Dear America- Freedom, justice and peace: These ideals should be our New Year's resolution- for everyone's sake.

Jimmy Carter, along with his beloved wife Rosalynn, worked tirelessly to build homes for the poor with Habitat for Humanity

Dear America (letter just sent to my elected officials),

As we mourn our 39th President Jimmy Carter's death, as well as two horrific acts of violence in New Orleans and in front of the Trump Tower in Los Vegas, please let us step towards building peace, not more and more violence and war.

We call it TERRORISM when violence is done by an individual or small group, and WAR when it is done by a Sovereign Nation.   We arm the Sovereign Nation and excuse it when uses violence and state sponsored terrorism against individuals and vulnerable families, which in turn sends the message worldwide that violence against civilians is OK by US.

Having and beating slaves was legal in America 170 years ago.  Just because something is technically legal, does not make it right or good.

I object to our tax money being used to fund and empower the weapons industry and Israel, a militarily powerful and affluent sovereign nation that has been building Apartheid in Palestine for generations now.

Israel's genocidal policies towards Palestinian men, women and children have to be stopped... Just because you have your head in the sand does not mean all the world is clueless about Israel's escalating crimes against humanity.  Meanwhile China is rising in power and influence while America is falling.

After the horrors of the NAZI Holocaust our First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt helped shape the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights "Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world"  https://www.ohchr.org/en/human-rights/universal-declaration/translations/english

Freedom, justice and peace:  These ideals should be our New Year's resolution- for everyone's sake. 

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

Notes  https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

From Panama to Palestine, Jimmy Carter refused to let his moral voice be silenced: Carter signed treaties to hand over the Panama Canal and criticized Israel, drawing respect and fury past his one term - Chris McGreal 30 Dec 2024 in The Guardian

If Americans Knew: Warsaw 1944, Gaza 2024

Requiem for a Refugee Camp- In October, 2023, I could not imagine anything worse than the destruction in Jabalia refugee camp. But what is happening now outstrips anything I saw there. By Mosab Abu Toha December 31, 2024 in The New Yorker

FROM & for PALESTINE: Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer... Emmanuel, you who were born in a stable and made your home among the oppressed. May your light pierce the darkness of violence and despair. Strengthen us to be bearers of that light, standing in solidarity with all who yearn for liberation and hope.

Feast of the Holy Innocents: Christian children in Bethlehem lay olivewood hearts, each representing a child killed in the Holy Land since October 7

The United Nations & The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Baby Jesus born in Bethehem Palestine

We will always carry their memory in all we do...

Maha Hussaini: Not only are Palestinians continuing to study under Israel's genocide, but they also hold Palestinian cultural activities in schools in displacement camps. Good morning from central #Gaza, where I met these beautiful girls wearing their Palestinian thobe on their way to school 12/16/2024

MIT Science for Genocide

Christmas IS Palestine .... where it all began

One the most iconic images of the Holy Land is the fish and loaves mosaic in the Church of the Multiplication at Tabgha on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Tolerance Is a Wasteland: Palestine and the Culture of Denial by Saree Makdisi author of Palestine Inside Out

Always, no matter what.... Even Wars Have Rules

"If the U.S. had held Israel accountable for the killing of other Americans like Rachel Corrie or Shireen Abu Akleh, perhaps Israeli soldiers would not feel so emboldened to kill Americans, and other civilians, today." Hamad Ali in The Hill 12/14/24

Dear America- Israel and its propagandists claim it is all about self-defense, but Israel is and has been the aggressor and the rule breaker.

Dear Elected Officials- Stop poisoning the land, and undermining international law.

