USA TEACH PEACE: "I'm neither Israeli or Palestinian. I am just a military veteran fed up with $10.5 million dollars of taxpayer money each day going to Israel to fund an apartheid regime."

 

"I'm neither Israeli or Palestinian. I am just a military veteran fed up with $10.5 million dollars of taxpayer money each day going to Israel to fund an apartheid regime. Further, I am disturbed by the fact that nearly every death of a US service member during the last 30 years is usually tied to an Israeli agenda (Google: The Greater Israel Project) and nothing to do with our national security and those deaths fly in the face of the oath we took when we swore in." 
Jeff Bellamar 
on facebook

THANK YOU Jeff Bellamar!!!!!!

My letter to the NYTimes RE Let Israel Fight ISIS by Shmuel Rosner

RE Let Israel Fight ISIS by Shmuel Rosner
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/11/opinion/let-israel-fight-isis.html?ref=international&_r=0

Dear Editor,

ISIS/Daesh sees quite clearly how successful modern Israel has been as a Jews-preferred nation state that actively oppresses, impoverishes and displaces the native non-Jewish Palestinians.  

Israel could indeed not only help fight, but actually help end ISIS/Daesh's reign of terror- but not by deploying more violence, bullets, bombs and escalating bigotry. 

"The Jewish State" VS  "The Islamic State" both armed with lethal weaponry and hate filled rhetoric (plus plenty of graphic videos depicting the very real plight and suffering of the Palestinians) would only make a very bad situation much much worse, everywhere.

Religion should be a personal private matter, not a state funded enterprise with freedom, jobs, housing, special privileges and positive PR reserved for those deemed to be the right religion. Respecting the spirit and the letter of international law and universal human rights, including but not limited to the refugees inalienable right to return to original homes and lands, would send a powerfully compelling message about real justice and peace.

Building peace and universal prosperity by establishing and sustaining the rule of fair and just laws will always an ongoing process, but it is the right road to be on, for everyone's sake.  Israel needs to evacuate all of its illegal occupation of the West Bank and its crippling stranglehold on Gaza immediately OR give full Israeli citizenship with equal rights and freedoms to all Palestinians everywhere ASAP.  

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
UN: Despite Human Rights Day, 'Many Challenges Remain'

Weeks of violence dampen Christmas spirit at Bethlehem hotel

Crucifixion: Nathalie Handal on being Palestinian, writing and enduring love

What is the Israel/Palestine conflict? ...Imagine a SEGREGATED road system where the color of your license plate dictates which roads you can drive on.

Strangling Jerusalem: "In reality, the roots of the violence in Jerusalem are deeper and far more complex. For decades now, Israel has been strangling East Jerusalem denying its Palestinian inhabitants freedom, opportunity, dignity, and hope, with devastating impact. Before Israel closed Jerusalem off from the rest of the West Bank in 1994, the city had served as the hub of Palestinian life. Not only was the city important for its religious role, all of the major Palestinian economic, social, cultural, educational, medical, and service institutions were located in the city. " James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute & author of 'Arab Voices'

"Israel's unmistakable message is: "You are defeated and subjugated, now accept your lot." Palestinian political leaders are all seen as essentially saying: "We are your champions, but we have absolutely no idea about how to advance your interests, promote your cause or gain your independence." The West, and the international community generally, seems to be saying: "We'll get back to you as soon as Israel seems to be interested in peace again, now in the meanwhile here are some kind words and limited aid." " IBISH: The Tragedy of the Palestinians

***

"What is so special about the Journal of Palestine Studies is our commitment to academically rigorous content that is also accessible to non-academics, to anyone interested in Palestine. I want to make sure Palestinian non-academics who crave this information and history can enjoy the Journal as much as a scholar in Middle East studies." Nehad Khader, managing editor of The Journal of Palestine Studies

***

A Curious Land: Stories from Home... "A superb collection and a perfect selection for public libraries"

US State Department: "And as you know, we do not consider settlements to be part of Israel. We do not view labeling the origin of products as being from the settlements as a boycott of Israel."

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.

