Jaffa... Engraving |
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/11/opinion/saving-kerrys-peace-plan.html?ref=international&_r=0
Dear Editor,
Yossi Beilin's bizarre formula for peace rewards Israel's soldiers and settlers for destroying Palestinian homes and usurping Palestinian land. His convoluted plan also guarantees that a Jews-preferred Israel will continue to feel compelled to perceive Palestinian men, women and children as a demographic threat and a problem rather than as individuals who deserve respect and the rule of fair and just laws.
There is a huge difference between Israeli settlers who knowingly and willingly have helped sabotage Palestine and a two state solution for religious whims, and/or for economic reasons as they enjoy subsidized housing in the illegally occupied territories and Palestinian refugees who, day after day for more than sixty years have been impoverished, harassed and forcibly displaced from their cherished ancestral homes and lands.... because Israel wants to be "Jewish".
Israel's incentive should be respecting international law- and universal basic human rights, including but not limited to the Palestinian refugees right to return to original homes and lands.
Israel's incentive should be a just and lasting peace: A fully secular two state solution to once and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict is the best way forward.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES
Washington Post 2013: Israeli hard-liners eye West Bank
Israeli Settler Violence Map
Israeli police seized computers and detained 25 Palestinians because of Facebook posts in East Jerusalem on Thursday
- 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.
"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
Thomas Paine: "Of all of the
tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny of religion is the
worst."
"In every country and in every age, the priest [rabbi/imam/...etc...] has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own"
Thomas Jefferson
"In every country and in every age, the priest [rabbi/imam/...etc...] has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own"
Thomas Jefferson
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
Why Muslims should love secularism: Though secularism is widely misunderstood as anti-religious and iconoclastic, all it means is the neutrality of the state on religious affairs ... "Muslims must recognize secularism as the only real path to religious freedom, rather than confusing it with an attack against religion." Hussein Ibish
The Golden Rule... Do
unto others as you would have them do unto you
Live
by the Golden Rule
Dear President Obama... Let Freedom Ring
194
Globalizing Martin Luther King, Jr.
This Week in Palestine: In Palestine we have no physical control over our borders, and therefore have no say in how anyone could be treated at any given moment in time. But what we do have control of is the Palestine we write about, describe, and photograph in the folds of this issue’s pages.
Dear President Obama... Let Freedom Ring
194
Globalizing Martin Luther King, Jr.
This Week in Palestine: In Palestine we have no physical control over our borders, and therefore have no say in how anyone could be treated at any given moment in time. But what we do have control of is the Palestine we write about, describe, and photograph in the folds of this issue’s pages.
U.S. 'working tirelessly' to restore UNESCO funding... UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova: "This is not only about financing. This is about values. This is the 'smart power' that is in such need today, to lay the foundations for lasting peace and sustainable development,"
U.S., Israel lose voting rights at UNESCO over Palestine row
UNWRA ... a crucial lifeline for Palestinian refugees
Dr Zogby: Focus on Palestinians’ Rights
"Can you imagine the world today without letters or without music?"
At ATFP Gala, White House Reaffirms Commitment to Palestinian State, Opposition to Settlements and Settler Violence
"The
only way to honor our tragic histories is to create a future
for our children free of man-made tragedy. This means making
peace fully, completely and without reservation, between
Israel and Palestine." ATFP's Ziad Asali: To honor
a tragic history, we must work for peace
"So let us put the narrative of injustice away and find the joy, if it’s the last thing we ever do. " Tala Abu Rahmeh, Palestinian poet and writer
A quest to preserve Palestinian heritage in the digital stacks: Sami Batrawi's struggle to open an online Palestinian Library of Congress is part of a broader effort to recover lost Palestinian intellectual heritage.
Pomegranates in season along the path!
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.
Ancient stone villages in the occupied West Bank have become trapped in rural poverty, while investors and donors shy away from a zone of seemingly endless conflict... Israel's restrictions affect much of Palestinian economic life. It controls every access point, which enables it to oversee all imports and exports, creating bureaucratic hurdles that Palestinians say stifle or kill entrepreneurship.
The Israelis also impose strict limits on water supply, which
affects industry and agriculture. Israel has not allowed
Palestinians access to 3G mobile technology, citing security
concerns, rendering many smartphone apps largely useless....READ
MORE
Jordan's King Abdullah II explains that extremism has "grown fat" off of the longstanding conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
We
Need to Talk... Ziad Asali has proven that
Palestinian-Americans can work within the system as
first-class American citizens and Washington has paid
attention: The status quo is clear: occupation.
Asali's mission is to change that status quo.
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