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| Palestinian Heritage |
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/jimmy-carter-ukraine-israel-addressing-injustices-faced-women-around-world/
Dear PBS Newshour,
I think Jimmy Carter has good intentions, and he certainly was been brave in writing his book Palestine, Peace, not Apartheid... BUT, in advocating peace and a negotiated settlement to once and for all end the Israel Palestine conflict, I think he is very very wrong to advise people that the Palestinian refugees' best alternative "is not to let them come back into Israel, but into the West Bank and Gaza"
Forced transfer of the native non-Jewish men, women and children of historic Palestine created a massive refugee crisis and has been exasperating bigotry and religious extremism on both sides ever since... The best alternative for everyone, including the Palestinian refugees, is for all the world to recognize the vital importance of fair and just laws fully respecting universal human rights, including but not limited to the refugees inalienable right to return to original homes and lands.
"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/
)
Tax payers here and there should not be forced to fund and empower Israel's Jewish scholars and schemes. Religion should be a personal private choice, not a state subsidized mandate.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES
“Only just peace has a chance to stick and last for generations to come...” Professor Asad Al-Ghalith, Palestinian refugee
Noah Habeeb: Critics of Students for Justice in Palestine ignore crucial facts
Parenting peace & justice
PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said on Tuesday that the United States must stand up for Palestinian human rights and hold Israel accountable
"Palestine transformed into the Land of Israel" Jeff Halper ...Israel's "Judaization" of Jerusalem and the West Bank continues apace
Arab summit refuses to recognize Israel as 'Jewish state'
Advancing Peace between Israelis and Palestinians: Obstacles and Opportunities Statement of ATFP Pres. Ziad Asali at the UN Conference on the Question of Palestine in Ecuador "...encouraging in word and deed the parties to do what they need to in order to make serious progress towards a peace agreement."
Choices Made, Choices Denied ... the gist of Filippo Grandi's most recent and last official speech: "The alleged status quo is in fact constantly spiraling downwards, and every day that passes erodes the norms and boundaries of international and human rights law that are needed to support a just solution of the conflict." Annie's note: I blogged this very important speech by Filippo Grandi, UNRWA Commissioner-General, by selecting main crucial points that are direct sequential quotes from the text of his lecture at Birzeit University, interspersing his words with illustrations that might help an outsider better understand the situation... and the very real plight of the Palestinians.
Hussein Ibish: Dramatizing the negotiations The new play Camp David illustrates the necessity and difficulty of peace, and how little has changed in 35 years
Heart songs ... from Palestine & beyond
Arab League summit considers withdrawing Arab Peace Initiative
The "Return Unifies Us" day of action includes events organized by Palestinian refugees in a number of countries around the world, especially within the West Bank, Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon.
Israeli architecture association faces ban from international forum: Royal Institute of British Architects proposes boycott of Israeli Association of United Architects' over Palestinian settlements
U.N. rights investigator accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing'
Palestine Images.... flowering almond
Ashrawi: “There is a Global Rule of Law, and Israel Must be Subject to it”
In response to the concerns raised by Palestinian churches in Palestine and Israel, the World Council of Churches expresses its own grave concern about the law passed by the Israeli Knesset on 24 February 2014, which would define the status of Palestinian Arab Christians in the State of Israel against their own will.
"I believe that the root of all injustice and oppression has always been the same – the dehumanization of the other. It is the obsession with Us and Them that can lead us, regardless of racial or religious identity, into the abyss." Roger Waters: Why I must speak out on Israel, Palestine and BDS
Maen Rashid Areikat: Obama is right to criticize Israeli settlements
Celebrities press UN on Palestinian refugees in Syria
Old Man of Jerusalem... with an AP archive link to a wonderful old (& very brief) video made in 1957 of an amazing Palestinian, Mohammad Khalil Abulhawa, born in 1821
Outreach: American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) "Our Israeli and Palestinian partners in the Middle East as well as our partners in the U.S. believe as we do that a lasting peace must begin with a commitment to shared security for all."
"The best and most effective way to reduce the tensions and tragedies such as the murder of the Jordanian judge, is to end the occupation and totally remove the unwanted Israeli occupiers from Palestinian territories." Daoud Kuttab Analysis: Allenby killing highlights need for serious change
Netanyahu's demand for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state bizarrely inserts Palestinians into the 'Who is a Jew' debate: Ziad Asali of the American Task Force on Palestine
Ibish: How many times must the Palestinians recognize Israel?