To promote the values of dialogue, tolerance and mutual respect, among religions and cultures... Let’s teach our youth to build, not destroy

"We must protect our young from the vicious ISIS campaign that preys on innocent minds promising them paradise and a better life. We need to provide our young with the proper religious education and awareness to renounce violence and extremism and to promote the values of dialogue, tolerance and mutual respect, among religions and cultures." Khaled Almaeena

   Let’s teach our youth to build, not destroy

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2014/10/06/Let-s-teach-our-youth-to-build-not-to-destroy.html

[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]

  Anne Selden Annab retweeted

Ziad Asali @ZiadAsali  ·  24h 24 hours ago

Let’s teach our youth to build, not destroy - Al Arabiya News http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2014/10/06/Let-s-teach-our-youth-to-build-not-to-destroy.html#.VDKk9jsT-ac.twitter … @KhaledAlmaeena

*** 

IMHO

The Marketplace of Ideas is (and always will be) an ongoing dialogue.

Listen, really listen and learn to look for the best, the most honest and honorable and intelligent. 

Empower decency, dignity, diplomacy, and civilization itself at every opportunity. 

 
START in small ways every day- find & promote good ideas and good role models. 

Take the time to click forward or "like" or retweet or recommend, highlighting the best and brightest and most helpful essays and comments.

Accept responsibility for your own part in making things better or worse. 

AND ALWAYS

REMEMBER

The Golden Rule

The Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

&

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights because...

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.

 

"Read and remember, take a minute to recall the smell of your grandmother’s za’atar and the taste of balady labaneh, and imagine what would happen if we were to lose it all…" This Week in Palestine

Theme: Rural Palestine
Cover photo: Suleiman Mansour

Message from the Editor

Ya yalla hal rabee’, nohroth hal sahel, wallah bilzare’ wallah, bnihmy ardina al hurra… The lyrics from a folkloric song, recomposed and distributed for Sareyyet Ramallah’s lastest dabkeh production, embody the essence of Palestine’s “rurality.” “Come, my people, let us farm the plain; with farming we protect our free land.” The idea that farming is a form of resistance is and should remain at the centre of Palestinian nonviolent resistance. Palestinians identify themselves with the land. We are first and foremost a rural agricultural society. Our modern urban centres have sprouted from villages and farming communities. We as a people are not urban, but rather descendants of farming families who are deeply tied to their land. And our Nakba is not simply the story of becoming refugees but rather the loss of our farming villages. Our producing farmers have become landless refugees.

It is not a coincidence that we chose Rural Palestine for April’s theme just as khobbaizeh, loof, akkoub, loze akhdar, and karaz akhdar (mallow, black lily, gundelia, green almonds, and green cherries) are in season - rural Palestinian delicacies that have many of us travel hours back to our home villages to taste a small dish. If this issue is supposed to accomplish anything at all, it should serve as a reminder that we are a hop, skip, and a jump away from rural Palestine no matter where we live. It should also put front and centre the true danger that we face as a nation today: an endangered farming craft, not only because of land confiscation but also through the seeping of Israeli produce into our markets and the savage industrialisation of rural fertile farming areas; the latter being more dangerous than Israeli occupation itself. If we lose our rural identity, we lose Palestine, plain and simple.

Read and remember, take a minute to recall the smell of your grandmother’s za’atar and the taste of balady labaneh, and imagine what would happen if we were to lose it all…

You will notice as you leaf through this issue that our print edition has a new look.  Again this is no coincidence that we chose to unveil our new look as winter dissipates and spring blossoms.  We are very excited about the new print edition, and hope that you will see it as the natural bloom and evolution of our previous look.  We look forward to hearing your feedback.

Riyam Kafri-AbuLaban
Content Editor
 

[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]

April 2014

• Being Rural
  By Raed Saadeh

One of the unforgettable memories that seems to accompany my few morning moments most days since I was a child is the smell of taboun bread stuffed with spinach saturating the air as it mixed with the first dawn light outside my grandparents’ house. I would watch my grandmother’s hands blend into the darkness of the taboun oven as she fiddled with the bread back and forth before laying it to rest on the stone bed in the bottom of the oven. My grandmother did this sacredly every day as part of the breakfast preparation ceremony.

