My letter to the NYTimes RE: The Talks, Round Two by Roger Cohen (& Boycott Israel? A War of Words)

U.S. Secretary of State Kerry will brief the Quartet in Munich on the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks

RE: The Talks, Round Two by Roger Cohen (& Boycott Israel? A War of Words)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/04/opinion/cohen-the-talks-round-two.html?ref=international

Dear Editor,

Palestinians have already made a huge and generous compromise in agreeing to a two state solution. Negotiations must be geared towards creating a fully secular two state solution to end the Israel-Palestine conflict for everyone's sake- and for the sake of civilization itself.

Think it through: At risk right now is not Israel's supposed Jewish character, but the long term viability of international law and universal basic human rights, including but not limited to every refugee's inalienable and natural right to return to original homes and lands.  Respecting the Palestinian refugee's right of return is not simply about what has past, and what is happening right now.  The Palestinian refugee's right of return is very much about the future of the rule of fair and just laws and conscientiously preventing even more impoverishment and forced displacement of subsequent generations... every one every where.

How different things would be right now for countless communities and countries worldwide had Jewish refugees from the Nazi Holocaust been refused their right to return to original homes and lands all through out Europe, and if we had not been motivated to spend the past half century ending segregation and striving for justice for all people, regardless of supposed race or religion.  Democracy today really would be a total farce, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights would have sizzled out into total irrelevance because every country on earth would currently be inclined to fund and empower a preferred religion or race, with tax payers subsidizing the housing and job opportunities for some but not all citizens.

If even only a handful of sovereign nations start following Israel's lead, border disputes and refugee crises will quickly become a growing problem everywhere. Investments in diplomacy and local infrastructures as well as social programs will be diverted into exorbitantly expensive arms races and conflicts. Land grabs and home demolitions will proliferate- and so will bigotry and religious extremism and terrorism of every type. Impoverishing and displacing increasingly vulnerable men women and children would be the norm, and a thousand excuses would be made to keep the status quo.

A war of words that swats away the rule of fair and just laws and universal basic human rights has already been making the Israel-Palestine conflict a very cruel conversation for the past sixty years, as well as a very dangerous reality for the native non-Jewish population of the region.

2014 is the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People ... and hopefully it is also the year that a just and lasting negotiated peace takes hold in the Holy Land for both Israel and for a fully sovereign and free Palestine, living side by side in security as good neighbors and regional leaders in the global quest to end bigotry and sectarian strife.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
The earliest Palestinian houses were constructed about 9,000 years ago.

"I am deeply concerned about the ongoing displacement and dispossession of Palestinians... " James Rawley, UN humanitarian coordinator

UNITED NATIONS: Give Peace a Chance... The year 2014 has been proclaimed the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

ATFP's Ziad Asali: Israel Needs Peace with Palestine to Avoid Looming Boycotts

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
The Office of International Religious Freedom
( http://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/ )

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

Refugees, Borders & Jerusalem
"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

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

Refugees and the Right of Return
We call for a just solution to our refugee issue in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194. Our position on refugees is also included and supported in the Arab Peace Initiative (API), which calls for “a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194.” A just solution to the refugee issue must address two aspects: the right of return and reparations.

The Arab Peace Initiative

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.

John Kerry defends US foreign policy “The reason we’re so devoted to finding a solution is simple: Because the benefits of success and the dangers of failure are enormous for the United States, for the world, for the region and, most importantly of all, for the Israeli and Palestinian people,” US secretary of state John Kerry at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“You have to understand that the progressive forces in the Arab world, those that support having a visible relationship with Israel, cannot reach out to it until the Palestinian problem is resolved,” said one Jordanian official. “Moreover, this should also be Israel’s interest, because the only way to stop the Islamic movements from seizing control in the West Bank is through an agreement with the Palestinians.”

Hanan Ashrawi tells The Times of Israel: Jews and members of all religions would have the right to apply for Palestinian citizenship. But “Palestine” could not accept “ex-territorial Jewish enclaves” where residents maintained their Israeli citizenship status

EU warns Israel, Palestinians of the cost of peace failure

MIFTAH: Anti- corruption youth strategy; young Palestinians put a corruption-free society as their priority "...This is their future, they say, because in the end, it is the youth that seeks a society free of corruption that will offer them the opportunity to obtain the right job and the right social status based on their own merits, not on grounds of nepotism and favoritism."   

Dr Zogby of AAIUSA: Myths That Are Impediments to Peace

The Elders’ vision: a world free from war and poverty

Analysis: Why Palestinian leadership is right to engage in peace talks

Ziad Asali of ATFP: Why Palestinians are puzzled by the 'Jewish state' demand... Netanyahu's demand for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state bizarrely inserts Palestinians into the 'Who is a Jew' debate

The 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.

The Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

 Live by the Golden Rule