WASHINGTON, September 14, 2013 (WAFA) – The Palestine
Liberation Organization’s (PLO) General Delegation to the United States said in
a statement on Thursday that it was deeply disturbed by reports that the US National
Security Agency (NSA) has been sharing raw intelligence information on American
citizens with the Israeli government.
The British newspaper, the Guardian, published on Wednesday a
new document leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden which revealed that the NSA
and an Israeli intelligence agency have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on
sharing data about US citizens before filtering them that could violate
their constitutional rights.
“Israel which discriminates continuously against US citizens
of Arab and Muslim origins should not be rewarded with information that
encourages and enhances its ability to discriminate against them leading to
their deportations at Israeli airports, banning them from entry, and even
jailing them,” said the General Delegation’s statement.
“We expect the United States to hold Israel accountable for
its discriminatory actions against Arab and Palestinian-Americans and to
pressure Israel to end all forms of discrimination against US citizens,” it
said.
That question weighs heavy on my mother’s mind this week, as
she and I recall two decades of failed U.S. attempts to help
end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict—a conflict that has
defined all but four years of my mother’s life.
She was still in her 40s when Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin
shook hands on the White House lawn. But two decades on, as
she approaches her 70s, my mother is beginning to reckon with
the possibility that she will live out her life in exile.
She is not alone, of course.
My mother is part of the last generation of Palestinians born
before 1948, when the creation of Israel displaced
three-fourths of the Holy Land’s indigenous population.
That inescapable tragedy—displacing one people to shelter
another—is the unhealed wound that sustains the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Like any wound, it must
eventually be exposed. And if it is to truly heal,
Palestinians and Israelis must make of the scar a source of
succor, not fear.
After all, my mother, like others of her generation, is no
threat—not to those who know and love her and certainly not to
an entire nation. For Christmas, she knits Bethlehem-themed
ornaments and sells them at church bazaars. She stands at a
plastic table, this woman from the Holy Land, and regales
wide-eyed American children with tales of day trips to the Sea
of Galilee.
That life of more than six decades ago is too far-gone,
though. Like any person with more years lived than left, my
mother is too wise to inveigh against the inevitabilities of
time. Instead, like millions of her generation who remember a
land before loss, what she really wants is something more
elemental.
She wants the right to access those memories, on
her own terms, as she looks back on a life in waning.
But to revisit them, like any person should have the right to
do, my mother needs permission—not from the quixotically named
Palestinian Authority, but from Israel. That cruel reality,
more than any other in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, adds
enduring insult to injury.
Still, my mother and I maintain hope that she can return
someday, without the indignities of interrogation. Much of
that hope, it must be said, derives from the Jewish
experience. After all, what nation knows better the injustice
of depriving a people of their history?
Some months ago, I gave a lift to an Israeli author whose
grandfather’s signature is affixed to Israel’s declaration of
independence. In the trunk of my car, where he had just put
his suitcase, there was a box sealed well before my years and,
in my mother’s scrawl, labeled: “History.”
My Israeli friend asked about the contents. But I couldn’t
answer. Whenever I asked my mother what her History held, she
demurred, saying only: “Keep it in a cool, dry place.”
I understood why when I opened it myself. In that box, I
found hundreds of faded, yellowing photographs—my mother’s
history, hidden all those years in sepia stills.
The author's mother and grandmother in Bethlehem. (Courtesy of Samer Badawi)
There she was—tomboyish and slight—beside her mother, who was
stitching. And there were Solomon’s Pools, where my
grandfather drowned.
These were the Holy Land’s apocrypha, I thought, subsumed for
so long by another’s narrative. They told us: Ours was a land
without a people. Ours was a desert, and they made it bloom.
But history, the images showed, had been sullied. They showed
my mother, laughing on a terraced hill, land stitched with
olive trees. They showed the vine, made famous not by wine,
but by my grandmother’s stuffed grape leaves.
The lesson, I think, is this: the Holy Land holds histories
that, with time, can be taught to coexist. My mother’s is one
of them. As she navigates her own, inner peace process, I hope
that one day, in her lifetime, it leads home.