I guess I developed a connection to the countryside of Palestine guided by my grandmother’s passion for the fields, the fig trees, the apricots, and the sage or mint herbs that we picked to prepare tea. We would wait for the rest of the family to get up to prepare breakfast under the grape pergola. My grandmother made everything herself: the jam, the labaneh balls dipped in oil, the olives, the pickles, and the zeit and zaatar. Her kindness taught me to care for the little things around me; the sound of the birds, the small vegetable garden, the chickens running around in the coop, and the olive terraces leading down into the valley through a set of intertwined narrow paths where shade is abundant during hot summer days. My grandmother’s generosity was an enlightenment and a stone-engraved lesson in rural hospitality and graciousness.

What does rural Palestine offer beyond this affability? A diverse landscape, a commanding series of olive-tree-covered mountains, and a historically immersed serene Palestinian village are some of the first thoughts that might come to mind. In my involvement with organisations such as the Rozana Association for Rural Tourism Development working from Birzeit, NEPTO (the Network of Experiential Palestinian Tourism Organizations), Masar Ibrahim, and others, I have been active in promoting community-based rural tourism throughout the West Bank. All our work is based on a simple platform idea that aims to identify the resources and capacities that exist in rural areas and that are able to add value to and benefit the local community. Needless to say, resources in the rural areas are abundant and include elements of architecture, handcrafts, environment, nature, food, culture, and heritage. Consolidated together these elements not only form attractive packages for visitors and guests, they also contribute to the building efforts of a differentiated Palestinian identity. I used to think that people who are as connected to the land as my grandparents could convert everything they touch into gold, given that they were able to create many things seemingly from nothing. The lands in rural Palestine can provide for the well being of our people. They are our food basket and our heritage. Our villages are immersed in history and they tell the story of an ancient people whose roots reach beyond time and civilisation. 

 

The question remains: How do we move forward beyond this potential? All organisations that are involved in community-based tourism supported by a strategic cooperation within the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities have been converging towards a holistic vision that reflects the shape of the Palestinian rural-tourism product. The vision is based on a network of thematic trails and paths and a number of centres for local culture, all of which are linked together and developed in harmony and synchronisation, building and sharing synergies, resources, and capacities. One of the main pillars is a long trail that runs through the West Bank from Rummaneh in the north to Hebron and its vicinity in the south. This trail is locally called Masar Ibrahim and is essentially a cultural trail that zigzags between villages, fostering the Palestinian culture of hospitality, friendship, and kindness. National Geographic recently ranked this trail as the number one new trail in the world. It forms a spine as it crosses the entire West Bank. Masar Ibrahim intersects with the Nativity Trail in several areas as it connects between Bethlehem and Nazareth. Both trails also link with a network of Sufi trails, led by the Rozana Association. The Sufi trails model is based on a network of hub villages that operate as centres from which a number of trails originate. These are also cultural trails that attempt to promote local resources, history, heritage, landscape, environment, and an opportunity to meet and benefit the local rural communities...READ MORE

[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]

 

• Rural Palestine Land-Based Identification
  By Muna Dajani

 
• Artas, Hilma Granqvist, and the Lettuce Festival Portrait of a Palestinian Village
  By Ali Qleibo

 
• Rural Palestine The Unrealised Potential
  By Khaldun Bshara

 
• Green Palestine for Rural Development A Popular Action and a Cry for Freedom and Independence
  By Basem Masry

 
• “Ethno-Botanics” The Evidence of an Unperfected Crime
  By Vivien Sansour

 
• Palestinian Resistance and Israel’s Apartheid Wall and Settlements
  By Jamal Jumaa

• Artist of the Month
  Mohammad el-Shanti

 
• Book of the Month
  Mapping of the Arab Left: Contemporary Leftist Politics in the Arab East

 
• Exhibition Review
  Khaled Hourani

 
• Personality of the Month
  Abu Jamal Steadfast

 
• Where to Go ?
  Holy Week in Jerusalem

 [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]

Re: Proposed Amendments to Cut Palestinian Funding Discarded

 Hi Anne

Thanks for your message. We too are happy our efforts made a difference. To your specific suggestion, we do have a standing action for people of faith to contact their congresspeople to express their concerns for peace in the Middle East.

Feel free to forward the link to others you know. Thanks for your support!

