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Saturday, April 26, 2014

My letter to CSM RE "Peace talks over, Israelis and Palestinians push on as solo acts"

Israelis and Palestinians wave flags as Israelis march celebrating Jerusalem Day outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's old city, May 8, 2013. Sebastian Scheiner/AP/File
RE: "Peace talks over, Israelis and Palestinians push on as solo acts"
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2014/0425/Peace-talks-over-Israelis-and-Palestinians-push-on-as-solo-acts

Dear Editor,

Israel has chosen to end the Peace Talks- but the Palestinians are still engaged, and Palestinians remain steadfast in wanting to free Palestine. Ma'an News sums it up well with their headline: Abbas: New govt recognizes Israel and rejects violence ... Abbas said the unity government would recognize Israel, renounce violence, reject terrorism, and recognize international commitments.

Israel has foolishly chosen to ignore international commitments. Israel has also foolishly chosen to violate international law and the Palestinians' basic human rights, making life miserable and difficult for the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land for the past sixty years.  And yet, there is still hope that a just and lasting peace can be built, ending the Israel-Palestine conflict with a fully secular two state solution as soon as possible- for everyone's sake. 

No country is totally perfect, no person is totally perfect, no peace will be totally perfect... but sovereign Palestinian statehood and a negotiated peace with Israel will be a huge and vast improvement over current situation.  A just and lasting peace built on a firm foundation of full respect for international law, universal human rights and the rule of fair and just laws is TOTALLY worth believing in and working towards.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
PBS: Six takes on the Palestinian unity deal

That is real cultural and educational leadership and integrity. It is principled, brave, intelligent and unflinching. It deserves only support, applause and emulation...

American Task Force on Palestine Springs Forward

Choosing Sides ... a poem  

To a State ...a poem

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."

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


Growing Gardens for Palestine: "And it's up to all of us together"... a Spring poem for Palestine & peace

Peace Building ... civic muscle
  • 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
 
"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

My letter to the NYTimes RE ROOM FOR DEBATE Can Hamas-Fatah Unity Lead to Mideast Peace?

ATFP Springs Forward, Asks for Your Support

RE ROOM FOR DEBATE Can Hamas-Fatah Unity Lead to Mideast Peace?

Dear NYTimes,

Regarding the recent Room for Debate, the one that came out the day before Obama declared that a  'Pause' in Israeli-Palestinian talks was needed... the April 24 2014 Room for Debate exploring the question Can Hamas-Fatah Unity Lead to Mideast Peace?.

Reading a barrage of headlines and opinion stories about Obama backing away yesterday I could not help but wonder if he too explored the recent New York Times Room for Debate, which leaves the impression that Palestinians do not support negotiations- or statehood.

You presented two pro-Israel and two pro-Palestine perspectives, giving an appearance of balance... but it really was not at all balanced.

On the pro-Israel side, in support of a country that is already fully sovereign and secure, one pro-Israel writer is a former Israel security chief. The other pro-Israel writer is a former terrorism finance analyst at the Treasury Department and author of "State of Failure: Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas and the Unmaking of the Palestinian State."

On the supposedly pro-Palestine side, both writers are Palestinian American activists featured and promoted by Mondoweiss blog whose editor, Adam Horowitz, most recently published  Five reasons the breakdown of peace talks is a good thing .  From what I can see Mondoweiss blog is an active online forum for anti-Israel Jewish Americans and their favorite Arab American and Palestinian writers. They are well meaning for sure, but they are not at all interested in promoting actual state building for Palestine. 

Both the Palestinian American writers ( Ali Abunimah  & Noura Erakat you featured in your Room for Debate are very likable people, and I am sure they have very good intentions, but their main interest is in advocating Boycott campaigns, not Palestinian statehood. Countering the "pro-Palestine" Palestinian American arguments advocating Boycott  you published a separate column by NYTimes columnist Roger Cohen: "Israel's Sustainable Success". 

Cohen, like  Ali Abunimah , promotes the idea that it is a myth that "the Palestinian Authority, as currently constituted, represents the Palestinian national movement."

Both the Palestinian American writers you featured in your Room for Debate are and have been very much against negotiations- and very much against a two state solution to end the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Your room for debate had no room for Palestinian American, or better yet actual Palestinian supporters of negotiations and a two state solution to end the Israel-Palestine conflict based on full respect for international law.