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The United States is striving to achieve Palestinian-Israeli
peace amid a backdrop of increasing unrest in the Arab world. To borrow
an image from quantum physics, we are speeding up to try to protect the
peace process from the powerful gravitational pull of a developing
Middle East black hole.
Secretary of State John Kerry deserves applause for his serious and
tireless efforts to end this conflict. As a Palestinian-American, a
Jerusalemite displaced by the 1948 war, and, for the past 10 years, a
full-time advocate for a two-state solution, my dream of an independent
Palestine living in peace with Israel is still alive. But it has become
inextricably intertwined with other Middle Eastern issues.
The meltdowns spreading throughout the region require a more holistic
American approach to avoid even more widespread chaos. Securing
American policy goals in the region requires rethinking traditional
policies that favor short-term interests over long-term stability.
In Syria the number of dead has long exceeded 100,000 and there are
increasing reports of the unspeakable use of chemical and heavy weapons
against rebels and civilians. There has been an average of 30 car bombs
per month over the past three months in Iraq. Assassinations are
destabilizing Tunisia; militias run uncontrolled in Libya; and there is
growing instability in Yemen and Lebanon. Egypt, with its undoubted
regional influence and centrality, has seen the ouster of two presidents
in as many years. Its revolutionary turmoil reverberates throughout the
region, and rages at the doorsteps of the future Palestinian state.
The convulsions in the Middle East are not just a regional problem,
they are threatening to the global economy and stability. It would be
unwise to dismiss them as distant or unimportant.
Solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will not be a panacea for
all the ills of the region. But it would have a significant positive
impact on many ongoing problems faced by Middle Easterners and the
United States alike. It is the single thing the United States could help
do that would most improve the general atmosphere in the Middle East.
Many Arab societies are trapped in a false binary between
authoritarian governments and Islamist groups such as the Muslim
Brotherhood. But within these societies there are many disconnected and
neglected islands of support for non-sectarian, pluralistic, tolerant,
accountable and transparent orders based on the consent of the governed.
It is time for the United States to identify and support, in a
sustained, strategic and long-term policy, these moderate, centrist
forces. They exist, and, with sufficient help, can be key players in
transitioning to more open systems. We cannot do it for them, but we can
help them do it.
There is no magic formula, one-size-fits-all, or instant cure for the
deep-seated problems in the Middle East and the Arab world.
Transforming the political culture of the region, and helping it find
its own solutions consistent with globally accepted norms, but without
imposing Western models, is a generational project.
There is no reason to believe that it's impossible for Arab states to
join the rest of the world as equal partners with the West and all the
other societies that are moving forward as part of a global community
and economy. The problem is that, both in the Middle East and the United
States, there has never been enough belief in, or support for, this
project. Such skepticism is a self-fulfilling prophecy that should be
abandoned.
The United States would be well advised to embark on a concomitant,
long term, and focused policy of regional engagement that seeks to
support moderate and centrist forces in the Arab world, as it continues
to secure Palestinian-Israeli peace. The great people of Egypt, for
example, are searching for alternatives to their present political
choices: a traditionally authoritarian state versus intolerant and
sectarian religious extremists. Palestinians deserve an open political
horizon beyond a dysfunctional Fatah and a fanatical and
terror-designated Hamas. Syrians need an end to their national
nightmare, and a chance to rebuild their country and their lives. Our
policies can help these societies achieve such goals.
The long-term objective must be to help empower open-minded, tolerant
Arab groups to develop their own path to modernity based on the consent
of the governed, job-producing economies, the rule of law, and respect
for the rights of all citizens, including individuals, minorities and
women.
We should do everything in our power to ensure Palestinian-Israeli
peace, and never stop trying to achieve that vital goal. Meanwhile, we
would do well to rethink our fundamental approach to the Middle East,
and systematically help Arab societies transform their political
cultures. Otherwise the black hole will continue devouring everything
within its reach, harming not only the region but also our national
interests.
***
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.
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QALQILIYA (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces razed Palestinian land south of
Qalqiliya in the northern West Bank early Thursday, witnesses said.
Israeli
civil administration crews arrived with bulldozers and razed land
belonging to Jalud village. They also uprooted olive trees, witnesses
told Ma'an.