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5575/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=11644

Dear Rev. Doris Warrell,

I am delighted to hear that all our letters helped persuade our Senate not to add the proposed anti- Palestine amendments this week... but I am worried about next week, next month, next year and the ongoing Zionist pressure to convince our elected leaders to undermine state building efforts for Palestine.

Keeping the focus on support for two state solution to actually end the Israel-Palestine conflict will become increasingly hard as intellectuals, arm chair experts, activists and followers fed up with the lack of peace and progress can not help but be lured into insisting that one state is the only option, which in turn convinces people not to invest in Palestine.

One state with Israel already so firmly established and staunchly defended by a large population of loyal citizens will not bring peace, justice, or progress to the native non-Jewish men, women and children of Palestine. Palestinians will not be automatically granted respect and a chance to be true equals. Even if the state of Israel shifts its official investments away from Jewish projects, worldwide Zionist charities and private money will be able to continue countless Jews-preferred projects though out the land.... Religious extremism on both sides will thrive rather than the rule of fair and just laws. 

Born in Jerusalem, Palestinian American Ziad Asali of the America Task Force on Palestine wisely points out that " 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."

Justice can prevail, and peace IS possible... but it won't happen by magic. Palestine needs our support now more than ever. 

I think you should keep a general alert up so that people can easily write their elected leaders on the topic.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab



On 12/5/12 2:12 PM, Churches for Middle East Peace wrote:

Dear Anne Selden, You Said "No" to Palestinian Aid Cuts. And They Listened. Yesterday the Senate decided not to add three proposed amendments to a defense spending bill that would have reduced or eliminated funding for the Palestinian Authority including funding for hospitals, schools, water, and electricity. This was a response to UN action last Thursday to upgrade the PA's status in the General Assembly.  Thank you for acting so quickly to make your voice heard. The funding in question included $370 million for budget support for the Palestinian Authority. This funding is essential to humanitarian programs such as the Augusta Victoria Hospital (a project of Lutheran World Federation) in East Jerusalem. In addtion, $70 million would have been cut in aid for security programs that have been essential to enabling the PA to police the West Bank and cooperate with Israel to reduce terrror attacks. Absent this funding, conditions could have quickly deteriorate and further complicated the Obama Administration's efforts to bring the two parties together.  Your efforts prove again that working together, justice can prevail, and peace IS possible!! Rev. Doris Warrell Field Director

Formed in 1984, Churches for Middle East Peace is a coalition of 24 national Church denominations and organizations, including Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. It works to encourage U.S. government policies that actively promote a just, lasting and comprehensive resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ensuring security, human rights and religious freedom for all people of the region. info@cmep.org | 202-543-1222 110 Maryland Avenue NE | Suite 311 | Washington, DC 20002

Israel vs. No. 2 Pencils... Palestinians have suffered from a profound lack of sovereignty for decades now

"The Israeli policy of bulldozing and destroying Palestinian schools continues unabated. Israeli settlers in the West Bank harass and violently abuse Palestinian schoolchildren—and the hundreds of humiliating checkpoints, Israeli settler-only roads, and the apartheid wall significantly impede freedom of movement for Palestinians and the right to access school. Additionally, Palestinian academic institutions such as Birzeit University find it tremendously difficult to secure basic resources and supplies for their students such as books from abroad. Yet Palestinians are an incredibly resilient people. Despite the assault we face on our right to education and on our livelihoods in general..."  Lena K. Awwad and SHATHA I. HUSSEIN in the Harvard Crimson....

Israel vs. No. 2 Pencils

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/10/16/israel-sat-oped/

Ambassadorship is no longer reserved for elites. In this era of digital interconnectedness, we are all called upon to use free speech to foster peace, not violence. To honor Ambassador Stevens, let us uphold that responsibility in our online – and offline – interactions.

After anti-Islam video and Muslim riots, we are all ambassadors

Libyans hold placards as they march on Sept. 14 to express their sympathy for US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and other Americans killed in the Sept. 11 deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Op-ed contributor Kate Otto says: 'These citizens also revealed a secret to high-quality ambassadorship: using online spaces to communicate the same sincerity as if one were speaking face-to-face.' Their actions 'still have the potential to ripple out and promote more peaceful days ahead.'

