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| 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