Locals say Israeli authorities plan to confiscate the
land to expand the illegal Alfe Menashe settlement, built on
Palestinian land in the area.
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HEBRON (Ma'an) -- A group of settlers uprooted over 40 olive trees in the south Hebron hills late Sunday, a local official said.
Ratib
al-Jabour, coordinator of the popular committee against the wall and
settlements, said that settlers from Maon destroyed olive trees in the
neighboring village of al-Tuwani.
The trees belong to the al-Rabai family.
Settlers routinely attack Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank with impunity.
Annual
figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din have repeatedly shown
that nine out of 10 police investigations about settler crimes fail to
lead to a prosecution.
“The politicization of religion and use of religion in politics has often added to polarization, social divides and conflicts in traditionally tolerant communities around the globe”
Politicization of religion and rights of religious minorities
12 September 2013
A World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation in
Geneva will facilitate dialogue on issues related to religious
minorities and the politicization of religion, which contributes to
discrimination and persecution of religious minorities around the world.
The consultation organized by the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on
International Affairs (CCIA) will be held at the Ecumenical Centre, in
Geneva, Switzerland, from 16 to 18 September.
The event titled “Politicization of Religion and Rights of Religious
Minorities” will bring 60 participants, including religious leaders,
politicians, scholars and activists from Asia, Africa, the Middle East,
Europe and North America.
The consultation will be opened by Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general
secretary of the WCC on Monday afternoon, 16 September. Prof. Dr Heiner
Bielefeldt, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or
Belief will be the keynote speaker at the opening session from 16.30 to
18.00.
Emerging trends in religious freedom and rights of religious
minorities have been studied by the CCIA during the past two years. As a
result of such discussions, at the 51st meeting of the CCIA in the
People’s Republic of China in 2012, development of a public issues
statement on freedom of religion and the rights of religious minorities
was recommended.
The consultation will help draft the statement, which will be
presented at the WCC 10th Assembly to be held from 30 October to 8
November in Busan, Republic of Korea.
“The politicization of religion and use of religion in politics has
often added to polarization, social divides and conflicts in
traditionally tolerant communities around the globe,” said Dr Mathews
George Chunakara, director of the CCIA.
“To address such trends, the consultation aims to provide a platform of dialogue,” he added.
I, living between the Jordan and the Med,
was drawn and redrawn more times than
I can remember. Names of cities and towns,
lakes and streams, mountains and valleys
vanished off my body countless times,
only to reappear clothed in religious garb
one day, nationalist garb the next.
Lines—some shallow, others deep—decorate
with their colors and shapes the ins and outs
of my being. Looking increasingly like Swiss
cheese, the winds of conflict blow through me
like a hurricane, twisting and shredding my limbs.
I long for the day when I am whole again.
Balance, justice, stability, peace must return!
Saliba was born and raised in Jerusalem. He holds a doctorate from
Rutgers University and is currently Professor of Political Science and
Associate Vice President for Global Initiatives at Monmouth University
Books:
Dr. Sarsar is the author of several articles and commentaries on the Middle East; editor of Palestine and the Quest for Peace (American Task Force on Palestine, 2009); and co-editor of Principles and Pragmatism: Key Documents from the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP, 2006), Patriarch Michel Sabbah-Faithful Witness: On Reconciliation and Peace in the Holy Land (New City Press, 2009), and Democracy in Africa: Political Changes and Challenges. (Carolina Academic Press, 2012). Dr. Sarsar is also the author of two books of poetry, titled Crosswinds (Mellen Poetry Press, 1999) and Seven Gates of Jerusalem, a bilingual English/Arabic edition (Kul-Shee, 2010).
***
2013
The ATFP Award for Academic Excellence will
be presented to Dr. Saliba Sarsar. Dr. Sarsar, born and raised in
Jerusalem, is Professor of Political Science and Associate Vice
President for Global Initiatives at Monmouth University. He is the
author of several books, articles and commentaries on the Middle East
and two volumes of poetry. Dr. Sarsar is active in Arab-Jewish dialogue
and peace building, for which he received the Humanitarian Award from
the National Conference for Community and Justice in 2001.