For instance a rather obvious choice regarding informed opinions on negotiations and statehood would be from the PLO Delegation to the United States:  Israel’s Provocative Land Confiscations Further Threaten Peace Prospects
Or the American Task Force on Palestine: Arab-Americans must embrace success over victimhood ... with the indubitable well worth quoting Dr. Hussein Ibish: Ruling on Jerusalem   & Dr. 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."

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
PBS: Six takes on the Palestinian unity deal

That is real cultural and educational leadership and integrity. It is principled, brave, intelligent and unflinching. It deserves only support, applause and emulation...

American Task Force on Palestine Springs Forward

Choosing Sides ... a poem  

To a State ...a poem

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."




Growing Gardens for Palestine: "And it's up to all of us together"... a Spring poem for Palestine & peace

Peace Building ... civic muscle
  • 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

"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

Friday, April 25, 2014

A Palestinian refugee family... 1948 Palestine/Israel-> Syria-> 2013 Lebanon, and in Lebanon they have had to move six times already

stateless: adjective
(of a person) not recognized as a citizen of any country.

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

What Was Lost

Lebanon

With deep sadness and despair, Amal tells us that she is a teacher of the Arabic language; she’s not used to begging and asking for help. But given her current circumstances, she is ready to work in any field, even cleaning houses so that she and her daughter can live in dignity.

That’s been a challenge ever since she fled the conflict in Syria in April 2013, seeking safety in the Palestine refugee camp of Beddawi in northern Lebanon. She’s had to move six times already, from living with her husband's relatives to moving in with a friend whose house was in the conflict zone between the Tripoli neighbourhoods of Jebel Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh. Afraid of the shelling and bombing, Amal and her 8-year-old daughter fled again. “We did not leave Syria to save our lives and come here and die without a reason”, Amal says, back in Beddawi.

The tone of her voice rises and tears glisten in her eyes as she describes her pain and suffering. “It seems as though torture and displacement from one house to another are our destiny. I have lost my so-called dignity”, she says.

Amal’s husband returned to Syria to provide for his family, but she says their condition in Lebanon is one of “agony, pain and suffering.” Housing and living expenses are high, and UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) rental subsidies and food assistance “are unfortunately not enough” to offset the costs. “We get US$ 100 in rental subsidies and US$ 30 per person in food assistance,” she explains. “These amounts helped us survive a whole month when we were in Syria before the conflict, but in Lebanon they are sadly not enough.”

In Beddawi, Amal and her daughter have settled with the seven members of a Syrian refugee family. They share a room that does not even meet the lowest standards. There is no roof to protect them from the rain, but sunlight does not come in. They lack covers and sheets, even furniture.  Nonetheless, Amal declares that she “contributes in paying the rent, and my share is LBP 275,000 (US$ 180).”

Amal emphasizes that she still hangs on because of her daughter. The 8-year-old is enrolled in the UNRWA Al-Mazar school in Beddawi. After a moment of silence, Amal concludes, “We lost everything – our house and our money – but education is still available. It is the saviour of my daughter’s future and the most important thing in life.”

> More on Palestine refugees

 Resolution 194
11th December 1948
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.”


Israeli extremism or Zionism’s true colours? by Rami G. Khouri

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]
THE JORDAN TIMES

Israeli extremism or Zionism’s true colours?
by Rami G. Khouri | Apr 24, 2014

This week, the Israeli transportation ministry announced that it would establish designated bus routes for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, allowing Jewish Israelis to travel on buses without Palestinians.

Some months ago, the Israeli government started discussing a bill in parliament that would identify Palestinian Christians with Israeli citizenship as “non-Arabs”.

These are some of the continuing actions by the state of Israel that cause more and more people around the world to roll their eyes in disbelief — for they see Israel slowly turning into an apartheid state that plays with the demography of its citizens and those under its occupation in order to enhance the well-being of the politically dominant Zionist and Jewish majority.

The Israeli government and others who support such moves offer various reasons, claiming that they are in the best interest of the affected minority.

The more logical conclusion that most people will reach, I suspect, is that five generations after its birth, in the late 1800s, modern political Zionism is showing its racist roots as it finds it increasingly difficult to keep working for its basic tenet of a Jewish-only state in a land that had been mostly owned and inhabited by Muslims and Christians for many centuries.

The consequence of trying to create a Jewish state in such an environment is that the millions of people who are not Jewish either have to be isolated and penned in restricted zones of residence, work and travel, according to apartheid rules, or else detached from their non-Jewish compatriots and enticed into the Zionist endeavour.

