March 25, 2013
KAL/Baltimore Sun
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/
***
Friday, April 5, 2013
"Resuscitating the peace process"...excellent cartoon from the Baltimore Sun
March 25, 2013
KAL/Baltimore Sun
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/
Aid crisis growing as millions flee Syria bombs... Top UN officials have warned that with no end in sight to the fighting, each of Syria's neighbors could be hosting a million refugees by the end of the year -- an enormous burden on already-stretched economies.
 |
| Syrians carry their belongings as they leave the Sheikh Maqsud neighborhood in Aleppo on April 4, 2013 (AFP/Dimitar Dilkoff) |
By Jo Biddle
WASHINGTON
(AFP) -- UN officials believe some four million people are now trapped
inside Syria after fleeing the fighting, as the United States echoes
calls for donors to step up and help in a burgeoning aid crisis.
The figure, due to be officially released in the coming days, is a dramatic rise on earlier estimates by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees of some 2.5 million displaced living in precarious conditions inside the country.
It also adds to the 1.2 million refugees who have streamed across borders into neighboring countries, placing a huge strain on governments in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon who have kept frontiers open.
With almost a quarter of Syria's population of around 22.5 million now in flight, the two-year conflict is wreaking a huge toll on civilians caught in cross-fire as opposition forces seek to topple President Bashar Assad.
"What we're seeing... is that now it is not just violence that is driving flight," US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees and Migration Kelly Clements told AFP.
"It is also just a decline in livelihoods, a decline in the economic means for families to be able to support themselves. It's disruption to services, it's kids not being able to go to school, it's water systems that have been either cut off or somehow affected."
Health services, bakeries, schools, vital components of normal life are teetering or have shut down, leaving a population in distress.
Those who could flee have already gone, leaving the most vulnerable to fend for themselves, many of whom have now been forced to relocate two or three times as the fighting has shifted and swelled.
Aid agencies themselves have lost team members killed in the fighting, while UN-led operations to try to get assistance across battle lines have proved dangerous and complex involving delicate negotiations.
"Really the most pressing challenge for all of us is just how dangerous and unpredictable the security environment is and the need for greater access," said Nancy Lindborg, assistant administrator for the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Working through partners such as the World Food Program, the United States has sponsored programs such as providing flour to bakeries in northern Aleppo -- enough to feed some 210,000 people for the next five months.
With the UNHCR they are trying to provide shelter, tents and blankets, to communities of displaced people hunkered down in schools or public buildings and cut off by the fighting.
The US has also focused on health and medical needs. Although initially the aim was to train doctors to deal with battle injuries, increasingly they are filling the gap providing basic health care as hospitals crumble.
They are also working with the local Syrian coordination councils in liberated areas to help rehabilitate schools to get children, some of whom have lost two years of education, back into the classroom.
Initial figures of 2.5 million displaced in the country drawn up earlier this year "no longer reflect the quickly evolving situation," UNHCR regional public information officer Reem Alsalem acknowledged.
The UN is revising its planning and scenarios and believes now that the number of internally displaced people inside the Syria "is around 4 million," she said in an email.
"There is this sense of lives interrupted, in addition to the deprivation and trauma," said Lindborg. "You were a law student yesterday and today you're a refugee. And it's that human dimension that sometimes gets lost."
The United States has so far provided some $385 million for humanitarian aid, of which nearly $216 million has been spent on needs inside Syria, with some 60 percent going to opposition-held areas.
Top UN officials have warned that with no end in sight to the fighting, each of Syria's neighbors could be hosting a million refugees by the end of the year -- an enormous burden on already-stretched economies.
Donors at a Kuwait conference in January pledged some $1.5 billion in aid -- of which $520 million was specifically to help people trapped inside Syria, with the rest going to help the nations hosting refugees.
But to date only about 30 percent of the funds have actually been received.