Mohammad Hannon/AP

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2012/0918/After-anti-Islam-video-and-Muslim-riots-we-are-all-ambassadors
By Kate Otto

 September 18, 2012 

Cambridge, Mass.

 

What does it mean to be an ambassador?

In the wake of the murder of Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Benghazi, Libya, and continued riots and attacks on US embassies worldwide, our traditional understanding of this ancient term takes on new meaning.

“Ambassador” is a title that signifies responsibility for relationship management between two foreign powers, and Amb. Stevens exemplified core virtues of respect and cultural understanding throughout his career. His years as a Peace Corps volunteer exposed him to the challenges everyday people face, and his fluency in Arabic and French was more than many individuals in international public service can claim, as many never learn the language of the communities in which they serve.

And yet as exemplary as his leadership was, his best efforts were thwarted by a different kind of diplomat: a 21st century sort, a kind whose power has mirrored the rise (and near ubiquity) of global digital communications – an “everyday” ambassador.

We live in a world of instantaneous connectivity, in which our capacity to share opinions with global neighbors is nearly limitless, and the likelihood of governments blocking access to such content becomes less with every fallen dictator. We thus become ambassadors with every new piece of content we upload, taking international relationship management into our own hands. If we fail to take this responsibility seriously, we risk dire consequences....READ MORE

[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]

My letter to the IHT/NYTimes RE Seven Lean Years of Peacemaking by Daniel Levy

RE:  Seven Lean Years of Peacemaking by Daniel Levy
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/seven-lean-years-of-peacemaking.html?_r=1&ref=global

Dear Editor,

Demographics are a research tool, a simple tally momentarily totaling up various groupings of people revealing the inherent diversity of every human community.  Tragically, in Israel demographics have been misused and abused to fuel paranoid fantasies, creating cruel policies shaping institutionalized bigotry, injustice, home demolitions and an ongoing refugee crisis as well as religious extremism as more and more Palestinians are pushed into poverty, forced exile and despair.

Israel has not been seeking peace with Palestine- not in the last seven years, and not for many decades. What we have right now, with Israeli investors and tax payers (here and there) funding jobs, housing, positive PR and favors for Jewish citizens while impoverishing, disenfranchising, displacing, demonzing, and destroying native non-Jewish men, women and children already is the one-state "solution".

Universal rights, democracy and freedom are best served by a fully secular two state solution to once and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict for everyone's sake, regardless of anyone's supposed race or religion.... One sovereign secular Israel living in peace alongside and with one sovereign secular Palestine.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES

In a joint declaration, the conference of religious leaders stated: “While state systems may be different, equal citizenship, the rule of law and protection of freedoms are the basis of a strong and vibrant civil society.” Hard lessons in liberty for the Middle East

Tariq Alhomayed says it is political buffoonery for Arabs to allow Hamas and Hezbollah to thrive while the PA is on the brink of bankruptcy.

For Palestinian Kids in Hebron, Little Joy on Back-to-School Day

Phil Primack: On a trip to the West Bank, a vision of potential for peace... how agreement on water can lead to at least a trickle of hope in a region long parched for it.

My letter to Obama: Ending the Israel-Palestine conflict

Analysts say crime rates to rise amid economic hardship

Ibish: States define themselves without demanding a recognition of their “character” from their neighbors as a condition for peaceful relations

Hanan Ashrawi: Israel's Cynical Definition of 'Refugee'

Is peace a “vital” American interest?

No Wall Against Identity Warfare

9-4-2012: Israeli vandals attack West Bank monastery

Political Realities

Israel's Ongoing Policy of Destroying Homes & Displacing Palestinians

The Truth is Stranger than Fiction in Palestine

Breaking the Silence: More than 30 former Israeli soldiers have disclosed their experiences of the treatment of Palestinian children during military operations and arrests, pointing to a pattern of abuse.

Ending the Israel-Palestine conflict: "It is the view of the United Nations that there is a responsibility not only on the parties themselves but on all member states to consider their action and their language in light of the goal,"

We Palestinian are locked in a fierce struggle for our independence....to make the matter straight and simple this is not a clash of religions...