My Letters https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/letters

 

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

From Panama to Palestine, Jimmy Carter refused to let his moral voice be silenced: Carter signed treaties to hand over the Panama Canal and criticized Israel, drawing respect and fury past his one term - Chris McGreal 30 Dec 2024 in The Guardian

Jimmy Carter writes in a guest book at the end of his visit to the Cuban Jewish community centre in Havana, Cuba, on 28 March 2011. Photograph: Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images

From Panama to Palestine, Jimmy Carter refused to let his moral voice be silenced

Carter "....warned that big money was now so pervasive in American politics that the US was “no longer a functioning democracy” because of “unlimited political bribery”"

But nothing ran Carter into so much trouble as his willingness to call it as he saw it on Israel.   In 2006, he drew a torrent of criticism and abuse with a book critical of Israel’s failure to make peace and end the occupation. The title – Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid – lit the fuse by suggesting Israel pursues a racist policy against the Palestinians...."   

".... Carter infuriated his critics further by standing his ground and ramping up the criticism. He said that balanced debate about US policy on Israel is “practically non-existent” in Congress or in presidential races, and accused America’s political leadership of being “in the pocket” of the Jewish state.

“We cannot be peacemakers if American government leaders are seen as knee-jerk supporters of every action or policy of whatever Israeli government happens to be in power at the moment. That is the essential fact that must be faced,” he wrote."

...READ IN FULL IN CONTEXT  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/30/jimmy-carter-foreign-policy-

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

 

Following his #1 New York Times bestseller, Our Endangered Values, the former president, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, offers an assessment of what must be done to bring permanent peace to Israel with dignity and justice to Palestine.  Palestine Peace Not Apartheid was published in 2007 

 

Human Rights Day:

Realising the healthy international relations can be created only among populations made up of individuals who themselves are healthy and enjoy a measure a independence, the United Nations elaborated a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on December 10, 1948. - Albert Einstein

 

We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind, that is the approval by the General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. - Eleanor Roosevelt

 

America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America. - Jimmy Carter

 

Norman Rockwell's celebration of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

My letter to PBS Newshour RE Jimmy Carter on Ukraine, Israel and addressing injustices faced by women around the world

Palestinian Heritage

RE PBS Newshour: Jimmy Carter on Ukraine, Israel and addressing injustices faced by women around the world
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/jimmy-carter-ukraine-israel-addressing-injustices-faced-women-around-world/

Dear PBS Newshour,

I think Jimmy Carter has good intentions, and he certainly was been brave in writing his book Palestine, Peace, not Apartheid... BUT, in advocating peace and a negotiated settlement to once and for all end the Israel Palestine conflict, I think he is very very wrong to advise people that the Palestinian refugees' best alternative "is not to let them come back into Israel, but into the West Bank and Gaza"

Forced transfer of the native non-Jewish men, women and children of historic Palestine created a massive refugee crisis and has been exasperating bigotry and religious extremism on both sides ever since...  The best alternative for everyone, including the Palestinian refugees, is for all the world to recognize the vital importance of fair and just laws fully respecting universal human rights, including but not limited to the refugees inalienable right to return to original homes and lands.
 

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

Tax payers here and there should not be forced to fund and empower Israel's Jewish scholars and schemes.  Religion should be a personal private choice, not a state subsidized mandate. 

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
“Only just peace has a chance to stick and last for generations to come...” Professor Asad Al-Ghalith, Palestinian refugee

Noah Habeeb: Critics of Students for Justice in Palestine ignore crucial facts

Parenting peace & justice

PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said on Tuesday that the United States must stand up for Palestinian human rights and hold Israel accountable

"Palestine transformed into the Land of Israel" Jeff Halper ...Israel's "Judaization" of Jerusalem and the West Bank continues apace

Arab summit refuses to recognize Israel as 'Jewish state'

Advancing Peace between Israelis and Palestinians: Obstacles and Opportunities Statement of ATFP Pres. Ziad Asali at the UN Conference on the Question of Palestine in Ecuador "...encouraging in word and deed the parties to do what they need to in order to make serious progress towards a peace agreement."

