My letter to the NYTimes RE Whose Garbage Is This Anyway? by Thomas L. Friedman

Friends of Earth ME: Bringing together Jordanian, Palestinian, and Israeli environmentalists.

https://twitter.com/FoEMidEast

Website http://www.foeme.org

RE Whose Garbage Is This Anyway? by Thomas L. Friedman
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/opinion/sunday/friedman-whose-garbage-is-this-anyway.html?ref=international

Dear Editor,

Friends of the Earth Middle East, an umbrella organization representing leading environmental non-governmental organizations in the Middle East, has the right priorities- and the right approach... and Thomas L. Friedman is wise to suggest that Secretary of State John Kerry take Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on an eco-tour to see “the seeping time bomb that’s ticking underneath both of them.”

The complexities and numerous negative ramifications of the Israel-Palestine conflict will only get more complex and more ruinous with time, with dangerous consequences for the entire region.  

One can look for reasons to dismiss peace and Palestine, or one can choose to weigh in with hope.  

I'd rather weigh in with hope and look for educated, intelligent and diplomatic others who do so too. Negotiations right now based on full respect for international law and universal basic human rights need to be taken seriously. On all fronts there are articulate and compassionate people already doing all they can to help build a better way forward...

"If the current American-led peace initiative succeeds, it could be the “tipping point” for stability, peace and prosperity in the entire region." Ahmad Y. Majdoubeh Current peace efforts should not fail

In a recent op-ed The Road to the Arab Civil State Dr. Ziad Asali of the American Task Force on Palestine concludes that "These challenges are gigantic, but the crucial thing is to begin moving in the right direction. Once the process is underway, it is the responsibility of like-minded people to work together and develop the necessary compromises and consensus views that can begin to coalesce on the ground and online to develop a better and safer future for the region. The path will be long and difficult, but it is unavoidable and failure cannot be an option."

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Children of the occupation: growing up in Palestine

Israel demolished 27 Palestinian homes in Palestine's Jordan Valley in January... leaving 147 people homeless

ISRAELI DEMOLITIONS OF PALESTINIAN PROPERTY IN THE JORDAN VALLEY, 2013... UNITED NATIONS OCHA MAP

Free to Fund Palestine ... a Growing Gardens for Palestine poem by Anne Selden Annab

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

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.

EU warns Israel, Palestinians of the cost of peace failure

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