"The planning figures of this appeal, which went until the end of June, is only 30 percent subscribed, and yet we've already surpassed the needs that were articulated in that appeal," said Clements.
The figure, due to be officially released in the coming days, is a dramatic rise on earlier estimates by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees of some 2.5 million displaced living in precarious conditions inside the country.
It also adds to the 1.2 million refugees who have streamed across borders into neighboring countries, placing a huge strain on governments in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon who have kept frontiers open.
With almost a quarter of Syria's population of around 22.5 million now in flight, the two-year conflict is wreaking a huge toll on civilians caught in cross-fire as opposition forces seek to topple President Bashar Assad.
"What we're seeing... is that now it is not just violence that is driving flight," US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees and Migration Kelly Clements told AFP.
"It is also just a decline in livelihoods, a decline in the economic means for families to be able to support themselves. It's disruption to services, it's kids not being able to go to school, it's water systems that have been either cut off or somehow affected."
Health services, bakeries, schools, vital components of normal life are teetering or have shut down, leaving a population in distress.
Those who could flee have already gone, leaving the most vulnerable to fend for themselves, many of whom have now been forced to relocate two or three times as the fighting has shifted and swelled.
Aid agencies themselves have lost team members killed in the fighting, while UN-led operations to try to get assistance across battle lines have proved dangerous and complex involving delicate negotiations.
"Really the most pressing challenge for all of us is just how dangerous and unpredictable the security environment is and the need for greater access," said Nancy Lindborg, assistant administrator for the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Working through partners such as the World Food Program, the United States has sponsored programs such as providing flour to bakeries in northern Aleppo -- enough to feed some 210,000 people for the next five months.
With the UNHCR they are trying to provide shelter, tents and blankets, to communities of displaced people hunkered down in schools or public buildings and cut off by the fighting.
The US has also focused on health and medical needs. Although initially the aim was to train doctors to deal with battle injuries, increasingly they are filling the gap providing basic health care as hospitals crumble.
They are also working with the local Syrian coordination councils in liberated areas to help rehabilitate schools to get children, some of whom have lost two years of education, back into the classroom.
Initial figures of 2.5 million displaced in the country drawn up earlier this year "no longer reflect the quickly evolving situation," UNHCR regional public information officer Reem Alsalem acknowledged.
The UN is revising its planning and scenarios and believes now that the number of internally displaced people inside the Syria "is around 4 million," she said in an email.
"There is this sense of lives interrupted, in addition to the deprivation and trauma," said Lindborg. "You were a law student yesterday and today you're a refugee. And it's that human dimension that sometimes gets lost."
The United States has so far provided some $385 million for humanitarian aid, of which nearly $216 million has been spent on needs inside Syria, with some 60 percent going to opposition-held areas.
Top UN officials have warned that with no end in sight to the fighting, each of Syria's neighbors could be hosting a million refugees by the end of the year -- an enormous burden on already-stretched economies.
Donors at a Kuwait conference in January pledged some $1.5 billion in aid -- of which $520 million was specifically to help people trapped inside Syria, with the rest going to help the nations hosting refugees.
But to date only about 30 percent of the funds have actually been received.
"The planning figures of this appeal, which went until the end of June, is only 30 percent subscribed, and yet we've already surpassed the needs that were articulated in that appeal," said Clements.
UNWRA Statement on today’s demonstrations inside UNRWA compound in Gaza
UNRWA
calls on all the groups behind today's event to immediately stop
inciting crowds at these demonstrations and to conduct themselves in a
responsible manner. The Agency also calls on the authorities to play
their role in providing security and ensuring demonstrations remain
peaceful, and encourages donors to continue to fund UNRWA's vital relief
programmes....
http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=1698
4 April 2013
http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=1698
4 April 2013
Gaza
Demonstrators
today stormed the compound of the UNRWA Gaza Field Office in response
to a programme cut necessitated by budget shortfalls. The incident is a
dramatic and disturbing escalation in a series of demonstrations that
have taken place over the past week.