The latter is what happened to the Druze population in Israel, which Israel has tried with some success to separate from the rest of the Palestinian population that ended up as Israeli citizens after 1948.

The creation of bus routes for Palestinians alongside other routes that Jewish Israelis and settlers use will certainly strengthen criticisms of Israel and expand the circle of those who condemn it for conducting policies that are strongly reminiscent of the manner apartheid South Africa used to treat its black and coloured citizens.

The Israeli government argues that bus routes for Palestinians are for their own good and will ease congestion, while also lowering tensions between Palestinians and Israelis using the same buses. This sounds alarmingly like what used to be said about separate services for American or South African blacks half a century ago.

It was no accident that last year when some Palestinians in the West Bank wanted to challenge the practice of roads built in the occupied territories for use by Jewish Israelis only, they called themselves Palestinian “Freedom Riders” — reviving the name of those American whites and blacks in the 1940s, 50s and 60s who rode together on public buses that previously had refused to carry blacks.

The growing analogies between Zionism and apartheid understandably anger Israelis, who understand very well that heretofore ironclad support for Israel in many countries would weaken.

The growing criticism in this respect has started to spawn political responses by foreign actors.

Various governments, professional associations, churches, student groups and others started to apply sanctions, divestment or boycott measures to Israeli or international institutions that can be verified as benefiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.

This limited trend keeps growing and increasingly penetrates mainstream institutions, rather than remain a fringe movement of Palestinian activists and their politically marginal colleagues here and there.

Separating Palestinian Christians from other Palestinians and operating bus lines only for Arabs will make it easier for people around the world, including Jews who feel strongly about Judaism’s ethical core, to speak out clearly, forcefully and in public in criticism of such Israeli actions.

This will also spur greater examinations of Israeli behaviour in other fields.

Some people who have no knowledge of Israel-Palestine or interest in the matter may speak out against Israel, because they feel a powerful disgust and fear deep inside themselves when they see people classified, separated and treated differently on the basis of religion.

A white South African rabbi who recently spoke at a Palestinian Christian liberation theology conference I attended in the United States eloquently recounted the precise moment when his previously total support for Israel transformed into criticisms of it — it was when he saw “Jews-only” streets in occupied Hebron that were cleansed of Palestinian Arabs and patrolled by the Israeli army.
The sight reminded him of the horrors of his own South African apartheid years.

We will see more such reactions to these latest extreme Israeli moves in the months ahead.

Some people will conclude that Israel is veering off into strange and dangerous ways and others will suggest that it is merely showing the heretofore hidden true colours of Zionism, or of any other such exclusive religious-nationalism ideology.

Bird Watching and Ringing in 2014 This Week in Palestine

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

 Bird Watching and Ringing in 2014
By Simon Awad

Although Palestine has a relatively small land area in comparison to other countries in the world, its wide range of temperatures, rainfalls, and topographies - as well as its advantageous geographical location - gives it great significance when it comes to upholding a wide biodiversity. Palestine profits greatly from these conditions and can be considered somewhat of an environmental haven for many different species of birds.

What makes Palestine so important is the fact that it serves as the bottleneck for bird migration between Europe and Africa. Migratory birds use three main routes: the Central Mountain Range, the Coastal Plain, and the Jordan Rift Valley.

The Environmental Education Center (EEC/ELCJHL) operates two bird-monitoring and ringing stations in Palestine, represented by the Jordan Rift Valley and the Central Mountain Range. The first one is the Jericho Ringing Station (31o51’N, 35o27’E) located in the Jericho District, which is a part of the Jordan Rift Valley (north of the Dead Sea). It is characterised by its arid climate but can also be considered an oasis that provides natural springs and therefore easy access to surface water. Since Jericho is located in the Jordan Rift Valley, which is considered an important bird area according to BirdLife International, it is the second most important flyway in the world for migratory birds, especially for soaring birds. It is also the most important route of all the Europe-Africa flyways. The Talitha Kumi Monitoring and Ringing Station is situated in the western hills of the Bethlehem area and south-west of Jerusalem, between 31° 41’N and 35° 09’E, with an altitude ranging from 700 to 913 meters above sea level.

This year, with the Palestinian Quality Authority, the EEC is organising two weeks of bird watching and ringing. The first one will be held from March 31 to April 6, and the second during the fall. These two weeks will provide a chance for interested people to learn more about birds and their importance in our ecosystem. Our aim is to change the local view towards the unique environment of Palestine and its biodiversity.
 
