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Friday, June 28, 2013

My letter to CSM RE The two-state solution for Israel and Palestinians needs a big boost

Freedom of Worship illustration by Norman Rockwell
"In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want—which…means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world..." President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941

RE The two-state solution for Israel and Palestinians needs a big boost: Those on the extremes of the Palestinian and Israeli conflict don’t see a two-state solution as viable ­– or preferable. Secretary of State John Kerry and those in the center with practical ideas about how to achieve two peaceful states must strengthen their voices.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2013/0627/The-two-state-solution-for-Israel-and-Palestinians-needs-a-big-boost?nav=87-frontpage-entryCommentary

Dear Editor,

The one state situation is what already is and has been for decades, with a Jews-preferred Israel easily able to find more and more excuses (and ways) to usurp more and more Palestinian land, liberty, and life.  Making a cruel situation even worse Islamists have been thriving on the Israel-Palestine conflict, ensuring that Israel perceives Palestinians as terrorist threats rather than as real people.

Noticing and hopefully strengthening reasonable voices is a good idea- but only if those reasonable voices firmly respect universal basic human rights and the rule of fair and just laws.

The goal must be a just and lasting peace: A fully secular two state solution is the best way forward and for everyone's sake religion should not be- and can not be- the determining factor as to who gets full citizenship, freedom, respect, job opportunities, subsidies and security in any sovereign nation state.

America survived the end of slavery- Israel can survive the end of its own institutionalized bigotry.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Live by the Golden Rule

"Legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Thomas Jefferson

Palestinian Refugees (1948-NOW) refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.

What is an Israeli settlement.... it is a tax payer plus charity investment in highways, housing, freedom, jobs, security, and respect for Jewish Israelis, while the native non-Jewish Palestinians are persecuted, impoverished, pushed into forced exile- and demonized for objecting to such institutionalized bigotry and blatant injustice.

From Palestinians' point of view, the law [Israel's Absentee Property Law] has always been controversial. The rights of refugees are a core issue in their conflict with Israel.

Leaders must seize opportunity for peace and security... "The Arab League's peace initiative has regained relevance. The initial position between the parties is bleak, but the status quo is not an alternative. The Israelis and the Palestinians must now seize what is perhaps the last opportunity to create peace and security."

"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

Jordan's King Abdullah II explains that extremism has "grown fat" off of the longstanding conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

American Task Force on Palestine Alarmed by "Price Tag" Violence, Welcomes Israeli and Jewish-American Condemnation

From the archives... 1971 & 1967

“Were you really shot in a fight over water?” He winces out his answer: “It wasn’t about politics. It wasn’t about the Muslim Brotherhood. It was about water.”

This Week in Palestine: Palestinian Institutions A Story of Perseverance ... Salam Fayyad "This was not about roads, buildings, or infrastructure, despite their importance. This plan was about statehood, citizen participation, and enfranchisement. It was based on the vision of establishing a functional framework where government is accountable and citizens participate in the widest and most effective way possible in decision-making and governance."

Palestine now recognised by greater power than US or Israel – Google

"I come from there and I have memories... "


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


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

Palestinian 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

Refugees and the Right of Return
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.

"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

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

My letter to Forbes RE Is The Arab-Israeli Conflict Really About Economics?

"East Jerusalemites [Palestinians] barely make ends meet. East Jerusalem’s economy is so underdeveloped that it even lags behind major cities of the West Bank, such as Ramallah, Hebron, and Nablus. A large number of residents, estimated to be as high as 85 percent, live in abject poverty. Despite facing impossible conditions, however, most of us continue to persevere and somehow keep both the grandeur and mystical nature of Jerusalem close to our hearts. It is, after all, our home." Hiba Husseini This Week in Palestine: JerusalemThe Light, the Air, the Mystique, and the Universality – Lament and Verve (photo by George Azar)
RE Is The Arab-Israeli Conflict Really About Economics?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/06/26/is-the-arab-israeli-conflict-really-about-economics/

Dear Forbes,

I'd say YES- the Arab-Israeli conflict is very much about economics, including the economics of charity as well as state funds (and taxpayers money here and there) generously subsidizing Jewish citizens while the native non-Jewish Palestinians have been (and continue to be) very much oppressed and pushed into poverty as well as forced exile, fragmenting families and communities for more than half a century.