"We
fully understand the impact the decision to suspend cash assistance had
on some of our beneficiaries. The Agency was able instead to introduce
and expand its Job Creation Programme to mitigate the effects of the
reduction in cash distribution to the poorest refugee families in Gaza,”
stated Director of UNRWA Operations in Gaza Robert Turner. He added
that the Agency’s large-scale food distribution programme, that has an
increasing caseload of over 800,000, will continue unchanged.
Commenting
on today’s escalation and demonstrators breaking into UNRWA’s compound,
the Gaza Director stressed that the Agency “respect people's right to
peaceful demonstration but what happened today was completely
unacceptable: the situation could very easily have resulted in serious
injuries to UNRWA staff and to the demonstrators. This escalation,
apparently pre-planned, was unwarranted and unprecedented". "These
demonstrations affect our ability to provide much needed service to the
Palestine refugees in Gaza and—because they also targeted the Gaza
headquarters building—our operations in the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon
and Syria."
Demonstrations
during the past week had already forced UNRWA to close many of its
facilities. With the situation further compounded by today's actions,
all relief and distribution centers will consequently remain closed
until guarantees are given by all relevant groups that UNRWA operations
can continue unhindered. "This is a very regrettable situation for us to
be in, as food distributions right now are taking place for some 25,000
refugees every day. But we cannot tolerate these ongoing threats to our
staff: their safety is of crucial concern at the moment," added Turner.
"Any other affected installations will also remain closed."
UNRWA
calls on all the groups behind today's event to immediately stop
inciting crowds at these demonstrations and to conduct themselves in a
responsible manner. The Agency also calls on the authorities to play
their role in providing security and ensuring demonstrations remain
peaceful, and encourages donors to continue to fund UNRWA's vital relief
programmes.
** ENDS **
Background information:
UNRWA
is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949
and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of
some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help
Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza
Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a
just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education,
health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and
improvement, and microfinance.
Financial
support to UNRWA has not kept pace with an increased demand for
services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees, expanding
need, and deepening poverty. As a result, the Agency's General Fund
(GF), supporting UNRWA’s core activities and 97 per cent reliant on
voluntary contributions, has begun each year with a large projected
deficit. Currently the deficit stands at US$ 67.2 million.
For more information, please contact :
|
Christopher Gunness
UNRWA Spokesperson
Mobile: +972 (0)54 240 2659
Office: +972 (0)2 589 0267
|
Sami Mshasha
UNRWA Arabic Spokesperson
Mobile: +972 (0)54 216 8295
Office: +972 (0)2 589 0724
|
Palestine is secular... "I don’t want sheets separating streets in Jerusalem and I don’t want gender-segregated schools. I don't advocate for a Muslim state, a Christian state, a Jewish state, or a Scientologist state, but rather for a state with equality for all regardless of gender or faith..."
"... The Palestine I know is a place where Christians and Muslims are equal. My mother, a Muslim village girl, attended a Catholic girls’ school in Ramallah, and my refugee husband spent the Second Intifada side by side with his Christian brothers from Bethlehem. Some areas are conservative, some are not. My mom wore mini-dresses in the 1960's and I have run around our hood in tank tops my whole life. Palestine is secular. Whether Hamas likes it or not, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Charter states just that, and states that the only body allowed to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians is the PLO. Meanwhile, the Israeli government has control over every aspect of Palestinians' daily lives, from water access to the right to life. Hamas has no actual authority, yet they keep forcing new laws." Maysoon Zayid
[AS
ALWAYS
PLEASE GO TO THE LINK
TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN
FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and
conversations) THAT EMPOWER
DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE &
PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/04/don-t-tread-on-my-hair-hamas.html
 |
Don’t Tread On My Hair, Hamas
My online comment Baltimore Sun RE Ziad J. Asali's "America's challenge in the Arab world: The United States must counter the anti-American 'political correctness' that is dominating public discourse in the Middle East "
 |
| John Trumbull's painting Declaration of Independence |
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-arab-spring-20130404,0,5734988.story
http://discussions.baltimoresun.com/20/balnews/bs-ed-arab-spring-20130404/10?logout=true
Dear Editor,
Good to see Ziad J. Asali's probing op-ed "America's challenge in the Arab world: The United States must counter the anti-American 'political correctness' that is dominating public discourse in the Middle East "
Asali calls on all Americans to be better diplomats for our country and for our basic ideals of democracy, secularism and the balance between the rights and responsibilities of individual citizens, to name just a few important concepts that contribute to America's long term stability and success.
