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| Songs & Pictures from Palestine:
Beirzeit heritage week 26 June 2013
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/opinion/friedman-daring-to-fail.html?ref=global&_r=0
Dear Editor,
I am convinced that a two state solution to once and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict is the best way forward- but I vehemently object to the ridiculous idea that the Palestinian refugees must be, as Friedman claims, "persuaded that they can return to those two places [the West Bank and Gaza] but never again to their original homes in pre-1967 Israel."
I do think Palestinian refugees should be encouraged to relocate to the West Bank and Gaza, for Palestine's sake. They should also be free to relocate to any country worldwide that will welcome them in with full and equal citizenship... However, for civilization's sake, we must do all we can in shaping policy and peace negotiations to send the clear message that the rule of fair and just laws matter, as do universal basic human rights: Return is return, not more forced transfer. It is simply and completely wrong for any nation state to impoverish, oppress, displace and disfranchise targeted populations.
It was wrong when the Nazis did it- and it is wrong when Israelis do it.
Furthermore, if Israel continues to scorn the Arab Peace Initiative and Palestine is not able to become a viable independent sovereign nation state, what then? Do we sit back and watch while Israel continues to impoverish, oppress, displace, disfranchise and destroy the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land?
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES
"This conflict [Israel-Palestine conflict] is so asymmetrical as to not even be a conflict. Someone once characterized it as being negotiations between a wolf and a lamb, with the mediator being a supporter of the wolf. "
No portrayal of the settlements should equivocate about what happens when two peoples live side by side, one enjoying the benefits of political participation and a responsive legal system and the other living under military rule, devoid of rights
Jerusalem theater revives Rachel Corrie's controversial memory with Jerusalem's mayor citing freedom of expression as he defends public funding for the theater showing a play about pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie... meanwhile Across town last month in East Jerusalem, the annual Palestinian children’s puppet theater festival was not so lucky. Israel’s Ministry of Defense cancelled performances and shut the theater based on the claim that the festival’s organizer illegally received funds from the Palestinian Authority.
"Israel is the most threatened state in the world"
Peace Talks 2013
2013 Zionist propagandists usurp a 1930s photo of Palestinian villagers from a Palestinian-American's facebook page, and they share it far and wide relabeled with the false caption "Palestinian Arabs attending a Nazi Rally in the 1930's"
'Why are men so angry that they kill children to get what they want?' Rami Elhanan is an Israeli, Bassam Aramin is a Palestinian. Both live in Jerusalem, both grieve for daughters killed in the conflict. And somehow they fought off the urge for vengeance
The New Yorker: The Fight for Jerusalem’s Past, and Future... Archeology is another weapon in the fight over territory.
Middle East identity politics is more than Sunni-Shia schism: Caabu director Chris Doyle's letter in the Financial Times
Kerry: "The only announcement you will hear about meetings it's the one that I just made, and I will be the only one by agreement authorized to comment publicly on the talks in consultation obviously with the parties... That means that no one should consider any reports, articles or even rumors reliable unless they come directly from me and I guarantee you they won't."
Boston Globe editorial: Kerry’s enormous effort stirs new hope for Mideast talks
"The way forward is to be found not in looking back at what might have been, but in an honest assessment of what can be done to address current realities." Dr. James Zogby
Live
by the Golden Rule
Words to Honor: The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 1.
"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
Jordan's King Abdullah II explains that extremism has "grown fat" off of the longstanding conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
"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
Words to Honor: The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 1.
-
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should
act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
"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
Jordan's King Abdullah II explains that extremism has "grown fat" off of the longstanding conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
"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
".... 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:
Palestinian Refugees(1948-NOW) refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.
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
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