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Sunday, September 15, 2013

My letter to IHT/NYTimes RE Two-State Illusion

illusion

RE Two-State Illusion By Ian S. Lustick
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/opinion/sunday/two-state-illusion.html?ref=global&_r=0

Dear Editor,

One state or two states- frankly either one can be the illusion... and the iceberg: All depends on how things play out.

Clear evidence already proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that a one-state scenario, which basically is what has been for decades, mainly helps a Jews-preferred Israel persecute, impoverish and displace even more Palestinian men, women and children. 

Negotiations and diplomacy should not be dismissed for there is a chance, a very real chance, that this information age infused final push for peace and a two state solution to actually end the Israel-Palestine conflict will actually work.

There is a chance, a very real chance that we stand on the edge of a new day dawning, a new era emerging with firm formal respect for universal basic human rights dismantling the bigotry and injustice and walls of hate that have brought such sorrow and suffering to countless innocents.

There is a chance, a very real chance that Golden Rule thinking and the process of diplomacy and dialogue and fact checking will help steer more and more people (and governments) away from foolishly exasperating the conflict and the religious extremism which has already wrecked havoc through out the region.

There is a chance, a very real chance that compassion and empathy and the cultivation of civilized conversations will help expand the scope and shape of current negotiations, enabling all involved to be an active part of building a just and lasting peace and a better way froward for all our children.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES

NSA scandal: “Israel which discriminates continuously against US citizens of Arab and Muslim origins should not be rewarded with information that encourages and enhances its ability to discriminate against them leading to their deportations at Israeli airports, banning them from entry, and even jailing them,” 

On Yom Kippur, Remember My Palestinian Mother: "The lesson, I think, is this: the Holy Land holds histories that, with time, can be taught to coexist. My mother’s is one of them. As she navigates her own, inner peace process, I hope that one day, in her lifetime, it leads home."

Palestine and Israel in the New Regional Context

Witnesses: Israeli forces bulldoze land south of Qalqiliya

Israelis uproot over 40 Palestinian olive trees in south Hebron hills late Sunday

The politicization of religion contributes to discrimination and persecution of religious minorities around the world....  “The politicization of religion and use of religion in politics has often added to polarization, social divides and conflicts in traditionally tolerant communities around the globe”

More Times Than I Can Remember ... a poem by Saliba Sarsar (born and raised in Jerusalem)

Palestine Festival of Literature 2013

In Growing Gardens for Palestine: I ask you not to bomb ... a poem by Anne Selden Annab

Negotiations are a way to get our rights

Clip Art Cartoon: Diplomacy

point by point ...a poem

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.

Dear President Obama... Let Freedom Ring

194

Help Build A Golden Rule Peace for the Holy Land

Globalizing Martin Luther King, Jr.


 *********
The Arab Peace Initiative
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.

II- Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace.
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


"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

Live by the Golden Rule
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.

".... it being clearly understood that nothing
          shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
          rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine....

"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
 
11 December 1948 UN Resolution 194:"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"


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

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