Building a case for peace and progress in the Middle East that is respectful of the diversity and sensibilities of all involved is certainly quite a challenge, but it really is the best option- for everyone's sake.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
Thursday, April 4, 2013
My letter to the NYTimes RE Please… Draw Me a State By SHMUEL ROSNER
 |
Growing Gardens for Palestine |
http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/obamas-shift-from-freezing-settlements-to-drawing-borders-creates-new-problems-for-israel/?ref=global
Dear Editor,
A negotiated nonviolent end to the Israel-Palestine conflict is only possible with the establishment of two sovereign states living side by side in peace and security.
"Drawing a border between a state and a would-be state" is indeed the crux of the matter- but keep in mind such a border is already in ink on many a map and is clearly referred to by the Arab Peace Initiative which calls for " 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."
Obfuscation, blame games, insults, righteous indignation, religious extremism, rage and violence will not end the very real plight of the Palestinians or the angst of Israelis. Full respect for international law and basic human rights, as well as an earnest desire to create -and sustain- a just and lasting peace will.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES
"After decades of conflict with Israel, the issue of prisoners is emotionally charged in Palestinian society. Inmates are highly esteemed regardless of the reasons for their incarceration, which range from mass murder to throwing rocks"
The reappointment of Mishaal may make sense in terms of Hamas' current power dynamics. But it does absolutely nothing to help the Palestinian people or cause.
Stepping Back... a poem
Growing Gardens for Palestine: Nominating a hero...
HEAR PEACE - SEE PEACE - SPEAK PEACE.... be peace
Crowdsourcing Peace: By going over the heads of Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Obama is demanding that their people step up.
Obama with Palestine's beautiful children March 2013
*******
"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
"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
".... it being clearly understood that nothing
shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..."
What
is an Israeli settlement 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 countriesPalestinian 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
"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
Palestinian
refugees must be given the option to exercise
their right of return (as well as receive
compensation for their losses arising from their
dispossession and displacement) though refugees
may prefer other options such as: (i) resettlement
in third countries, (ii) resettlement in a newly
independent Palestine (even though they originate
from that part of Palestine which became Israel)
or (iii) normalization of their legal status in
the host country where they currently reside.
What is important is that individual refugees
decide for themselves which option they prefer – a
decision must not be imposed upon them.
UN Resolution 194 from 1948
: The
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.
Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties, the council:
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.
4. Assures
the rejection of all forms of Palestinian patriation which
conflict with the special circumstances of the Arab host
countries.
5. Calls
upon the government of Israel and all Israelis to accept
this initiative in order to safeguard the prospects for
peace and stop the further shedding of blood, enabling the
Arab countries and Israel to live in peace and good
neighbourliness and provide future generations with
security, stability and prosperity.
6. Invites
the international community and all countries and
organisations to support this initiative.
