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| "...to meditate, document, contemplate, and, of course, dream of contemporary Palestine as a physical, mental, and emotional space." This Week in Palestine |
Dear Editor,
The one state goal claims to be all about creating "a single state in which Jews and Palestinians live together as equals"... which does sound noble and good from an ivy tower distance, but odds are it is yet another ruse enabling a Jews-preferred Israel free reign over all the land and most conversations:
One state activism convinces people who care about Palestine to diss negotiations and mainstream efforts to free Palestine. It arms cynics and naysayers and religious extremists and hate mongers on both sides with arguments to harass and insult the few still willing to speak out for Palestine diplomatically in mainstream forums.
Meanwhile a Jews-preferred Israel's demographic delusions and generously subsidized religious scholars and schemes continue to be funded and empowered by taxpayers here and there.
Convincing Palestinians to disengage and sabotage their own state building efforts as well as negotiations for a just and lasting peace, the one-state game ends up being nothing more than magical thinking rigged to further distract, impoverish, displace and erase the people of historic Palestine.
Two states (with official borders and cooperative polices) in which Jews and Palestinians (plus every one else) live together as equals on all sides of every border is the best way forward... Individual men, women and children living side by side in peace and security as well as two sovereign independent nation states simply named Israel and Palestine side by side in peace and security with each nation respecting international law and basic human rights and the dire need for fair and just laws and investments.
Peace negotiations should not be geared to entrench official state religions or demographic 'balances' for either nation, nor should negotiations be yet another a way for myopic bigots to dismiss or discredit universal basic human rights including but not limited to the Palestinian refugees inalienable legal, moral and natural right to return to original homes and lands.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES
CSM: Israel increases rate of home demolitions as peace talks chug along- Human rights activists say home demolitions show that protection for Palestinian human rights is missing from the peace process.
Walking Palestine & The Abraham Path... a creative space for stories that highlight the unique culture, heritage and hospitality of the region
Remarks by Palestine's President Abbas at the United Nations General Assembly..."The hour of freedom for the Palestinian people has rung. The hour of the independence of Palestine has rung. The hour of peace has rung."
Obama urges world to take risks for Mideast peace... "All of us must recognize that peace will be a powerful tool to defeat extremists, and embolden those who are prepared to build a better future," he said.
Announcing ATFP Gala Silent Auction ... Featuring Arts, Calligraphy, Photography, Manuscripts, Lithography, and Maps [ATFP seeks to support good governance and living standards for Palestinians, and to bring Palestinians and the United States closer together at every level]
Remarks by President Obama and President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority Before Bilateral Meeting
"I sit in preventive detention... The reason, sir, is that I am an Arab." Fouzi al-Asmar (1937-2013)
Palestinian Journalist/Author/Poet/Activist Fouzi El-Asmar, R.I.P... El-Asmar was a doting husband, father, grandfather, a devoted friend, and a respected journalist who died this month at age 76, three weeks after the passing of his wife: He had asked to be buried in his native land.
UNHRC Discusses Human Rights Situation in Occupied Palestinian Territories
Definition of Irony: why “end times” believers might actually trigger the end times
Arab Myths Distort Understanding Of American Policy
Newspapers Review: Killing of Soldier in Hebron Focus of Dailies ... & EU Warns Violence Could Undermine Negotiations (Israeli Army Kills six Palestinians last month & this month in Qalandia & Jenin refugee camps- prompting protests)
Israeli soldiers assault Palestinian farmer near Hebron
Israeli Settlers Destroy 20 Dunams of Land near Nablus
"The occupation is an
emergency, not a macro- or trans-historical problem,
particularly for the millions of Palestinians living under its
oppressive rule. They, especially—but we too—do not have the
luxury of waiting to see what the next hundred years of history
will bring us, good or bad. On the contrary, we must have the
courage to act now, and with urgency, within the existing
realities, however difficult, to try to create a working
solution to a situation that is both intolerably unjust and
regionally (and to some extent even globally) destabilizing."Hussein
Ibish & Saliba Sarsar of ATFP...
ATFP provides an independent voice for Palestinian-Americans and their supporters and advances human rights and peace. It categorically and unequivocally condemns all violence against civilians, no matter the cause and who the victims or perpetrators may be.
- 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.
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 Promised Land: Ibrahim's Estate... a poem in Celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights & Peace Day 2013
*********
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:
"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
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
".... 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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