My letter to the Guardian RE Out of the carnage of Gaza a new spirit: we are all Palestinians:The world has witnessed the daily brutality of Israel’s collective punishment and our cause is now stronger

 Recent news: International donors are wary of funding another rebuilding effort in Gaza.

RE:  Out of the carnage of Gaza a new spirit: we are all Palestinians:The world has witnessed the daily brutality of Israel’s collective punishment and our cause is now stronger
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/12/gaza-palestinians-world-israel-collective-punishment

Dear Editor,

Nothing good comes from the carnage of Gaza- there is no victory for Palestine or for Israel, nor is there a new spirit.  There is only an ongoing horrifically tragic Israel-Palestine conflict with extremists and hate mongers on both sides being convinced that violence trumps diplomacy. 

Palestine's cause appears stronger because of the internet empowering the global information age and echo chamber rage- and Islamists, whereas Israel's case is growing stronger because of the internet empowering the global information age and adroit mainstream pro-Israel efforts to convince the world that Israel is a better investment than Palestine.  

What happens next is what matter most, but nothing will change as long as Palestinians and their supporters are lured away from putting serious energy into state building, diplomacy, golden rule thinking and careful negotiations for Palestinian statehood based on full respect for international law and universal human rights, including but not limited to the Palestinian refugees inalienable right to return to original homes and lands to live in peace. Stateless Palestinian refugees who would rather not become Israeli need to be free to find citizenship and job opportunities elsewhere.  Many already have, for instance one of my favorite poets, Naomi Shihab Nye, elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2009, is a well known and highly respected Palestinian American. Her father, Palestinian-born Texas journalist Aziz Shihab, was a Palestinian refugee who, in addition to raising an immensely talented poet, helped America realize that there was such a thing as a Palestinian with his writings such as the books "A Taste of Palestine: Menus & Memories" & "Does the Land Remember Me? A Memoir of Palestine".

Another admirable role model is Dean Obeidallah, an immensely talented American comedian of Palestinian-Italian descent. Islamists are not admirable role models, nor are their passionately misguided defenders and supporters.  As the brilliant Hussein Ibish points out in his recent essay ISIS and its Success Narrative Must be Broken: "Challenging the Islamic State’s marketing is crucial. The group has a clear, simple and readily digestible ideological message that taps into its target audience’s deepest fantasies with alarming precision."

A fully secular two state solution to end the Israel-Palestine conflict once and for ALL is a reasonable and realistic, as well as a compassionate and necessary goal.  Fact is, as the American Task Force on Palestine's Dr. Ziad Asali  wisely points out in his essay 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."

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Washington Post headlines Hamas could've chosen peace but made Gaza suffer

New York Times headlines President Obama Talks to Thomas L. Friedman About Iraq, Putin and Israel

USAToday headlines Islamic extremism demands U.S. action: #tellusatoday

LATimes headlines Prepare for a long war against the Islamic State

CSM headlines State sovereignty, up for grabs  By encroaching on others' territories, China, Russia, and Islamic terrorist armies challenge the norms of state sovereignty. How should the world respond?

Zogby:  What we found was that there has been a continued erosion in the favorable ratings Americans have of both Arabs and Muslims, posing a threat to the civil rights and political inclusion of both Arab Americans and American Muslims.

"This is a time of national crisis, I will be honest with you, that does require commitment to non-violence of the kind that would give everyone the time needed to rebuild, to unify, but at the same time to agree with Israel and the world on a date certain for ending the occupation." Palestine's Salam Fayyad

In Growing Gardens for Palestine... A poem Dedicated to Abu Yusuf

ATFP Calls for De-Escalation between Israel and the Palestinians - See more at: http://www.americantaskforce.org/in_media/pr/2014/07/08/1404792000#sthash.591SYEYV.dpuf

ATFP Calls for De-Escalation between Israel and the Palestinians - See more at: http://www.americantaskforce.org/in_media/pr/2014/07/08/1404792000#sthash.591SYEYV.dpuf

ATFP Calls for De-Escalation between Israel and the Palestinians - See more at: http://www.americantaskforce.org/in_media/pr/2014/07/08/1404792000#sthash.591SYEYV.dpuf

ATFP Calls for De-Escalation between Israel and the Palestinians - See more at: http://www.americantaskforce.org/in_media/pr/2014/07/08/1404792000#sthash.591SYEYV.dpuf

ATFP Calls for De-Escalation between Israel and the Palestinians

UPDATE: American Task Force on Palestine Advocacy Efforts During the Ongoing Tragic Hostilities : As tragic and appalling hostilities erupted again between Israelis and Palestinians, the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) engaged in intensive advocacy efforts to call for an immediate cease-fire to save lives and spare the innocent. On July 8th, ATFP issued a formal press release calling for de-escalation between Israel and the Palestinians...READ MORE

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 STAY CONNECTED... 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

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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.

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America/Israel/Palestine 1776

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