Choices Made, Choices Denied ... the gist of Filippo Grandi's most recent and last official speech: "The alleged status quo is in fact constantly spiraling downwards, and every day that passes erodes the norms and boundaries of international and human rights law that are needed to support a just solution of the conflict."  Annie's note: I blogged this very important speech by Filippo Grandi, UNRWA Commissioner-General, by selecting main crucial points that are direct sequential quotes from the text of his lecture at Birzeit University, interspersing his words with illustrations that might help an outsider better understand the situation... and the very real plight of the Palestinians.

Hussein Ibish: Dramatizing the negotiations The new play Camp David illustrates the necessity and difficulty of peace, and how little has changed in 35 years

Heart songs ... from Palestine & beyond

Arab League summit considers withdrawing Arab Peace Initiative

The "Return Unifies Us" day of action includes events organized by Palestinian refugees in a number of countries around the world, especially within the West Bank, Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon.

Israeli architecture association faces ban from international forum: Royal Institute of British Architects proposes boycott of Israeli Association of United Architects' over Palestinian settlements

U.N. rights investigator accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing'

Palestine Images.... flowering almond

Ashrawi: “There is a Global Rule of Law, and Israel Must be Subject to it”

In response to the concerns raised by Palestinian churches in Palestine and Israel, the World Council of Churches expresses its own grave concern about the law passed by the Israeli Knesset on 24 February 2014, which would define the status of Palestinian Arab Christians in the State of Israel against their own will.

"I believe that the root of all injustice and oppression has always been the same – the dehumanization of the other. It is the obsession with Us and Them that can lead us, regardless of racial or religious identity, into the abyss." Roger Waters: Why I must speak out on Israel, Palestine and BDS

Maen Rashid Areikat: Obama is right to criticize Israeli settlements

Celebrities press UN on Palestinian refugees in Syria

Old Man of Jerusalem... with an AP archive link to a wonderful old (& very brief) video made in 1957 of an amazing Palestinian, Mohammad Khalil Abulhawa, born in 1821

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."

"The best and most effective way to reduce the tensions and tragedies such as the murder of the Jordanian judge, is to end the occupation and totally remove the unwanted Israeli occupiers from Palestinian territories." Daoud Kuttab Analysis: Allenby killing highlights need for serious change

Netanyahu's demand for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state bizarrely inserts Palestinians into the 'Who is a Jew' debate: Ziad Asali of the American Task Force on Palestine

Ibish: How many times must the Palestinians recognize Israel?  

Video of the Late Amb. Sam Lewis, a Friend of both Palestine and Israel

American Task Force on Palestine... A Decade of Achievement: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About ATFP

U.N. Denies Altering Image of Palestinian Refugees in Damascus By the NYTimes' Robert Mackey

Visualizing Palestine: 20 Years of Talks Keeping Palestine Occupied

A UN Committee Expresses Concern over Recent Developments in Occupied Jerusalem... The committee said that Israel also continues to construct settlements in East Jerusalem, in violation of international law and in defiance of the international community's repeated calls for ending such illegal acts.

Plea to the Pope... Ash Wednesday Letter To Pope Francis: Speak Out Against Targeting of Palestinian Children

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
We call for a just solution to our refugee issue in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194. Our position on refugees is also included and supported in the Arab Peace Initiative (API), which calls for “a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194.” A just solution to the refugee issue must address two aspects: the right of return and reparations.

Refugees, Borders & Jerusalem
"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

More than sixty years ago, back in 1949, the Application of Israel for admission to membership in the United Nations (A/818) clearly pointed out that Israel was directly contravening "the previous recommendations of the United Nations in at least three important respects: in its attitude on the problem of Arab refugees, on the delimitation of its territorial boundaries, and on the question of Jerusalem." http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/85255e950050831085255e95004fa9c3/1db943e43c280a26052565fa004d8174?OpenDocument 

Do Palestinians have a right to return to the places from which they or their ancestors were displaced? UNHCR’s support for the right of return is based on the idea that the right of return is a recognized customary norm of International law which is included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

It’s important for people to know how far the Palestinians have come to put an end to the conflict with Israel.

The Palestinian Refugee's Right of Return: No issue is more emblematic of the 20th century Palestinian experience than the plight of the approximately seven million Palestinian refugees.