7. Requests
the chairman of the summit to form a special committee
composed of some of its concerned member states and the
secretary general of the League of Arab States to pursue the
necessary contacts to gain support for this initiative at
all levels, particularly from the United Nations, the
Security Council, the United States of America, the Russian
Federation, the Muslim states and the European Union.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
"After decades of conflict with Israel, the issue of prisoners is emotionally charged in Palestinian society. Inmates are highly esteemed regardless of the reasons for their incarceration, which range from mass murder to throwing rocks..."
 |
| Palestinians throw stones at Israeli soldiers after the death of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh in Israeli jail in the West Bank city of Hebron, Tuesday, April 2, 2013 |
http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-planes-strike-gaza-rocket-fire-004338130.html
Israeli planes strike Gaza after rocket fire
The reappointment of Mishaal may make sense in terms of Hamas' current power dynamics. But it does absolutely nothing to help the Palestinian people or cause.
Hussein Ibish: "....Mishaal’s
ambitions may not stop with leading Hamas. He seems, in the long run,
to have his eyes set on eventual leadership of the Palestine Liberation
Organization. As long as Hamas retains its current policies, and he
remains a leader of that group, this is not possible without destroying
the diplomatic and political achievements of the PLO, and its
international standing. But one can certainly sense him trying to fudge
those issues and maneuver his way into a more centralized national
leadership role.
But it's important not to underestimate the harm this could cause to the Palestinian national movement. Hamas' policies are strictly inconsistent with those of the PLO, and contradict its treaty obligations. If Hamas joined the PLO with its current policies unchanged, let alone usurped it, the international standing of the PLO – one of the most important achievements of the Palestinian national movement, the value of which no one really questions – would be placed in dire jeopardy.
Palestinians want and need national unity. But the terms are crucial. If such unity in effect means abandoning the positions that underscore the PLO's standing at the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, and diplomatic relations with well over 100 countries, the price will be exorbitant and disproportionate.
Hamas, led by Mishaal or anybody else, cannot maintain its present policies – towards Israel, the two-state solution, violence, and other key questions that are clearly defined by international law – and simultaneously serve as part of the Palestinian national leadership. The cost of unity on those terms is prohibitive, and Palestinians just cannot afford it.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, Hamas continues to rule in the Islamist manner. That means that most of its policies are not only socially reactionary and oppressive, but flagrantly misogynistic as well. The latest outrage is a new law that will enforce gender segregation in schools for children over the age of nine, and bar men from teaching in girls' schools. This is merely the latest instance of Hamas' dual-gesture of pandering to its Islamist base and trying to impose its socially reactionary 'values' on the beleaguered Palestinians living under their rule.
So the reappointment of Mishaal may make sense in terms of Hamas' current power dynamics. But it does absolutely nothing to help the Palestinian people or cause."
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/hamas-again-avoids-change
But it's important not to underestimate the harm this could cause to the Palestinian national movement. Hamas' policies are strictly inconsistent with those of the PLO, and contradict its treaty obligations. If Hamas joined the PLO with its current policies unchanged, let alone usurped it, the international standing of the PLO – one of the most important achievements of the Palestinian national movement, the value of which no one really questions – would be placed in dire jeopardy.
Palestinians want and need national unity. But the terms are crucial. If such unity in effect means abandoning the positions that underscore the PLO's standing at the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, and diplomatic relations with well over 100 countries, the price will be exorbitant and disproportionate.
Hamas, led by Mishaal or anybody else, cannot maintain its present policies – towards Israel, the two-state solution, violence, and other key questions that are clearly defined by international law – and simultaneously serve as part of the Palestinian national leadership. The cost of unity on those terms is prohibitive, and Palestinians just cannot afford it.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, Hamas continues to rule in the Islamist manner. That means that most of its policies are not only socially reactionary and oppressive, but flagrantly misogynistic as well. The latest outrage is a new law that will enforce gender segregation in schools for children over the age of nine, and bar men from teaching in girls' schools. This is merely the latest instance of Hamas' dual-gesture of pandering to its Islamist base and trying to impose its socially reactionary 'values' on the beleaguered Palestinians living under their rule.
So the reappointment of Mishaal may make sense in terms of Hamas' current power dynamics. But it does absolutely nothing to help the Palestinian people or cause."
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/hamas-again-avoids-change