Dark in colour with a distinct, light throat, the Common Swift (Apus Apus) has long, curved wings and a forked tail. Its high, screaming call can be quite powerful when in a large group. It is always hunting insects in the air, sometimes flapping very fast, other times gliding against the wind. Due to the large number of insects it can eat in a day, the Common Swift is a very useful alternative to using pesticides.


For more information on bird watching and ringing in 2014, please refer to the events section in this issue of This Week in Palestine. For further information, please write to us at eec@p-ol.com.

Simon Awad is executive director of the Environmental Education Center/ELCJHL. He is also an environmental activist and a wildlife conservationist. He has authored and co-authored several books regarding the environment and human rights issues. He can be reached at eec@p-ol.com or sija9@yahoo.com
.Article photos courtesy of EEC archive.

See PDF www.thisweekinpalestine.com/i192/pdfs/article/bird_watching.pdf

 

Thursday, April 24, 2014

My comment posted online RE PBS Newshour: Six takes on the Palestinian unity deal

RE Six takes on the Palestinian unity deal
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/will-palestinian-unity-deal-work/

Let's put "Six takes on the Palestinian unity deal" into perspective... Thirty years ago six opinions regarding anything to do with the Israel/Palestine conflict provided by our hobbled fourth estate would  not have been featuring a majority of Arabs and Arab Americans articulately and accurately explaining Palestinian perspectives.

Thirty years ago Israeli and ardently pro-Israel "experts" would have been doling out translated tidbits to an American audience captivated by Israeli spin. Today's American audience is not so captivated... and not so naive.

Today Palestinian perspectives have been reaching a much wider and better informed American audience thanks to the internet and the diplomatic efforts of some very wise and wonderfully articulate Arab and Arab American writers and thinkers... and poets and artists.

There is a whole world of Palestinian dignity and Palestinian stories and perspectives very much worth exploring...

Aaron David Miller claims that the unity deal is very popular on the Palestinian street, but Rashid Khalidi, professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University points out that "Hamas meanwhile has been squeezed by loss of support from Iran and the disappearance of the MB regime in Egypt last summer, as well as by the  widely perceived bankruptcy among Palestinian public opinion both of its
governance project in the Gaza Strip and of its strategy of  “resistance.” This has amounted to no more than pin-pricks to Israel, which produced devastating Israeli reprisals."

I think Rashid Khalidi's insight into how much support Hamas has from Palestinians is more helpful- and more hopeful.

And I like that Hussein Ibish, senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, also weighed in pointing out that "A great deal depends on many external factors"
 
 ***

My comment posted online RE USA Today: Palestinian move to unite with Hamas may do little

PLO condemns Israeli decision to end talks, UN envoy supports unity
 RE: Palestinian move to unite with Hamas may do little
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/04/23/israel-palestinian-hamas/8066211/


Annie Annab 

Thank heavens for the American Task Force on Palestine with their independent thinking- and their pro-America, pro-Palestine approach to peace in the Middle East!!!

For far too long extremists and hate mongers and naysayers on all sides of the conflict have dominated the conversation, sabotaging reasonable efforts to create a fully secular end to the Israel-Palestine conflict based on full respect for universal human rights and international law.

Ibish is quite correct to point out that: "The Palestinian people pay the price for everything that goes wrong," he said. "They're the most vulnerable, they are ultimately the ones who pay a price for everybody's games.""
 

My letter to the NYTimes RE Palestinian Rivals Announce Unity Pact, Drawing U.S. and Israeli Rebuke


RE: Palestinian Rivals Announce Unity Pact, Drawing U.S. and Israeli Rebuke
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/world/middleeast/palestinian-factions-announce-deal-on-unity-government.html?ref=world

Dear Editor,

“Mr. Netanyahu and his government were using Palestinian division as an excuse not to make peace,” said Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator. “Now they want to use Palestinian reconciliation as an excuse for the same purpose. This is utterly absurd.”

That quote should have been the opening line in your story regarding the unity pact between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Hamas, for it is true, as well as quite helpful in understanding the situation.  Fact is, once again Palestinians have been set up so that Israeli propagandists and politicians can convince themselves (as well as America's Congress) that Palestinians and Palestine must be defunded and destroyed.

