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Friday, August 24, 2012

Ending the Israel-Palestine conflict: "It is the view of the United Nations that there is a responsibility not only on the parties themselves but on all member states to consider their action and their language in light of the goal,"


Xinhua
August 23, 2012 - 12:00am
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-08/23/c_131801618.htm


A senior UN official on Wednesday described the two-state solution as "the best available and most realistic option for the Israelis and Palestinians, saying that the international community should make more efforts to bring the two parties closer to such a solution, which was widely backed in the world.

The statement came as Jeffrey Feltman, the UN under-secretary- general for political affairs, was briefing the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East. It is the first such briefing by Feltman since the veteran U.S. diplomat was appointed to the current UN post by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on June 11.

"Despite the current stagnation in the negotiating process and the obstacles to be overcome, it is clear that the two-state solution remains the best available and most realistic option for the Israelis and Palestinians," Feltman said.

The internationally supported two-state solution means a secure Israel to live in peace with an independent Palestinian State.

"It is the view of the United Nations that there is a responsibility not only on the parties themselves but on all member states to consider their action and their language in light of the goal," he said.

"All member states can ask themselves a simple question, as to whether a certain course of action brings the Israelis and Palestinians closer to a two-state solution or makes that goal even harder to achieve in practice," he said.

****

My letter to the NYTimes RE Room for Debate: Has Support for Israel Hurt U.S. Credibility?

Song and Pictures from Palestine

RE: Room for Debate: Has Support for Israel Hurt U.S. Credibility?
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/08/23/has-support-for-israel-hurt-us-credibility/?ref=global

Dear Editor

Religious and political support for a Jews-preferred Israel makes a mockery of American ideals of real democracy with full and equal rights for all.

Tax payers (here and there) should not be coerced into building or excusing or ignoring apartheid walls and policies and arguments and campaigns that exasperate the very real plight of the Palestinians.

Modern nation states that define themselves by religion rather than by the rule of fair and just laws are a dangerous investment in institutionalized bigotry and injustice.  Tax payers (here and there) should not be forced to subsidize and protect Jews-preferred projects and infrastructures and PR extravaganzas.

A fully secular two state solution to once and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict in line with international law and fully respecting universal basic human rights is a much better investment than more bombs and bellicose ignorance inspiring even more religious extremism and refugee crises all through out the Middle East.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Hanan Ashrawi: Israeli incitement creating culture of impunity

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: "As a result, stability is conflated with peace and it is used to justify maintaining the status quo in the pretext of maintaining “peace”."


The Palestinian Authority thanks South Africa for the decision to label settlement products as "Occupied Palestinian Territory" rather than "Israel."

Jerusalem is an international city, not Israel's possession

Account of ‘a Lynch’ in Jerusalem on Facebook

Guardian News: Jewish settler attacks on Palestinians listed as 'terrorist incidents' by US

Time Magazine Video: How Palestinian Bloggers Cover Protests in Their Own Villages

We Palestinian are locked in a fierce struggle for our independence....to make the matter straight and simple this is not a clash of religions...


Israel, Iran and the Nuclear Challenge... Since Israel has nuclear weapons, other countries in the region want them, too.

Violent attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property, mosques and farmland had increased by 150% over the past year.

'Separate and Unequal' is Unacceptable to Palestinians

"If you have to modify it, it isn't really a democracy."




********
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

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."

"It is in Israel's vital interest to come to a complete resolution of the conflict between it and the Palestinian people sooner rather than later, relieving the weight of this tragic conflict from both of our peoples' shoulders. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to the world." Maen Rashid Areikat: The Time for a Palestinian State Is Now

"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



Thursday, August 23, 2012

NYTimes Latitudes: A Tale of Two Territories by Raja Shehadeh

Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert for The New York Times: Hikers near the Cuillin Mountains in Scotland.

PORTREE, Scotland — Earlier this month, ahead of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, my wife Penny and I decided to go hiking on the Isle of Skye. We were staying outside Portree, the main town on the island, at the foot of Loch Sligachan. From the window of our room we could see the Black Cuillin Mountains, their towering summits silhouetted against the sky as if drawn by a mighty hand.

