Tuesday, October 21, 2014

My letter to the NYTimes RE The Reign of ‘Terror’ By Tomis Kapitan

Nearly a third of Gazans had been displaced by the conflict between Israel and Hamas militants. Secretary of State John Kerry and other diplomats stressed the need for a broad peace deal. Credit Mohammed Salem/Reuters
NYTimes: Conference Pledges $5.4 Billion to Rebuild Gaza Strip
RE: The Reign of ‘Terror’ By Tomis Kapitan
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/the-reign-of-terror/?_php=true&_type=blogs&ref=opinion&_r=0

Dear Editor,

We no longer live in a world of limited communication. Multiple sources are shaping a huge marketplace of ideas. The complexity of modern conflict can be traced- documented- researched- analyzed by multiple professionals and amateurs in multiple public and private forums. Not everyone watches Fox News. Not everyone subscribes to the NYTimes. And not everyone one believes in conspiracy theories...  Tomis Kapitan is wrong about "popular conceptions about contemporary political conflicts, making it difficult to speak intelligently about their real sources"... AND he does Palestine (and peace) no favors by asserting that Hamas and Hezbollah tactics do not qualify as terrorism.

HAMAS & Hezbollah are not as obviously bad as ISIL/The Islamic State/Da'esh, but they certainly have not helped free Palestine. Their rhetoric and their actions are geared to exasperate conflict and sabotage negotiations for a just and lasting peace between Israel and Palestine based on international law and full respect for universal human rights. 
 
Arming religion with lethal weaponry is a bad idea. I am not a fan of Israeli policy towards the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land, but that is no reason to excuse Islamist militants who are making the plight of the Palestinians much worse: Hamas uses violence to goad Israel into pulverizing Gaza because the more Palestinians suffer the more Israel can be blamed and hated as heart breaking photos of Palestinian children in the rubble proliferate on the internet, rousing rage internationally (and recruitment for ISIS) among those who still care about Palestine. Extremists and anti-Israel activists thrive but a wider pro-Palestine audience dwindles because Hamas and their apologists convince reasonable people to veer away from supporting Palestine and state building efforts.

Meanwhile, ISIS/ISIL/The Islamic State/Da'esh is rising up, reaching towards Palestine. The Islamic State's plundering impoverishes locals, while conveniently killing any and all who object. Singing happy songs about peace to heavily armed genocidal religious militants who enslave captured woman and girls to use as sex slaves and/or domestic servants is not going to magically inspire ISIS/ISIL/The Islamic State/Da'esh to abandon their wicked ways.  Islamists are the epitome of skewed reason and perpetual warfare.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
" ISIL is clearly exceptionally unpopular outside of the areas it controls. That’s a good thing. On the other hand, because it poses as a group that brings order to chaos, and because most people prefer any form of law and order to mere anarchy, ISIL has managed to win hearts and minds in some parts of Syria and Iraq where it has falsely posed as a champion of local Sunni populations and a generalised Islamic universalist and apocalyptic agenda." Hussein Ibish

Kerry: 'Imperative' to resume Israel-Palestinian talks: "There wasn't a leader I met with in the region who didn't raise with me spontaneously the need to try to get peace between Israel and the Palestinians, because it was a cause of recruitment and of street anger and agitation,"


U.N. Security Council urges stronger campaign against [Da'esh] Islamic State

“It’s always easy to get money for F-16s, but not so much for food and cash,” says Andrew Harper, head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Jordan, which says it may have to cut cash assistance programs for 20,000 families in November and December due to lack of funding.

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"We see martyrs, children as young as 7, being portrayed as resistance fighters after being slaughtered by Israeli forces. Although we would like to convince ourselves that they have died for “the cause”, they have in fact died because of the cause." Mariam Barg

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Tala Haikal: "It may not be possible to immediately free all the kidnapped girls and women due to the scope of the conflict with ISIS and the geographical dispersal of the captives in various locations. Some of these women and girls can be freed only once ISIS is destroyed."

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ATFP... American Task Force on Palestine

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UNRWA photo and film archive for Palestine refugees

About UNWRA: ’The Long Journey of Palestine Refugee Women’ candidly portrays the lives and experiences of Palestine refugee women, this collection is a testament not only to their own strength and dignity, but also to the richness and resilience of their community.

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

1948

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"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin?

1940s: The United Nations General Assembly adopts resolution 194 (III), resolving that “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 equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.”

America/Israel/Palestine 1776
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The Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you


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