Meanwhile sovereign Israel's generously subsidized Jewish settlement projects in the illegally occupied territories continue to aggressively gobble up Palestinian land, rights, and freedom.... Kerry's spokeswoman could have and should have said "Israeli government and religious leaders must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognition of the state of Palestine, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties.”

A justice based, Golden Rule thinking based peace that fully honors and implements international law and countless UN Resolutions including but not limited to UN Resolution 194 from 1948- the Palestinian refugees inalienable right to return to original homes and lands, would go a long way towards calming down religious extremism and hate mongers on all sides of the conflict. 

A fully secular two state end to the Israel-Palestine conflict, with a fully sovereign and free Palestine living in peace and security alongside an already sovereign and free Israel is the best way forward.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
American Task Force on Palestine Springs Forward

Choosing Sides ... a poem  

To a State ...a poem

Abbas: no contradiction between reconciliation and negotiations "Abbas said that there is no contradiction between reconciliation and negotiation "because we are committed to achieving a just and lasting peace based on the two-state solution and international resolutions."

"Unity of the land and people will empower and contribute to the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital," he added.

Abbas said that that overcoming the division between the rival Palestinian political parties will help the Palestinian negotiators reach the two-state solution, and he stressed that the move had both Arab and international support."

That is real cultural and educational leadership and integrity. It is principled, brave, intelligent and unflinching. It deserves only support, applause and emulation...

"Today diplomacy is deadlocked, yet the nature of politics is that tomorrow that reality may change. The Holocaust was not a political conflict: the very idea of a “Nazi-Jewish peace process” is absurd. Teaching the Holocaust to Palestinians is a way to ensure they do not go down the blind alley of believing their peace process with Israel is as hopeless as one would have been between Nazis and Jews." Why Palestinians Should Learn About the Holocaust  by MOHAMMED DAJANI DAOUDI and ROBERT SATLOFF in the New York Times March 29 2014

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."



Growing Gardens for Palestine: "And it's up to all of us together"... a Spring poem for Palestine & peace

ATFP Peace Building ... civic muscle
  • 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

"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

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

American Task Force on Palestine Springs Forward, Asks for Our Support


Dear ATFP Friend,

With your support, this spring ATFP launched its most intense advocacy campaign ever to pursue peace and American foreign policies that will promote a better future in Palestine and throughout the Middle East. In recent weeks, we have participated in over 22 public speaking events, 20 articles, 13 media interviews and mentions, and numerous on and off the record interviews and meetings with decision- and opinion-makers from around the world, among other major initiatives.

We rely on your help so that these efforts -- and a voice of reason, principled pragmatism, and enlightened self-interest -- can continue to have a real and effective champion in Washington, across our country and in the region


In an ideal world, this letter would be thanking you for supporting our efforts that contributed to ending the occupation and the conflict, and the realization of peace between the Palestinians and Israel. But, obviously, there's a long way to go, and much more work to be done, before that vital goal is accomplished. ATFP remains committed to our mission, and is constantly looking for ways to move forward.

These are dynamic times at ATFP, as we break ground in new directions while intensifying our ongoing activities. Our new initiatives focus mainly on youth as a major part of expanding the constituency for peace and Palestine.

Our new Youth Coordinator Tala Haikal published her first major commentary, in the Huffington Post, advocating more engagement by young people in the quest for peace. She is spearheading our efforts to reach out to students and other youth.

Interning at ATFP is special. Our interns aren't just given clerical duties, but are closely involved with all aspects of our activities. Over the years a clear pattern has developed in which our interns, including Tala, have been so inspired by, and successful in, their internships at ATFP that they have later joined us as full-time staff.

We work with our interns on developing major research projects and guiding them in writing and publishing their findings. Most of our interns now will leave ATFP with at least one significant publication added to their CV. This is truly extraordinary for Washington internships, and we are committed to ensuring our interns are afforded a unique learning and contributing experience. Our current batch of talented interns (Amber, Brendan, Colleen, and Zach) are helping us build a new generation committed to promoting peace based on an end to the occupation.


In recent weeks, ATFP staff have been reaching wider audiences than ever around the country and the world through speaking engagements, media appearances and a constant stream of commentary articles. Among the highlights was a major ATFP panel discussion at the National Press Club in Washington on “The Status and Future of the Muslim Brotherhood,” broadcast live to C-SPAN's almost 50 million weekly viewers

I was honored last month to once again address the annual United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine. Meanwhile, this spring Executive Director Ghaith Al-Omari and Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish between them have spoken at over 30 major public events, including campus lectures, conferences, high-profile debates and panel discussions.

