Wednesday, July 2, 2014

My letter to the NYTimes RE news coverage & letters: The Killing of the Three Israeli Teenagers

THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE July Issue Where to Go?
RE NYTimes news coverage & letters: The Killing of the Three Israeli Teenagers
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/02/opinion/the-killing-of-the-three-israeli-teenagers.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

Dear Editor,

Living in a country where one is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, and being a big fan of the TV series Law & Order, I am not so eager to believe everything Israelis claim when it comes to anything to do with Palestinians.  Even if Israelis were not usurping Palestinian land and funding Jewish-only settlement projects all thorough the illegally occupied territories, stifling peace and Palestinians at every turn, I think caution and calm are called for, as is a more careful assessment of what is really going on:

June 23 2014, Nasser Lahham of Ma'an News wrote an excellent analysis: The implicit goals of renewed Israeli aggression : " The Israelis claim that the major operation is meant to achieve three goals: finding the abductees and abductors, weakening Hamas, and thwarting the Palestinian national consensus government.... I do not believe these announced Israeli goals, but instead think that the Netanyahu government has taken advantage of the disappearance of three teenage settlers in still-unclear circumstances to implement a major political, military, and media campaign whose targets cannot clearly be understood now."

Earlier in June UNESCO granted Palestine's ancient terraces in the agricultural community of Battir, endangered heritage status and
UNESCO announced support for Jordan and Palestine's proposal on Jerusalem

Also earlier in June This Week in Palestine's June issue focused on diplomacy and promoting Palestine:  This Week in Palestine promotes the Palestinian cultural image as an expression of embodied experience, a mode of communication, and a form for understanding our society, history, ecology, and ultimately ourselves... Taking a very close look at Palestinian public diplomacy and promoting Palestine.

On June 23 "‘This Week in Palestine’ magazine, in a press release, condemned the Israeli occupation forces breaking into the premises of a graphic design company and two nonpolitical and youth  magazines, calling on the U.S. and the UN to voice its opinion on these barbaric actions.  July's issue of This Week in Palestine was published despite the fact that their offices had been raided and that seven computers, including the servers were confiscated, severely hampering the companies' operating capacity.  July's issue is on Where to Go, and the message from the editor starts out ""Where to go?” These days, with roads peppered with checkpoints and illegal settlers attacking innocent passers-by, it is hard to be motivated to go anywhere, even to work. Those of us who travel on a daily basis to get to their primary place of employment are well aware that this is nothing new, and that a 45-minute drive from Ramallah to Abu Dis could take anywhere between 45 minutes and 3, even 4 hours, which includes strenuous detours."

Seems to me Israel wants to incite Palestine rage and incompetence, further disenfranchising as well as radicalizing Palestinians and their supporters in part so that reasonable Palestinian voices will not be heard, ensuring that America's Congress defunds efforts to build a Palestinian state to live in peace alongside Israel. 

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Click by Click Culpability ... a Growing Gardens for Palestine poem by Anne Selden Annab

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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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"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." American Task Force on Palestine's born in Jerusalem Dr. Ziad Asali: To honor a tragic history, we must work for peace 

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