As the sun rose one morning, the mist that filled the glen by the mountains started to lift, slowly exposing more of the jagged outline: turrets and gullies of sheer, bare basalt and gabbro. We set out on Dunvegan Road toward the Cuillins, following the sign to Glen Brittle. We walked under an unusually blue sky, breathing the clear air and listening to water cascading nearby.

Step after step, I felt myself shedding the worries I had brought with me from Palestine, my troubled homeland. The Cuillins pierced the sky. These mountains have been here since long before the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I thought, and they will long after I am gone.

We had walked for three and a half miles when we decided to stop at a waterfall to rest and read. As we stepped down toward a cove, I considered the differences between this landscape and Palestine’s. There it is dry; here there are rivers and waterfalls. There the hills are round and soft; here majestic mountains challenge the best of climbers.

We soon decided to climb back up to the path. Penny went ahead while I paused for a moment, turning around to take a last look at our lovely resting spot. I heard an anguished cry....READ MORE

[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]

Hanan Ashrawi: Israeli incitement creating culture of impunity


Palestinian leadership is not the main obstacle to peace: "Rather, the real threat to peace and stability in the region is Israeli intransigence and Israel’s system of ethnic cleansing and apartheid, which include the annexation of Palestinian land, the expropriation of resources, its construction and expansion of illegal settlements, the demolition of Palestinian homes and the continued displacement of Palestinians."

[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]

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi on Wednesday said the Israeli government was waging a campaign of "distortion, hatred and incitement" which created "a culture of impunity, racism and exclusivity."

Ashrawi condemned written remarks by Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who wrote to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton accusing President Mahmoud Abbas of "acting to undermine attempts to renew the peace process".

In the letter, Lieberman called for Palestinians elections to choose "a new, legitimate, hopefully realistic" leadership that can "bring progress with Israel.

"This letter exposes the real nature of Israel’s occupation which is characterized by arrogance, manipulation of facts, and outright racism," Ashrawi said in a statement.

"Rather than complying with international law and signed agreements, the Israeli government has launched a deliberate campaign of distortion, hatred and incitement.”

She added: "Official statements and policies such as those espoused by Lieberman and his ilk are creating a culture of impunity, racism and exclusivity."

Ashrawi said this culture generated violence, hate crimes and settler terrorism.

On Friday, a Jewish mob lynched three Palestinians in East Jerusalem and a day earlier, Jewish settlers firebombed a Palestinian taxi injuring a family of five, including two four-year-olds who suffered first degree burns, she noted.

Meanwhile an official in the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Reuters that Lieberman's letter did not represent the position of the Israeli government.

"While the Palestinian leadership under Abu Mazen (Abbas) has created difficulties that have prevented the resumption of talks, Israel is committed to working with the Palestinian leadership to restarting the dialogue, and of course Israel does not interfere in election processes in other places," added the official, who asked not to be named.

Ashrawi said the Palestinian leadership was not the main obstacle to peace.

"Rather, the real threat to peace and stability in the region is Israeli intransigence and Israel’s system of ethnic cleansing and apartheid, which include the annexation of Palestinian land, the expropriation of resources, its construction and expansion of illegal settlements, the demolition of Palestinian homes and the continued displacement of Palestinians."

She added: "Israel's total disregard for international law and the most common norms of human decency in relation to Palestinians have backfired within Israel and are distorting its own moral fabric."

She urged the Quartet and the international community to stop tolerating Israeli violations of international law and to "act now before such a culture of impunity creates irreversible damage."

The Palestinian Authority thanks South Africa for the decision to label settlement products as "Occupied Palestinian Territory" rather than "Israel."

"Giving those products a sign to distinguish them will prevent Israel from
fabricating them as Israeli products rather than settlement products."

(MaanImages/File)
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=513875
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The Palestinian Authority applauded South Africa on Thursday after its cabinet voted to distinguish goods made in the occupied West Bank from normal Israeli products.

Abdul Hafiz Nofal, the PA's deputy economy minister, said he thanked South Africa's ambassador for the decision to label settlement products as "Occupied Palestinian Territory" rather than "Israel."

"Giving those products a sign to distinguish them will prevent Israel from fabricating them as Israeli products rather than settlement products," Nofal told Ma'an.

He said the decision was important because it will make the products easier to tax and also indicate to consumers which products to boycott should they choose to exclude settlement goods.

The economy ministry has expressed its appreciation to the South African ambassador and indicated its readiness to provide authorities with information about settlement goods.

