My letter to the Guardian RE Jerusalem elections: the ballot and the boycott

West Bank: Mapping an Occupation

RE: Jerusalem elections: the ballot and the boycott
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/21/jersualem-elections-ballot-boycott-editorial

Dear Sir,

It is a tragic shame that through the years Palestinians have been convinced to disengage, disenfranchise, and further impoverish themselves by boycotting elections and existing political infrastructures which have a significant impact on day to day life.

The reality that is Israel has many engaged and empowered loyal Jewish citizens and supporters and will most certainly not disappear, but like anything will change with changing times- hopefully for the better.

Meanwhile, for now at least, an independent and free as well as secure and economically viable Palestinian state has yet to become fully sovereign with firm internationally recognized borders.

Palestinians should have voting rights in both Israel and Palestine, just as America's dual citizens are able to help influence their country of birth as well their newly adopted homeland: "The Supreme Court of the United States has stated that dual citizenship is a "status long recognized in the law" and that "a person may have and exercise rights of nationality in two countries and be subject to the responsibilities of both." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_nationality_law

Furthermore, there is an obvious legal precedent already set: American citizens living in Israel may cast deciding votes in American elections.

If all Palestinians ( including those in Israel, those in the occupied territories, as well as those in forced exile- the Palestinian refugees) made a strategic decision to seek full voting rights within "the reality that is Israel" there would still be the matter of who to vote for, and a large complex system of existing institutions and infrastructures. 

The Israel vote will not not usher in a one state end to the conflict, nor will it magically transform the Palestinian struggle from a nationalist one into a civil rights one, for the Palestinians have already been very much engaged in a civil rights struggle all along. 

Palestinian statehood is a separate but equally important issue.  Fact is a fully secular two state solution to once and for ALL end the Israel-Palestine conflict will be liberating for Jewish Israelis as well as Palestinians because as things are Israel's tax payer funded official "Jewishness" cannot help but head towards Jewish sectarian strife and civil war.

"Secularism offers Muslims (& Christians & Jews) religious freedom, religious authenticity, and religious meaning. Imposing or privileging religion through state power invalidates all three. Muslims (& Christians & Jews) must recognize secularism as the only real path to religious freedom, rather than confusing it with an attack against religion." Hussein Ibish Why Muslims (& Christians & Jews) should love secularism (I added in the (& Christians & Jews)  for Ibish's point really is a universal truth.)

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
*From Wikipedia: "Based on the U.S. Department of State regulation on dual citizenship (7 FAM 1162), the Supreme Court of the United States has stated that dual citizenship is a "status long recognized in the law" and that "a person may have and exercise rights of nationality in two countries and be subject to the responsibilities of both. The mere fact he asserts the rights of one citizenship does not without more mean that he renounces the other", (Kawakita v. U.S., 343 U.S. 717) (1952). In Schneider v. Rusk 377 U.S. 163 (1964), the US Supreme Court ruled that a naturalized U.S. citizen has the right to return to his native country and to resume his former citizenship, and also to remain a U.S. citizen even if he never returns to the United States." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_nationality_law

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