In March and April, leading American and Arab journals published an unprecedented number of articles by, or quoting, ATFP staff including Foreign AffairsAl-Hayat, the Daily Beast, Ha’aretz, Al-Arabiya, The NationalAsharq Al-Awsat, Now Media, etc. With the help of our current and former interns, and your interaction, ATFP’s social media channels have been on fire. Click here to read a more detailed list of the whirlwind of ATFP advocacy efforts in this dynamic spring forward for the organization. 

As always, we welcome your feedback. We rely on your generous help, not just in the form of financial and moral support, but also through sustained engagement and the real conversation we have been able to establish with many of you. Everyone is welcome to join in, and our expanding outreach efforts are intended to expand this conversation's breath and depth, and to reach more people with ATFP's core message of peace in the American national interest.


Despite ATFP's genuine accomplishments and the intensification of our efforts this spring, clearly all of us who are committed to peace need to do more. The Task Force currently has the most able and cohesive team in its history. Over the past decade, we have developed an unprecedented degree of credibility. Our standing, and the quality and quantity of our contribution, are vastly disproportionate to our small staff and limited resources. 

The Task Force has never been needed more, or better able to serve its noble causes, than it is today. But we need you to help us immediately with a generous and tax-deductible contribution.

Sincerely,
Ziad J. Asali, MD
President
American Task Force on Palestine
 The founding mission of the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) was, and remains, to impact decision-making in Washington on the importance of a two-state solution to the American national interest. Having just completed its first decade of work advocating for peace and Palestine, and embarking on its second decade, ATFP is issuing the following detailed set of explanations of exactly what it is, what it does and why. They are also intended to highlight and explicate ATFP's accomplishments during its first decade, which have far exceeded its expectations at its founding 10 years ago..    A Decade of Achievement: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About ATFP




American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) congratulates Arab America for bringing to us the talent of “Arab Idol” Mohammed Assaf and Lebanese vocalist Ziad Khoury. Join ATFP in supporting the concert’s message of solidarity with the Palestinian people and their steadfastness and perseverance.

ATFP is happy to be a sponsor of the event featuring the Palestinian superstar, as he premieres his new CD. ATFP encourages everybody, especially those in the Washington, DC area, to buy tickets and attend.The concert will take place on Sunday, May 11, 2014, at 5pm at Waterford-Springfield Banquet Facility. We look forward to seeing you there!




recent columns
 Hussein Ibish says the US Supreme Court must uphold the Constitution, international law, and established US policy in its ruling on Jerusalem. (Now)

ATFP Pres. Ziad Asali says Arab men have to play a major role in the battle for women’s rights. (Huffington Post)


Please help sustain ATFP's work and independent decision-making by donating here.

Choosing Sides ... a poem

 
                   Choosing Sides

Not all know how to think things through,
how to watch, listen, learn... research...
the truth has many tellers.

Amateurs are pawns
played
gamed - inflated like balloons
child's play
to the propagandist.

Amateur escapist schemes
can be
 compellingly appealing.

Escapist schemes
are indubitably much easier,
more emotionally rewarding
than authentic diplomacy
and real life lived
with true integrity.

Dialogue is everywhere,
some but not all builds momentum,
creating support for statehood
and citizenship.

Dissent is natural,
as are conspiracy theories...
Some but not all build momentum for
an echo chamber cornucopia of voluntary
disenfranchisement...

Escapist schemes and distractions shaping tactics
to entice people who care about Palestine
to dive away-

divest from Palestine

divest from negotiations

divest from weighing in
for peace
in peace
of peace.

Not all know how to think things through,
how to watch, listen, learn... research...
the truth has many tellers.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

To a State ...a poem



                   To a State
                        
  A land
where olives, lemons, and oranges
shaped lives- lived in the children
growing strong and nimble knowing
summer sunshine, an orchard's shade
and the freedom to climb
following whim.

A land where the earth yields crops
archaeological treasures, wild flowers
stones reused, walls worshiped
tiles to footpaths
a huge mosaic of life.

A land with libraries
and museums.

A land held dear
by realists
and fanatics.

A land with many names
all at once, many names
and accents and embroideries

A land with hope
that peace will come
so that parents can parent
and children can play

in orchards again.