READ MORE

[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]

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: "As a result, stability is conflated with peace and it is used to justify maintaining the status quo in the pretext of maintaining “peace”."

[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]
 August 22, 2012
By Melkam Lidet for MIFTAH
 
‘Out of sight out of mind’ is a common saying in different languages– the further away one is from something or the longer time one has spent away from it, the less relevant it becomes. After days of traveling with friends to the north of Israel – Haifa, Akko, the Galilee and the Golan this saying resonated with me in regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The north is a beautiful place: the blue Sea of Galilee, the mountains, green terrain and the grace of Mt. Harmon in the occupied Golan Heights. Except for the Golan which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 war and is considered occupied territory by international law, much of the North is now what is considered Israel-proper, captured and claimed in the 1948 war and recognized by the international community as such. The north is also home to diverse groups: Muslim Arabs, Christian Arabs, Jews and Druze. Almost half of “Arab Israelis” i.e. people who are Palestinian in nationality but citizens or permanent residents of Israel, live in the North, making up a slight majority over the Jewish population there; and compared to other places around Israel/Palestine, these groups live in harmony.

In all the places we went, we stayed with Israeli hosts we met on Couch Surfing, an online social network that connects travelers with locals who can host them in their homes. We were a group of peace studies students, living and working in the West Bank and a Palestinian from the West Bank who had to get a permit to join us on this trip; obviously, politics came up several times in our conversation. Keeping in mind that the people we met were left-leaning, open-minded, well-travelled people- a minority in Israeli society, their knowledge of the West Bank was very limited. Most haven’t been to the West Bank except maybe on school trips back in grade school or in ‘Green’ – as soldiers. But the ones we met were in Special Forces so they served away from the West Bank or were limited to the offices and bases in the West Bank with no interaction with Palestinians.

The further away from the West Bank one goes, the more blurred the image of the occupation appears. The North is very far from the West Bank where the occupation manifests. Here, there are no confrontations with settlers, checkpoints, encounters with young Israeli soldiers or a long, concrete separation wall. There is not much that would remind you of the Occupation. Our hosts weren’t aware of the daily human rights violations and maltreatment Palestinians go through at the hands of individual soldiers or the iron fist of the army. Evictions, house demolitions and roadblocks to farmlands didn’t ring a bell in their collective memory. While they interact with “Arabs” everywhere they go in their respective cities, it was surprising to them how my Palestinians, such as my friend from Hebron, have never met ‘normal’ Israelis. His experience with Israelis have been unpleasant interactions with soldiers or angry and violent, ideological settlers in Hebron even mainstream Israeli society disapproves of due to their economic burden on the state.

I don’t usually buy into conspiracy theories and I’m not saying this is necessarily one, but a bigger picture of the occupation struck me during my time up north. There is a mechanism of occupation - a divide and rule, detach, distance and dehumanize strategy that is neither a coincidence nor a result of the course of history. Palestinians are divided amongst themselves, confined to small areas, dehumanized in Israeli media, and kept at a distance from the average Israeli all behind a wall that most Israelis do not bother to peek over.

As a result, at the societal level, the further away one goes from the West Bank, the more distant and irrelevant the occupation becomes. Given the political, economic and diplomatic power asymmetry between the two sides, there’s nothing that would ‘bring home’ the suffering and oppression of Palestinians to average Israelis to call for political change. The occupation is different from the Vietnam prototype where every family felt the cost of war. Even when the fact is that almost all Israeli citizens serve in the military, the reality is that many do so behind thick bullet proof glass, bullet proof vests, heavy machine guns in hand and in situations that are less intense and political than they are casual and social. Of course this is no excuse for the lack of awareness or ignorance of Israeli society about what’s going on and what their government does. Rather, it points out how interaction between Palestinians and Israelis are in places and in ways that would reinforce stereotypes and power imbalances between the two people at the political but also personal level.

The lack of social interaction or citizen diplomacy therefore puts the overall solution to the conflict in the hands of politicians who, according to recent polls and analyses are lagging behind their citizens in their will for peace. As the gap between the “us” and “them” gets wider while giving a sense of peace (or at least coexistence in the North for example) without a peace agreement, it hides the truth and kisses justice good-bye cutting one of the building blocks of peace out of the big picture. As a result, stability is conflated with peace and it is used to justify maintaining the status quo in the pretext of maintaining “peace”. But this is out of sight; hence it is out of mind when one lives so far away.