Violent attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property, mosques and farmland had increased by 150% over the past year.

"If you have to modify it, it isn't really a democracy."

Demographics should be a research tool, not a national policy shaping institutionalized bigotry and injustice.

********

The Office of International Religious Freedom ( http://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/ )  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

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

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."Eleanor Roosevelt

The Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

2012 Stream ATFP's Middle East News: World Press Round up and stay up to date with the latest news concerning the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

My letter to the NYTimes RE Palestinian Candor, or a Slip? & Israel’s Fading Democracy by Avraham Burg

A section of Israel’s barrier between the Shuafat refugee camp and the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Zeev. (Oded Balilty/Associated Press)

RE: Palestinian Candor, or a Slip? & Israel’s Fading Democracy by Avraham Burg
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/opinion/palestinian-candor-or-a-slip.html?_r=1&ref=global
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/opinion/sunday/israels-fading-democracy.html?ref=global

Dear Editor,

In the New York Times today (8-5-2012) a Zionist letter writer cynically misconstrues Maen Rashid Areikat's comment that "No human being would accept remaining under a discriminatory regime that denies him basic rights. Sixty-four years of a relentless struggle for freedom by Palestinians is a testament to that." 

Meanwhile the Israeli author & former speaker of the Knesset Avraham Burg has a provocative column "Israel’s Fading Democracy" asserting that "Israel arose as a secular, social democratic country inspired by Western European democracies." ... Israel can argue with Israel about Israel for eons- romanticizing the past in many different ways, while decrying the future as if the fully sovereign and heavily armed nation state Israel is about to disappear.  But it is a shell game as long as that country called Israel is persecuting, oppressing and displacing the native non-Jewish men, women and children of historic Palestine. 

A fully secular two state solution to once and for all end the Israel Palestine conflict won't stop Zionist letter writers from misconstruing Palestinian peace efforts, but it will at least help stop Israelis from usurping even more Palestinian land and rights- and it will help curb the zealots and religious 'scholars' and crooks and cynics who thrive on the continuation of the conflict.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Songs and Pictures from Palestine: Thyme & a poem

Tales from the West Bank: Palestinian Raja Shehadeh chronicles life during occupation

Palestinian villages face demolition to create IDF training ground

Violent attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property, mosques and farmland had increased by 150% over the past year.

Palestinian officials point out that US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is undermining peace... "What this man [Mitt Romney] is doing here is just promoting extremism, violence and hatred"

'Separate and Unequal' is Unacceptable to Palestinians

"If you have to modify it, it isn't really a democracy."

Romney Versus the World Bank

World Bank says Palestinian economy unsustainable noting that "Israeli restrictions remain the biggest impediment to investing, creating high uncertainty and risk"

Do you support as a solution to this conflict the emergence of a fully sovereign state of Palestine on the territory occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem? Yes or no?

Demographics should be a research tool, not a national policy shaping institutionalized bigotry and injustice.

********

The Office of International Religious Freedom ( http://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/ )  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

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

Refugees and the Right of Return: "Palestinian refugees must be given the option to exercise their right of return (as well as receive compensation for their losses arising from their dispossession and displacement) though refugees may prefer other options such as: (i) resettlement in third countries, (ii) resettlement in a newly independent Palestine (even though they originate from that part of Palestine which became Israel) or (iii) normalization of their legal status in the host country where they currently reside. What is important is that individual refugees decide for themselves which option they prefer - a decision must not be imposed upon them."

"It is in Israel's vital interest to come to a complete resolution of the conflict between it and the Palestinian people sooner rather than later, relieving the weight of this tragic conflict from both of our peoples' shoulders. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to the world." Maen Rashid Areikat: The Time for a Palestinian State Is Now

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."Eleanor Roosevelt

2012 Stream ATFP's Middle East News: World Press Round up and stay up to date with the latest news concerning the Isareli-Palestinian issue.

