My letter to the NYTimes RE Roger Cohen Sitting Down With Amos Oz

April 2012: Italian masterpiece returned to Jewish man's heirs. A 16th century masterpiece has been returned to the heirs of a Jewish man, 70 years after being wrested away during World War II. The Baroque painting titled Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged by a Rogue is believed to date from 1538 Photo: REUTERS/Philip Sears

RE Roger Cohen Sitting Down With Amos Oz
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/opinion/global/roger-cohen-sitting-down-with-amos-oz.html?ref=global

Dear Editor,

Amos Oz certainly does have a poetic way of putting things, but his choice to demonize, belittle and swat away the Palestinian refugees right of return is in fact an ugly inclination that very much helps empower Israel's institutionalized bigotry and the continuing practice of persecuting, impoverishing and displacing the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land.

The right of return is not a euphemism, it is a universal basic human right clearly affirmed by international law time and time again since modern man made Israel was created. Keep in mind that the right of return, a universal right, has already enabled countless Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust to return and reclaim property as well as reparations.... and citizenship.

Respecting the right of return is the only sane thing to do in a world where ID cards and computers can too easily be used to permanently pigeon hole people according to religion, handing petty tyrants, bigots, bureaucrats, book reviewers and border guards the power to punish targeted individuals and populations while promoting the freedom and economic prospects of preferred others.

America was able to end slavery and move on towards becoming a more real democracy with full and equal rights for ALL. Israel and Palestine can too. Taxpayers here and there should not be forced to fund religious 'scholars' and schemes! A fully secular two state solution to once and for ALL end the Israel-Palestine conflict really is the best way forward.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES

Refugees again, Palestinians flee Syria's war

"I am saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza..."

Looting books from Palestinian libraries: Dark stories

NYTimes: U.S. Inaction, Mideast Cataclysm? ...by Bernard Avishai and Sam Bahour

Arab League official urges Arab Israelis to go out and vote to thwart ‘racist’ Israeli plans

Palestinian passengers will be more tempted to read books after a new reading campaign is launched next week. A group of young writers are gathering books to put in mini-vans linking major cities in the West Bank, routes that can waste hours.

Diplomacy in action- for peace & Palestine

Palestinians set up new tented protest village northwest of Jerusalem

Museum displays Palestinian heritage in Tulkarm. - YouTube

PLO Delegation: Statement on Killing of Palestinian Youth

UN Chief Urges Israel to Rescind E1 Settlement

Israeli forces demolish 2 East Jerusalem homes

Aid agencies tread gingerly in Area C... Palestinian communities here, among the poorest and most vulnerable in oPt, desperately need access to water, electricity, sanitation and other basic infrastructure.

*******

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

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

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..."

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

"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

Empowering Peace & Palestine

"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."

 

The Arab Peace Initiative

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.