Melkam Lidet 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.
 

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

My letter to the NYTimes RE Touring Terror in Jerusalem

Palestinian Refugee

RE:  Touring Terror in Jerusalem
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/opinion/touring-terror-in-jerusalem.html?_r=1&ref=global

Dear Editor,

Suicide attacks are all over the Middle East, with misguided idiots and Islamists cajoled into thinking it is a necessary and effective and noble tactic. Touring 'terror' in Jerusalem is a horrible idea that sends the wrong message, as if fear of terror will convince Israelis to free Palestine. Suicide attacks are despicable- and totally counter productive.

Readers, tourists and residents seeking to take motivational tours to inspire actual sympathy for peace and Palestine (and the rule of fair and just laws) should be exploring some of the hundreds of Palestinian villages destroyed by Zionist terrorists when modern Israel was first created- and then tour at least some of the many refugee camps today, crowded with Palestinian men women and children cruelly denied their inalienable legal, moral, natural right to return to their original homes and lands. Notice too that Palestinians continue to be pushed into forced exile.

And then take a tour of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights- and figure out ways you can apply those truths to everyday life and every interaction: "Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Jerusalem is an international city, not Israel's possession

Account of ‘a Lynch’ in Jerusalem on Facebook

Guardian News: Jewish settler attacks on Palestinians listed as 'terrorist incidents' by US

Time Magazine Video: How Palestinian Bloggers Cover Protests in Their Own Villages

We Palestinian are locked in a fierce struggle for our independence....to make the matter straight and simple this is not a clash of religions...


Israel, Iran and the Nuclear Challenge... Since Israel has nuclear weapons, other countries in the region want them, too.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Cohen minimized the corrosive effects of the Israeli occupation on Palestinian economic life...."

Zahi Khouri: The Palestine Romney doesn’t know

Another Look at Palestinian Culture:"Palestinians deserve the opportunity they've been denied for so long, to build their own state and develop their culture in independence and freedom"

Violent attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property, mosques and farmland had increased by 150% over the past year.

Palestinian officials point out that US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is undermining peace... "What this man [Mitt Romney] is doing here is just promoting extremism, violence and hatred"

'Separate and Unequal' is Unacceptable to Palestinians

"If you have to modify it, it isn't really a democracy."

Do you support as a solution to this conflict the emergence of a fully sovereign state of Palestine on the territory occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem? Yes or no?




********
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

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."

"It is in Israel's vital interest to come to a complete resolution of the conflict between it and the Palestinian people sooner rather than later, relieving the weight of this tragic conflict from both of our peoples' shoulders. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to the world." Maen Rashid Areikat: The Time for a Palestinian State Is Now

"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



Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Jerusalem is an international city, not Israel's possession

Baltimore Sun Letters
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bs-ed-jerusalem-letter-20120821,0,5740779.story



As someone who has visited Jerusalem, the ancient city where three religions try to co-exist, I was startled to read "Three questions for the U.S. about Jerusalem" (Aug. 18). The arrogance expressed in that letter was over-the-top.

The letter writer's initial question is "whether the U.S government considers Jerusalem to be part of Israel." Jerusalem is an international city. And if the Israeli government would end its occupation of Palestine, this international city could be a beacon of hope promoting diversity and tolerance against hate and bigotry.

Here's the next question raised in the letter: "whether the U.S. regards Jerusalem as Israel's capital." Our government has exhibited much foolishness while supporting Israel, but it does not recognize Jerusalem as a capital.

What was the purpose of this letter? I can only guess that it was meant to trivialize the plight of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation.

A much better letter would have urged the Israeli government to uproot the settlements, engage in serious peace negotiations and end the second-class treatment of the occupied population. But no, the writer had no interest in peace. Instead the intent must have been to further torment the beleaguered Palestinians by denying them their place in Jerusalem. When will the arrogance end?

Max Obuszewski, Baltimore

Account of ‘a Lynch’ in Jerusalem on Facebook

"A witness to the attack, who described it in an emotional account on her Facebook page, referred to it as “a lynch,” using the English loan word that is common in Hebrew."