Beyond 'Free Palestine' by Julie Holm for MIFTAH

[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]

http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=24734&CategoryId=13

Beyond 'Free Palestine'

Date posted: 25/04/2012

By: Julie Holm for MIFTAH

Anyone walking in the streets of Ramallah, Bethlehem or Hebron lately might have noticed that some of the bare walls of the cities are no longer boring and grey. Last week one of the most famous Danish street artists HuskMitNavn (RememberMyName) visited Palestine and decorated its walls together with young Palestinian artists. I watched, from the cool shades on the other side of the street as one of HuskMitNavn’s pieces came into being. It started out as what looked mostly like a blue splash of paint but ended up being two people on rollerblades and skateboard, with a message to keep moving.

Palestinians are not unfamiliar with street art. The wall cutting through the West Bank carries appeals for freedom and messages of solidarity from around the world. Internationally renowned street artists like Banksy, Blu and many others have called for the freedom of Palestine through their art on the wall that is the very symbol of Israel’s apartheid regime.

The artists HuskMitNavn met in Palestine were young and still trying to find their language as graffiti artists. Something that made an impression on him was how absolutely every piece that prides the walls of Palestine has a political message. He hopes that he, in interacting with the young Palestinian artists could inspire them to develop this message through their art and plant the seeds to a wider use of the visual arts. In his own words he tried to give them more letters in the alphabet to work with.

Before HuskMitNavn travelled to the West Bank, he did not know a lot about the occupation and oppression going on here. His pieces portray many of the stereotypical roles we imagine Palestinians to have: In Hebron he painted a yellow flying carpet carrying a man with a large, black, mustache and a steering wheel in his hands – a taxi driver. A Palestinian artist HuskMitNavn worked with in Hebron wrote ‘iftah tariq’ – “open the road’ or ‘give way’ around the painting. Just like that, the taxi driver became a political symbol, calling to remove the checkpoints and open the Israeli-controlled roads for everyone to use.

In the still growing Palestinian street art culture a new generation is taking over. They try to push the messages further than just ‘Free Palestine’ because, as one of the artists in HuskMitNavn’s project says; “no one disagrees with that here”. They challenge the Palestinian society from within and take up taboos such as gender, religion and corruption. Further, they try to reach out and communicate directly with people in their everyday life, therefore they paint on the walls in the city and they stay away from the political figures that usually are the preferred motifs.

Street art has the potential of reaching everyone who passes it. Upon till now, the most popular message has been the one most important to every Palestinian; that of freedom, but there are many other aspects that need to be addressed for Palestine to be free. The social and political conditions inside Palestine needs to be put into question which could be achieved by the new generation of Palestinian street artists if they manage to go beyond the clichés. Lately Palestinian street art has transcended this message and takes on issues surrounding the call for a free Palestine. The pieces decorating the walls of Palestine now remind its people of the importance of their existence, to keep moving and not to give up.

Julie Holm is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org. 

 

Thank Secretary Clinton for Standing Up for Palestinian Aid... supporting work for peace and justice in the Holy Land.

Last week Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton informed Congress that aid for Palestinians that had been already appropriated would be sent despite a hold placed on the aid by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Thank Secretary Clinton for standing up for vulnerable Palestinian civilians by sending her a message below.

Let Secretary Clinton know you support her courageous release of $147 million to support Palestinian development.

On April 11^th the State Department sent a letter to members of Congress notifying them that it will go ahead with the $147 million aid package to the Palestinian Authority for fiscal year 2011, despite a congressional hold placed by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Projects to be funded include rebuilding Christian sites such as Burqeen Church, a Christian sanctuary dating to the early Byzantine era near Jenin, and a traditional site of the Nativity story’s shepherd's field near Bethlehem, as well as addressing humanitarian concerns through projects supporting water programs, health, food aid, and support for USAID programming.  One non-governmental organization (NGO) that will likely receive funding is the Princess Basma Centre, a national referral, rehabilitation and educational network that ensures continued support for children with special needs and their families, in East Jerusalem. 

Let Secretary Clinton know you support her action and vision to help Palestinians relieve suffering and develop their communities.

Dear Madam Secretary,

As a supporter of Churches for Middle East Peace, I would like to thank you for your courageous decision this month to release $147 million in U.S. assistance funds that had been withheld by Congress for projects to assist Palestinian development.  Funding for the Palestinian’s civil and security needs will lay the groundwork for a viable Palestinian state living in peace alongside a secure Israel and will help ensure a stable future for both Palestinians and Israelis.

