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Wednesday, October 21, 2015

My letter to the NYTimes RE "Mismanaging the Conflict in Jerusalem" by Nathan Thrall & East Jerusalem, Bubbling Over With Despair by Jodi Rudoren


RE: "Mismanaging the Conflict in Jerusalem" by Nathan Thrall
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/19/opinion/mismanaging-the-conflict-in-jerusalem.html?emc=edit_ee_20151019&nl=todaysheadlines-europe&nlid=22789767
& East Jerusalem, Bubbling Over With Despair by
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/world/middleeast/in-east-jerusalem-palestinians-are-seething-after-years-of-neglect.html?emc=edit_th_20151018&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=22789767&_r=0

Dear Editor,

Mismanaging- or managing the Israel-Palestine conflict means a continuation, rather than an end to the conflict.

So far, more than sixty years and counting, violence has not ever come close to ending the conflict. Quite the opposite. Both institutional bigotry by the sovereign nation Israel, as well as individual violence by Israelis and Palestinians has only exasperated suffering, despair, angst, insults, revenge and more violence that fuels escalating hostilities- and bigotry.

Violence does make for eye catching newspaper headlines and exciting stories easily spun by professional and amateur propagandists on all sides of the conflict. In the West we tend to hear Israeli perspectives (and excuses), whereas all through out the Middle East the Palestinian perspective is quite well known on a personal level as the longest running refugee crisis in the world today continues to push Palestinians into forced exile.

One can not know what the 'wrong side of history' is until long after a situation ends, but my best guess (very much influenced by the global information age) is that sovereign Israel in harshly oppressing, impoverishing, trapping, tormenting and displacing as well as killing the native non-Jewish men, women and children of historic Palestine is on the wrong side of history.

Israel wants Palestinians - and Americans- to make peace with the idea that religion should determine citizenship rights and freedoms.

I think Palestinians are right to refuse to make peace with that. 

A sovereign nation state in long term and flagrant violation of international law on multiple counts is on the wrong side of history. A recent UN Report points out an obvious place to start righting that wrong: "All settlement activity in occupied territory must cease "without preconditions" and Israel "must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlers", said the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)" http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/31/israel-must-withdraw-settlers-icc#_=_

Two fully sovereign, fully secular states (based on full respect for universal human rights and the rule of fair and just laws) is the best way to actually end the Israel-Palestine conflict ASAP- for everyone's sake.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Tit-for-tat violence is ‘new normal’ in occupied territory..."The emerging “new normal” – characterised on the Palestinian side by spontaneous acts of violence mainly by youths, and on the Israeli side by settler vigilantes and trigger-happy soldiers – is yet another reminder that the status quo is neither manageable nor containable." Hussein Ibish

The ugly order of free-for-all killings in Israel-Palestine By Rami G. Khouri in the Jordan Times

Ex-U.N. Official John Dugard: Israel’s Crimes are "Infinitely Worse" Than in Apartheid South Africa

Sam Bahour: Palestinians must not fall into this trap, again!  "To cover up its crimes, Israel needs to feed all the western stereotypes of Palestinians as violent and subhuman rather than hungry for freedom and equal rights."

Artists got ‘Homeland is racist’ Arabic graffiti into the latest episode of ‘Homeland’


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

Unclench your fist... Live by the Golden Rule...

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Words to Honor: The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 1.
    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.

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