A central aim of Palfest [Palestine Festival of Literature] is to overcome the constraints of occupation; to create links between international artists and Palestinian artists and audiences. Having succeeded in bringing the festival to Gaza for the first time in 2012, this year we ran PalFest across all of Palestine.One group of international artists crossed the Rafah border from Egypt into Gaza. A second group traveled throughout the West Bank, Jerusalem, and, for the first time, Haifa. In this way, workshops, cultural meetings, and public events connecting international writers with Palestinian artists and audiences were held throughout historical Palestine
Bitter memories of the Holocaust which dominate Israel’s national
psyche should motivate Israelis to respect international law and the
Palestinian's basic human rights, as well as negotiations to once
and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict... but that has not
happened.
Continuing to call Israel "The Jewish State" rather than simply
"Israel", creates the emotional roller coaster that has been hurling
Israel towards impoverishing and displacing even more Palestinian
men, women and children- including countless Palestinian refugees
already displaced multiple times.
Hezbollah (and Hamas, and possibly even Al-Qaeda) would not even be
but for the rampant institutionalized bigotry and injustice of "The
Jewish State" with it's sovereign template of how to succeed
economically and 'emotionally' by arming religion with lethal
weaponry and constant spin.
The Syria crisis and tragedy is not just the number of children
killed, or the methods used to kill them, it is also the refugee
crisis. Syrian refugees top 2 million as thousands flee
daily , despite the fact
that "A lot of people are afraid to leave... People don't want to
become Palestinian-ized" -- in reference to the decades-long
displacement of millions of Palestinians that began in 1948."
"At the end of August [2013], some 716,000 Syrian refugees were
registered or in the process of being registered in Lebanon, 515,000
in Jordan, 460,000 in Turkey, 168,000 in Iraq and 110,000 in Egypt"
Look at a map- every neighboring nation except Israel has welcomed
in Syrian refugees. Every country sharing a border, except Israel,
is wrestling with how to feed and house and keep safe the people
displaced by the debacle in Syria. And what will happen to the
children of Syria as time goes by... As long as an economically
successful and relatively stable Israel is idolized and defined as
"The Jewish State", rather than as a real democracy with full and
equal rights for all, Islamists everywhere will follow Israel's
lead- arming religion with lethal weaponry and constant spin.
Bombing Syria only adds to the violence and the angst and the proxy
investments pushing this mess towards WWIII. Instead of fixating on
military action, the entire world would be much better off if we
all focused in on peace and actually ending the Israel-Palestine
conflict with a fully secular two state solution that fully honors
and respects international law and basic human rights, including but
not limited to every refugee's universal right to return to original
homes and lands.
The pretty side of ethnic cleansing and institutionalized bigotry a
la Israel is that a constant flow of clueless new arrivals infuse
the conversation with happy stories of Israel and falling in love.
The not so pretty side is the fact that Palestinian refugees
continue to be refused their inalienable legal, moral and natural
right to return to original homes and lands, a universal basic human
right clearly affirmed by UN Resolution 194 in 1948.
Imagine if these Untied States of America decided that as of now,
following Israel's spectacularly successful lead, citizenship and
job opportunities depend entirely on either being a Christian or
being married to a Christian- except for a few token exceptions to
the rule for PR purposes.
Imagine if every country in the Middle East, following Israel's
spectacularly successful lead, opted to make citizenship and
security as well as travel privileges dependent on pledging
allegiance to a preferred religion, and then eventually a preferred
sect of that religion as our world becomes more crowded and number
crunching sovereign nations seek ways to figure out how to allocate
increasingly scarce resources.
There is a huge difference, both economically and emotionally,
between voluntary relocation and forced exile.
When you leave your house or apartment today, closing the door
behind you, take note that your freedom to return depends on many
factors- including fair and just laws. When you drive across town
to visit your mother or sister or friend or a doctor, keep in mind
the fact that your freedom to do so depends on many factors-
including fair and just laws. When you apply for a job or a
building permit or a passport remember the crucial importance of
fair and just laws.... and the very real plight of the Palestinians.
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.
"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
Live
by the Golden Rule
Words to Honor: The United Nations Universal Declaration of
Human Rights
Article 1.
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.
".... it being clearly understood that nothing
shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine....
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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