Video of the Late Amb. Sam Lewis, a Friend of both Palestine and Israel
American Task Force on Palestine... A Decade of Achievement: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About ATFP
U.N. Denies Altering Image of Palestinian Refugees in Damascus By the NYTimes' Robert Mackey
Visualizing Palestine: 20 Years of Talks Keeping Palestine Occupied
A UN Committee Expresses Concern over Recent Developments in Occupied Jerusalem... The committee said that Israel also continues to construct settlements in East Jerusalem, in violation of international law and in defiance of the international community's repeated calls for ending such illegal acts.
Plea to the Pope... Ash Wednesday Letter To Pope Francis: Speak Out Against Targeting of Palestinian Children
Palestinian Refugees (1948-NOW) refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.
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.
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
"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
More than sixty years ago, back in 1949, the Application of Israel for admission to membership in the United Nations (A/818) clearly pointed out that Israel was directly contravening "the previous recommendations of the United Nations in at least three important respects: in its attitude on the problem of Arab refugees, on the delimitation of its territorial boundaries, and on the question of Jerusalem." http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/85255e950050831085255e95004fa9c3/1db943e43c280a26052565fa004d8174?OpenDocument
Do
Palestinians have a right to return to the places from which
they or their ancestors were displaced? UNHCR’s
support for the right of return is based on the idea that the
right of return is a recognized customary norm of International
law which is included in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Fourth Geneva
Convention.
What message do we send?
Reflections By An ARAB JEW by Ella Habiba Shohat "When my grandmother first encountered Israeli society in the '50s, she was convinced that the people who looked, spoke and ate so differently--the European Jews--were actually European Christians. Jewishness for her generation was inextricably associated with Middle Easterness. My grandmother, who still lives in Israel and still communicates largely in Arabic, had to be taught to speak of "us" as Jews and "them" as Arabs. For Middle Easterners, the operating distinction had always been "Muslim," "Jew," and "Christian," not Arab versus Jew. The assumption was that "Arabness" referred to a common shared culture and language, albeit with religious differences."
UNITED NATIONS: Give Peace a Chance... The year 2014 has been proclaimed the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People... “The objective of the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is to promote solidarity with the Palestinian people as a central theme, contributing to international awareness of (a) core themes regarding the question of Palestine, as prioritized by the Committee, (b) obstacles to the ongoing peace process, particularly those requiring urgent action such as settlements, Jerusalem, the blockade of Gaza and the humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territory and; (c) mobilization of global action towards the achievement of a comprehensive, just and lasting solution of the question of Palestine in accordance with international law and the relevant resolutions of the United Nations.”
History of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, was the result of the experience of the Second World War. With the end of that war, and the creation of the United Nations, the international community vowed never again to allow atrocities like those of that conflict happen again. World leaders decided to complement the UN Charter with a road map to guarantee the rights of every individual everywhere. The document they considered, and which would later become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was taken up at the first session of the General Assembly in 1946. " http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/history.shtml
U.N. Resolution 194 from 1948 Resolves that 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;
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.
Do Palestinians have a right to
return to the places from which they or their ancestors were
displaced?
Palestinian refugees’ right to return to the homes from which they were displaced is well established in International law. The first source of support for Palestinian refugees’ claims to a right of return is UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (III) Of December 1948, paragraph 11, in which the UN General Assembly,
Palestinian refugees’ right to return to the homes from which they were displaced is well established in International law. The first source of support for Palestinian refugees’ claims to a right of return is UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (III) Of December 1948, paragraph 11, in which the UN General Assembly,
“Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors 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;Since 1949, this resolution together with UNSC Res. 242 and 338 have been regularly reaffirmed by the UN General Assembly.
Instructs the Conciliation Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation…”
The rights outlined in this resolution are firmly grounded in international humanitarian, human rights, and refugee law. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Executive Conclusion No. 40, “…the basic rights of persons to return voluntarily to their country of origin is reaffirmed and it is urged that international cooperation be aimed at achieving this solution.”[xi] UNHCR’s support for the right of return is based on the idea that the right of return is a recognized customary norm of International law which is included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Fourth Geneva Convention.[xii]
- 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
Live by the Golden Rule
***
"The only way to honor our tragic histories is to create a future for our children free of man-made tragedy. This means making peace fully, completely and without reservation, between Israel and Palestine." ATFP's Ziad Asali: To honor a tragic history, we must work for peace
"The only way to honor our tragic histories is to create a future for our children free of man-made tragedy. This means making peace fully, completely and without reservation, between Israel and Palestine." ATFP's Ziad Asali: To honor a tragic history, we must work for peace
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