UNWRA exists today because Israel refuses to respect the Palestinians basic human rights, including but not limited to every refugee's inalienable and universal right to return to original homes and lands. 

The economics of Israel's home demolition polices and checkpoints all through out the illegally occupied territories provide Israelis with jobs while bankrupting Palestinians...  Feeding on the Israel-Palestine conflict and making a bad situation even worse AND obviously inspired by Israel's current success as a religion based nation state, Islamists seek to create an Islamic version of Israel to replace not only Israel but all the countries in the Middle East. 

Ending the Israel-Palestine conflict ASAP with a fully secular two state solution that FULLY honors and empowers universal basic human rights and the rule of fair and just laws to help curtail religious idiocy, corruption and cruelty is the best way forward... for everyone's sake. 

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Jordan's King Abdullah II explains that extremism has "grown fat" off of the longstanding conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

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.

"Legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Thomas Jefferson

What is an Israeli settlement.... it is a tax payer plus charity investment in highways, housing, freedom, jobs, security, and respect for Jewish Israelis, while the native non-Jewish Palestinians are persecuted, impoverished, pushed into forced exile- and demonized for objecting to such institutionalized bigotry and blatant injustice.

Leaders must seize opportunity for peace and security... "The Arab League's peace initiative has regained relevance. The initial position between the parties is bleak, but the status quo is not an alternative. The Israelis and the Palestinians must now seize what is perhaps the last opportunity to create peace and security."

From the archives... 1971 & 1967

From Palestinians' point of view, the law [Israel's Absentee Property Law] has always been controversial. The rights of refugees are a core issue in their conflict with Israel.

"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

“Were you really shot in a fight over water?” He winces out his answer: “It wasn’t about politics. It wasn’t about the Muslim Brotherhood. It was about water.”

Palestine now recognised by greater power than US or Israel – Google

This Week in Palestine: Palestinian Institutions A Story of Perseverance ... Salam Fayyad "This was not about roads, buildings, or infrastructure, despite their importance. This plan was about statehood, citizen participation, and enfranchisement. It was based on the vision of establishing a functional framework where government is accountable and citizens participate in the widest and most effective way possible in decision-making and governance."

"I come from there and I have memories... "



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


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

Palestinian 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

Refugees and the Right of Return
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.

"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

Monday, June 24, 2013

Washington Post: Palestinians find an unlikely hero in ‘Arab Idol’ contest show winner

[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.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/06/24/palestinians-find-an-unlikely-hero-in-arab-idol-contest-show-winner/

"Assaf, with his good looks and easy smile, represents a publicity coup for the Palestinian cause and makes ordinary Palestinians happy to show the world, corny as it is, that Gaza is not just about rockets and strife, but singing and dreaming."
Palestinian singer Mohammad Assaf holds a Palestinian flag after he won the title of the television talent show “Arab Idol,” in Beirut, Lebanon. (EPA/MBC PRESS OFFICE)
JERUSALEM — It was a most improbable story of a moonlighting wedding singer from a Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, who barged his way into an audition and went on to win hearts across the Middle East — and on Saturday night was declared the winner of the “Arab Idol” singing contest.

Fireworks exploded over the West Bank city of Ramallah and people poured into the streets there and in the Gaza Strip to celebrate what fans called a dream come true for Mohammad Assaf, the fresh-faced 22-year-old college student from Khan Younis.

He closed down his competitors by singing, in English, the Backstreet Boys hit “I Want It That Way.” Here’s the video:

http://youtu.be/zSgbAWnA4mw

Al Jazeera reported that after Assaf won the Idol title he was named Youth Ambassador for United Nation’s agency for Palestinian refugees, a goodwill ambassador by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and handed a diplomatic passport — READ MORE

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/06/24/palestinians-find-an-unlikely-hero-in-arab-idol-contest-show-winner/
 [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]