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| "East Jerusalemites [Palestinians] barely make ends meet. East Jerusalem’s economy is so underdeveloped that it even lags behind major cities of the West Bank, such as Ramallah, Hebron, and Nablus. A large number of residents, estimated to be as high as 85 percent, live in abject poverty. Despite facing impossible conditions, however, most of us continue to persevere and somehow keep both the grandeur and mystical nature of Jerusalem close to our hearts. It is, after all, our home." Hiba Husseini This Week in Palestine: JerusalemThe Light, the Air, the Mystique, and the Universality – Lament and Verve (photo by George Azar) |
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/06/26/is-the-arab-israeli-conflict-really-about-economics/
Dear Forbes,
I'd say YES- the Arab-Israeli conflict is very much about economics, including the economics of charity as well as state funds (and taxpayers money here and there) generously subsidizing Jewish citizens while the native non-Jewish Palestinians have been (and continue to be) very much oppressed and pushed into poverty as well as forced exile, fragmenting families and communities for more than half a century.
UNWRA exists today because Israel refuses to respect the Palestinians basic human rights, including but not limited to every refugee's inalienable and universal right to return to original homes and lands.
The economics of Israel's home demolition polices and checkpoints all through out the illegally occupied territories provide Israelis with jobs while bankrupting Palestinians... Feeding on the Israel-Palestine conflict and making a bad situation even worse AND obviously inspired by Israel's current success as a religion based nation state, Islamists seek to create an Islamic version of Israel to replace not only Israel but all the countries in the Middle East.
Ending the Israel-Palestine conflict ASAP with a fully secular two state solution that FULLY honors and empowers universal basic human rights and the rule of fair and just laws to help curtail religious idiocy, corruption and cruelty is the best way forward... for everyone's sake.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES
Jordan's King Abdullah II explains that extremism has "grown fat" off of the longstanding conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Live by the Golden Rule
Palestinian Refugees (1948-NOW) refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.
"Legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Thomas Jefferson
What is an Israeli settlement.... it is a tax payer plus charity investment in highways, housing, freedom, jobs, security, and respect for Jewish Israelis, while the native non-Jewish Palestinians are persecuted, impoverished, pushed into forced exile- and demonized for objecting to such institutionalized bigotry and blatant injustice.
Leaders must seize opportunity for peace and security... "The Arab League's peace initiative has regained relevance. The initial position between the parties is bleak, but the status quo is not an alternative. The Israelis and the Palestinians must now seize what is perhaps the last opportunity to create peace and security."
From the archives... 1971 & 1967
From Palestinians' point of view, the law [Israel's Absentee Property Law] has always been controversial. The rights of refugees are a core issue in their conflict with Israel.
"In 1949, the international community accepted Israel's UN membership upon two conditions: That they respect resolutions 181 (two states) and 194 (refugee rights). Neither has been honored. In fact, 65 years later, Israel has not even acknowledged what it did in 1948." Saeb Erekat
“Were you really shot in a fight over water?” He winces out his answer: “It wasn’t about politics. It wasn’t about the Muslim Brotherhood. It was about water.”
Palestine now recognised by greater power than US or Israel – Google
This Week in Palestine: Palestinian Institutions A Story of Perseverance ... Salam Fayyad "This was not about roads, buildings, or infrastructure, despite their importance. This plan was about statehood, citizen participation, and enfranchisement. It was based on the vision of establishing a functional framework where government is accountable and citizens participate in the widest and most effective way possible in decision-making and governance."
"I come from there and I have memories... "
*******
The Balfour Declaration of 1917
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 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 Golden Rule... Do
unto others as you would have them do unto you
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 from 1948 : The
refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with
their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest
practicable 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.
"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
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