What message do we send?

Reflections By An ARAB JEW by Ella Habiba Shohat "When my grandmother first encountered Israeli society in the '50s, she was convinced that the people who looked, spoke and ate so differently--the European Jews--were actually European Christians. Jewishness for her generation was inextricably associated with Middle Easterness. My grandmother, who still lives in Israel and still communicates largely in Arabic, had to be taught to speak of "us" as Jews and "them" as Arabs. For Middle Easterners, the operating distinction had always been "Muslim," "Jew," and "Christian," not Arab versus Jew. The assumption was that "Arabness" referred to a common shared culture and language, albeit with religious differences."

UNITED NATIONS: Give Peace a Chance... The year 2014 has been proclaimed the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People... “The objective of the  International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is to promote solidarity with the Palestinian people as a central theme, contributing to international awareness of (a) core themes regarding the question of Palestine, as prioritized by the Committee, (b) obstacles to the ongoing peace process, particularly those requiring urgent action such as settlements, Jerusalem, the blockade of Gaza and the humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territory and; (c) mobilization of global action towards the achievement of a comprehensive, just and lasting solution of the question of Palestine in accordance with international law and the relevant resolutions of the United Nations.”

History of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, was the result of the experience of the Second World War. With the end of that war, and the creation of the United Nations, the international community vowed never again to allow atrocities like those of that conflict happen again. World leaders decided to complement the UN Charter with a road map to guarantee the rights of every individual everywhere. The document they considered, and which would later become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was taken up at the first session of the General Assembly in 1946. " http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/history.shtml

U.N. Resolution 194 from 1948 Resolves that the 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 in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible;

The Arab Peace Initiative

Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties, the council:

1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well.

2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:

I- Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.

II- Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.

III- The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

3. Consequently, the Arab countries affirm the following:

I- Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states of the region.

II- Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace.

Do Palestinians have a right to return to the places from which they or their ancestors were displaced?
Palestinian refugees’ right to return to the homes from which they were displaced is well established in International law.  The first source of support for Palestinian refugees’ claims to a right of return is UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (III) Of December 1948, paragraph 11, in which the UN General Assembly,

“Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors 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 in equity, should be made good by the governments or authorities responsible;
Instructs the Conciliation Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation…”

Since 1949, this resolution together with UNSC Res. 242 and 338 have been regularly reaffirmed by the UN General Assembly.

The rights outlined in this resolution are firmly grounded in international humanitarian, human rights, and refugee law.  According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Executive Conclusion No. 40, “…the basic rights of persons to return voluntarily to their country of origin is reaffirmed and it is urged that international cooperation be aimed at achieving this solution.”[xi]  UNHCR’s support for the right of return is based on the idea that the right of return is a recognized customary norm of International law which is included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Fourth Geneva Convention.[xii]  

The 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.
  

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

 Live by the Golden Rule

***
"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 Washington Post RE CIA declassifies documents on Egypt, Israel and Camp David Accords brokered by Jimmy Carter

CAMP DAVID ACCORDS: The UN General Assembly rejected the Framework for Peace in the Middle East, because the agreement was concluded without participation of UN and PLO and did not comply with the Palestinian right of return, of self-determination and to national independence and sovereignty. December 1978, she declared in Resolution 33/28 A, that agreements were only valid if they are within the framework of the United Nations and its Charter and its resolutions, include the Palestinian right of return and the right to national independence and sovereignty in Palestine, and concluded with the participation of the PLO.

RE  CIA declassifies documents on Egypt, Israel and Camp David Accords brokered by Jimmy Carter
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/cia-declassifies-documents-on-egypt-israel-and-camp-david-accords-brokered-by-jimmy-carter/2013/11/13/66940598-4cc2-11e3-bf60-c1ca136ae14a_story.html

Online: Camp David papers: www.foia.cia.gov/collection/carter-camp-david-accords

Dear Editor,

How differently things would have played out had President Carter- and all of America (including our newspapers and our Congress and our CIA), taken a firm and pubic and principled stand for our own ideals concerning secular freedom and democracy... and justice.. and equality.

