectively Palestinians continue to be cruelly persecuted, impoverished, divided, displaced and disenfranchised.

Negotiations firmly based on full respect for international law and universal basic human rights on both sides of every border are the best way forward: Two fully secular states living side by side in peace and security are the best transition away from the bigotry, corruption, injustice, militancy and religious extremism created by the Israel-Palestine conflict. 

A bright future depends on reality based decisions, honoring the Arab Peace Initiative and empowering Palestinians
and Israelis to work together, and apart, towards a just and lasting peace for all the people, regardless of supposed race or religion.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab


NOTES:
"In our debate, I continued to insist that a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians is indeed still possible, mostly because a majority on both sides want it and because there is a huge body of international opinion and law that requires it. I've always unhappily accepted that a continuation of the status quo is more likely for the foreseeable future. In Aslan's dystopian vision of a future characterized by increasingly bloody conflicts, “apartheid and ethnic cleansing” is indeed a possibility. But I see no reason to conclude that it will “inevitably” either occur or, less still, yield the outcome he predicts with such astounding confidence—especially not if “ethnic cleansing” is a factor.

Apart from asserting that while a limited number of outcomes can be reasonably defined as “impossible” for the foreseeable future, I argued that almost nothing is "inevitable." Human beings are, in fact, not only able to decide their future, but that's exactly what they always have done and will do, barring unforeseeable natural disasters that are rare and usually manageable." Hussein Ibish  Nothing is “inevitable”


"We must work together to build a future in which both peoples can enjoy the rights, responsibilities and dignity of citizenship and self-determination. There is only one way to actually accomplish this: ending the occupation and creating a Palestinian state to live alongside Israel. Palestinians must recognize and accept Israel, which is a legitimate member state of the United Nations. The Palestinians must have one place on earth, the territories occupied in 1967, where they can live freely as first class citizens in their own independent state. There is no other way to end the cycle of bloodshed, pain and hatred has that lasted for so long." Ziad Asali  The Lessons of the Nakba

"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

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.


Israeli Settlers burn down ancient tree in Hebron

A group of settlers burned down an ancient olive tree in central Hebron overnight, witnesses said. (MaanImages/File)
[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]  
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=491441
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers set fire to a 1,000-year-old olive tree in central Hebron overnight Friday, witnesses said.

Local activist Issa Amro said the group then hurled stones at a community center in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood on Saturday morning.

Settlers tried to remove the Palestinian flag from the 'steadfastness and challenge' center while Israeli soldiers looked on, he said.

Several days ago a group of settlers stole the building's flag, which activists had since replaced with a new one, Amro added.

Tel Rumeida lies in the Israeli-military controlled H2 zone of the southern West Bank city, after a 1997 agreement split Hebron into areas of Palestinian and Israeli control.

The zone includes the ancient Old City, home of the revered Ibrahimi Mosque -- also split into a synagogue referred to as the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

Around 800 Jewish settlers live in Hebron's Old City, among 30,000 Palestinians in the parts of the city that are under Israeli control.

US says settlement building undermines peace efforts and contradicts Israeli commitments and obligations.
 

Businessweek: Abbas Says Without Jerusalem, Palestinians Don’t Want State

Jonathan Ferziger, Alaa Shahine
Bloomberg
June 5, 2012 - 12:00am
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-05/abbas-says-without-jerusalem-palesti...


Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said his people don’t want to establish their own state unless they’re assured that Jerusalem will be its capital.

Abbas, speaking today at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Istanbul, blamed Israel for the standstill in peace efforts and called on the U.S. to help break the deadlock.

Palestinians want to create an independent state with east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which Israel captured in the 1967 war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he won’t give up any part of Jerusalem, which he calls the nation’s “undivided, everlasting” capital.
Abbas also told WEF delegates that the West Bank and Gaza Strip currently offer opportunities for investors, particularly in real estate and tourism. 

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

Turning The 'Naksa' Around by Joharah Baker for MIFTAH

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]  

http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=24908&CategoryId=13

 
The other day on my way home, I passed the three huge hotels just across the seam line between east and west Jerusalem, impinging menacingly on the Palestinian side of the city. The hotels – the Leonardo, Grand Court, and the Olive Tree – were reportedly built with funding from Jewish millionaires dedicated to settling in all of Jerusalem. The infamous Irving Moskowitz is said to be one, but even if he did not put his money into them, he would have rooted for their construction all the same. 

Moskowitz is mostly known for his plans to build Jewish settlements in Palestinian Jerusalem – in Ras Al Amoud, Silwan and in Sheikh Jarrah, on a plot of land that belonged to Jerusalem’s late Mufti, Haj Amin Al Husseini. But settlement construction is not the actual focal point of this article. It is rather about the hell-bent dedication behind it.

Yesterday was the 45th anniversary of the June, 1967 war when the remainder of Palestine fell to enemy hands. Palestinians and Arabs call it “Al Naksa” or “The Setback” but this is a gross understatement. Perhaps at the time, the Arabs thought it was just a tiny blip in their overall battle to regain Palestine, but 45 years later, I am sure they have realized it is much more than that. 

But back to the hotels and the determination that has made them possible; or more importantly the lack of this determination on the part of the Arabs and Palestinians. What kind of passion would urge an American Jew living in Miami Florida to work endlessly to plant Jewish settlements in the heart of what is clearly Palestinian territory? What drive pushes these people to believe in a cause so much they would sacrifice money, time, effort and legal obstacles to reach their goal of Jewish control over Jerusalem? It is a drive that has allowed the occupation which began in 1967 to continue, thrive and flourish. If it were not for this near-manic obsession with Israel as a Jewish state, (regardless of how faulty this premise is to the rest of the world) , the 1967 defeat may not have turned into the lifelong nightmare it is now. 

Contrastingly, we Palestinians have a divided leadership, indifferent Arabs who pay lip service to the cause and a people who try to resist but who have been so worn down by life under this brutal occupation that they fight just to break even.

This is not to say that the fight is over. Looking out of my window in Jerusalem’s Old City I can see Israeli flags hanging from an old Arab window just meters away, scraping at my soul. I know how dedicated Israel is to take our land and keep it. Forty-five years ago Israel managed to capture the remainder of Palestine. Thanks to those so dedicated to its cause, Israel has ensured that Palestine will remain in its grips for many years to come. Nonetheless, Palestinians have endless reservoirs of endurance, resolve and love for their country. They just need the right powers to open the floodgates. 

Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.