Funding humanitarian and economic development projects strengthens the capacity to govern, provides hope, and undercuts the despair that can contribute to violence. With your leadership the U.S. will remain an example for other nations to continue supporting work for peace and justice in the Holy Land.

Formed in 1984, Churches for Middle East Peace is a coalition of 24 national Church denominations and organizations, including Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. It works to encourage U.S. government policies that actively promote a just, lasting and comprehensive resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ensuring security, human rights and religious freedom for all people of the region.

Aref Assaf: Gov. Chris Christie should not have skipped Palestine on Israel trip

Published: Monday, April 16, 2012 

[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]

http://blog.nj.com/dr_aref_assaf/2012/04/gov_chris_christie_should_not_have_skipped_palestine_on_israel_trip.html

Gov. Chris Christie and First Lady Mary Pat Christie look out over the city of Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives during their trip to Israel on Monday, April 2. (Governor's Office/Tim Larsen)

On March 29, just before Gov. Chris Christie’s trip to Israel, I tweeted him an invitation to visit my mother in the Palestinian refugee camp, Kalandia, which lies at the now-infamous checkpoint that separates Israel from the occupied West Bank.

I sent it after learning Christie had no plans to visit the Palestinian territories or to meet with average Palestinians or Palestinian officials. My 87-year-old mother has lived in her wretched refugee camp since she and my late father were forcibly expelled from their native village, Allar, destroyed in 1948 by Jewish terrorist groups.

The governor didn’t accept my invitation.

For a governor who said he will "tread lightly" and wanted the visit to be educational, ignoring the Palestinian elephant in the room sent a contradictory message. Many speculated his trip was intended to raise his stature as he contemplates national office. If this were true, Christie broke a precedent set by many dignitaries before him, who did visit the Palestinian territories.

Christie himself denied this explanation, giving instead three Jersey-centered reasons for the trip.
First, he noted, Israel is a significant, long-term trading partner for New Jersey. His office signaled this commercial relationship as a key reason for his visit. Yet 2010 U.S. Census data shows Israel ranks a middling 14 among the top 25 countries that trade with our state, based on 2011 dollar value. If trade was a motivation, he should have visited our biggest trading partner: Canada.

Second, the governor pointed out New Jersey has a sizable Jewish population, the second largest in the nation. And he is correct. Yet, if population size were all that mattered, the governor would have been better off visiting England, Ireland or Italy. Moreover, there are more than twice as many Muslims and Arabs in New Jersey than Jews, according to data from the Association of Religious Data Archives.

Third, the governor indicated New Jersey and Israel have much in common, including their size. In fact, Israel is one of the few countries in the world that has never defined its boundaries. Other nations, including the United States, do not recognize Israel’s legal right to Jerusalem and the West Bank, yet Israel has — against international will — annexed a significant part of Arab Jerusalem. In the rest of the West Bank, Israel has built hundreds of illegal settlements for Jews only, on expropriated Arab lands.

Israel is an occupying country. Since 1967, it has controlled the lives of millions of Palestinians under an oppressive military regime whose legal system is not designed to procure justice, but to serve the interests of the occupying forces. Unlike New Jersey, Israel is not a country for all its citizens...READ MORE

 

“If you build something in the country, you feel that this country is yours. We have to build a strong society from the inside...

(Samuel Sockol/WASHINGTON POST) - A 22-year-old university student, Hurriya Ziada is active in protests against Israeli occupation in the West Bank.

"One of the most useful lessons learned, Ziada noted, was that participation can be enlisted by focusing on pressing social and economic problems that affect people’s daily lives.

In the West Bank, Ziada and others have led street-cleaning projects, helped build mud houses for people whose homes were razed by the Israelis and run activities for children in areas plagued by violence. The community work, Ziada said, was meant to encourage a sense of civic involvement and break patterns of passivity and resignation.

“When you clean a street, you feel related to the street because you cleaned it yourself,” she said. “If you build something in the country, you feel that this country is yours. We have to build a strong society from the inside, and that will help us move to the next step.”"

[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]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/west-bank-womans-struggle-for-change/2011/10/07/gIQAdlFPlM_story.html

Young Palestinian activists represent a potential new political and social force