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/account-of-a-lynch-in-jerusalem-on-facebook/?ref=middleeast

Account of ‘a Lynch’ in Jerusalem on Facebook

As my colleague Isabel Kershner reports, several Israeli teenagers who appeared in court on Monday following their arrest for beating a young Palestinian unconscious expressed little remorse for the attack after a hearing....READ MORE

My letter to USA Today RE Editorial: Israel war talk fails to ignite U.S. debate

"At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying down upon her." And so goes the moment when Alice awakes and ends the story of Alice in Wonderland.

Editorial: Israel war talk fails to ignite U.S. debate
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/story/2012-08-20/Israel-Iran-war-nuclear/57174840/1

Dear Editor,

Israel's enthusiastic push to attack Iraq and now Iran needs to be viewed in context as Israel's Jewish settlers in the illegally occupied territories have been harassing and terrorizing Palestinian men, women and children day after day after day for years. It is obvious that rather than respecting international law and universal basic human rights- and the Arab Peace Initiative, Israel has chosen to invest in and inspire religious extremism and bigotry... and bombs.... and bellicose war mongering:  "Debate" that ignores the very real plight of the Palestinians is Hasbara- and a house of cards.


Sincerely,


Anne Selden Annab
NOTES 
[Hasbara- promos & PR efforts for Zionists to convince both insiders and outsiders to believe in and invest in Israel. Hasbara tends to dismiss or ignore vitally important truths and facts, in particular about the very real plight of the Palestinians, in order to show Israel in the best possible light.]
FBI not investigating Republican skinny-dipping, drinking in Israel


THE Arab Peace Initiative ...
Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties, the council:
1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well.
2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:
I- Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.
II- Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.
III- The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
3. Consequently, the Arab countries affirm the following:
 I- Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states of the region.

Guardian News: Jewish settler attacks on Palestinians listed as 'terrorist incidents' by US

Time Magazine Video: How Palestinian Bloggers Cover Protests in Their Own Villages

We Palestinian are locked in a fierce struggle for our independence....to make the matter straight and simple this is not a clash of religions...


Israel, Iran and the Nuclear Challenge... Since Israel has nuclear weapons, other countries in the region want them, too.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Cohen minimized the corrosive effects of the Israeli occupation on Palestinian economic life...."

Zahi Khouri: The Palestine Romney doesn’t know

Another Look at Palestinian Culture:"Palestinians deserve the opportunity they've been denied for so long, to build their own state and develop their culture in independence and freedom"

Violent attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property, mosques and farmland had increased by 150% over the past year.

Palestinian officials point out that US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is undermining peace... "What this man [Mitt Romney] is doing here is just promoting extremism, violence and hatred"

'Separate and Unequal' is Unacceptable to Palestinians

"If you have to modify it, it isn't really a democracy."

Do you support as a solution to this conflict the emergence of a fully sovereign state of Palestine on the territory occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem? Yes or no?



********
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

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."

"It is in Israel's vital interest to come to a complete resolution of the conflict between it and the Palestinian people sooner rather than later, relieving the weight of this tragic conflict from both of our peoples' shoulders. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to the world." Maen Rashid Areikat: The Time for a Palestinian State Is Now

"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




Sunday, August 19, 2012

Guardian News: Jewish settler attacks on Palestinians listed as 'terrorist incidents' by US

Palestinians tackle a fire in a West Bank field they say was started by Jewish settlers. According to UN, violent attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property has increased by almost 150% since 2009. Photograph: Abed Omar Qusini/Reuters
in Jerusalem
Sunday 19 August 2012

Violence by Jewish settlers has been cited for the first time in a US state department list of "terrorist incidents", as Israeli political leaders condemned a string of recent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.


The inclusion of assaults on Palestinian targets in the annual report on terrorism reflects growing concern in Israel and internationally that violence by a minority of Jewish extremists could trigger a new cycle of conflict and further damage the prospects of a peace agreement between the two sides.

"Attacks by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinian residents, property and places of worship in the West Bank continued," said the Country Reports on Terrorism 2011It referred to "price tag" operations, meaning violence committed by radical settlers against Palestinians ...READ MORE 

            [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]

Time Magazine Video: How Palestinian Bloggers Cover Protests in Their Own Villages


In the West Bank, Palestinian citizen journalists cover events from their unique perspective
http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,1785590408001_2122083,00.html