By 1977 decades had passed since the Nazi Holocaust and the subsequent United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights ( adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948) which was created to remind all the world that " 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..."

By 1977 America had heard and acted on Martin Luther King Jr.'s diplomatic pleas for freedom and an end to the pernicious institutionalized bigotry and injustice that plagued our nation and harmed many innocent men, women and children.

Stop and Think: Would Iran have taken 52 American hostages months after the Egypt-Israel treaty if the Camp David Accords had achieved not only a treaty between Egypt and Israel but also an actual end to the Israel-Palestine conflict and an end to the largest, longest running refugee crisis in the world today.

How many more Palestinian homes and workplaces will Israel destroy, how many more Palestinian individuals will Israel imprison, how many more Palestinian families will Israel fragment, how many more Palestinian men, women and children will Israel push into forced exile ... and how much more Palestinian land and resources will Israel usurp?

Israel as a Jews-preferred ego trip and business investment for those lucky enough to be Jewish has been quite a lucrative success for some people, but not for most, and it has certainly set a very bad example for its neighbors. Religion should be a personal private choice and religion should most certainly not be armed with lethal weaponry- or with tax payer funds.

A fully secular two state end to the Israel-Palestine conflict, for everyone's sake, is the best way forward. 

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES

IMF: Arab Spring economies hit by uncertainty Ahmed said that governments in the Arab world and the rest of the world need to find a way to "arrest this situation with its downside risks and try to find ways to boost jobs and growth in the short term and lay the foundation for a private sector-led recovery."

Palestinian villages subject to Israeli mock raids not told they are exercises: Israeli military rejects complaints by Israeli human rights group Yesh Din over 'training' arrests of Arabs and raids on homes

Israel 'plans 20,000 new settler homes in West Bank'

Washington Post 2013: Israeli hard-liners eye West Bank

Israeli Settler Violence Map

Israeli police seized computers and detained 25 Palestinians because of Facebook posts in East Jerusalem on Thursday

The 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.

'It is where religious freedom is most dishonored or repressed that the forces of violent religious extremism are likely to thrive.' Katrina Lantos Swett, vice chairwoman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom: JFK's call for religious freedom can transform places like Pakistan.

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

"Legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Paine: "Of all of the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny of religion is the worst."

"In every country and in every age, the priest [rabbi/imam/...etc...] has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own"
Thomas Jefferson

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

Why Muslims should love secularism: Though secularism is widely misunderstood as anti-religious and iconoclastic, all it means is the neutrality of the state on religious affairs ...  "Muslims must recognize secularism as the only real path to religious freedom, rather than confusing it with an attack against religion." Hussein Ibish

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

Live by the Golden Rule

Dear President Obama... Let Freedom Ring

194

Globalizing Martin Luther King, Jr.

This Week in Palestine: In Palestine we have no physical control over our borders, and therefore have no say in how anyone could be treated at any given moment in time. But what we do have control of is the Palestine we write about, describe, and photograph in the folds of this issue’s pages.

U.S. 'working tirelessly' to restore UNESCO funding... UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova: "This is not only about financing. This is about values. This is the 'smart power' that is in such need today, to lay the foundations for lasting peace and sustainable development,"

U.S., Israel lose voting rights at UNESCO over Palestine row

UNWRA ... a crucial lifeline for Palestinian refugees

Dr Zogby: Focus on Palestinians’ Rights

"Can you imagine the world today without letters or without music?"

At ATFP Gala, White House Reaffirms Commitment to Palestinian State, Opposition to Settlements and Settler Violence

"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

"So let us put the narrative of injustice away and find the joy, if it’s the last thing we ever do. " Tala Abu Rahmeh, Palestinian poet and writer

A quest to preserve Palestinian heritage in the digital stacks: Sami Batrawi's struggle to open an online Palestinian Library of Congress is part of a broader effort to recover lost Palestinian intellectual heritage.

Pomegranates in season along the path!

The Arab Peace Initiative

1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well.

2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:

I- Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.

II- Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.

III- The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

3. Consequently, the Arab countries affirm the following:

I- Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states of the region.

II- Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace.

Ancient stone villages in the occupied West Bank have become trapped in rural poverty, while investors and donors shy away from a zone of seemingly endless conflict... Israel's restrictions affect much of Palestinian economic life. It controls every access point, which enables it to oversee all imports and exports, creating bureaucratic hurdles that Palestinians say stifle or kill entrepreneurship.

The Israelis also impose strict limits on water supply, which affects industry and agriculture. Israel has not allowed Palestinians access to 3G mobile technology, citing security concerns, rendering many smartphone apps largely useless....READ MORE

Jordan's King Abdullah II explains that extremism has "grown fat" off of the longstanding conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

We Need to Talk... Ziad Asali has proven that Palestinian-Americans can work within the system as first-class American citizens and Washington has paid attention: The status quo is clear: occupation. Asali's mission is to change that status quo.

"Compassion is not religious business, it is human business. It is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival."~Dalai Lama

"Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate."~ Albert Schweitzer,1952 Nobel Peace Prize

"I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."~ Stephan Grellet, a prominent French-born American Quaker missionary

The Charter for Compassion is a call to restore the Golden Rule to the center of religious, moral and civic life. The path to a just economy and a peaceful world requires listening, understanding and treating all others as we wish to be treated ourselves.

Freedom for Palestine - OneWorld

Jimmy Carter in USA Today "The path to peace in the Middle East has always been difficult, but never impossible."

Palestinians in Ramallah hold pictures of President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday as they celebrate the U.N. recognition of their statehood. (Photo: Majdi Mohammed, AP)

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/12/04/palestine-israel-jimmy-carter-united-nations/1746767/

Jimmy Carter: Statehood key to renew peace talks

U.N. vote recognizing Palestine is an opportunity to relaunch negotiations despite Israeli actions.

In addition to rapidly confiscating Palestinian territory for new Israeli settlements, announcing permanent control of Palestinian air space and the Jordan River Valley, requiring acknowledgment by Palestinians of a Jewish state that marginalizes 20% of Israel's population, and blocking reconciliation among the major Palestinian factions, the Netanyahu government has announced the building of several thousand settlement units in an area that cuts the West Bank into two parts and permanently separates East Jerusalem from what would be left.

U.S. policies disregarded

Never before has an Israeli government so flagrantly disregarded clearly stated U.S. policies...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]

Carter Center Calls for Accountability After Corrie Verdict

http://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/rachel-corrie-verdict-082912.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 29, 2012
Contact: Deborah Hakes 1-404-420-5124

Carter Center Calls for Accountability After Corrie Verdict

Atlanta….On Aug. 28, the district court in Haifa, Israel, ruled that the State of Israel was not responsible for the 2003 killing of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old U.S. peace activist who was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer as she attempted to nonviolently prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. Israel's policy of home demolitions has been widely criticized by human rights organizations as a form of collective punishment. It violates Israel's obligations under the Geneva Conventions. The Corrie family had requested $1 in symbolic damages and legal expenses.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro and human rights groups and have criticized Israel's investigation of the case for a lack of thoroughness, transparency, and credibility.
"The killing of an American peace activist is unacceptable," said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. "The court's decision confirms a climate of impunity, which facilitates Israeli human rights violations against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Territory."

Approximately 94 percent of Israeli military investigations of soldiers suspected of violent criminal activity against Palestinians and their property end without indictments, according to the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din. 91 percent of investigations into crimes committed by Israeli civilians against Palestinians in the Occupied Territory also end without indictment. In this case, the district court judge ruled that the drivers of the bulldozer could not see her, despite eyewitness testimony to the contrary.

In response to the verdict, Rachel Corrie's parents Cindy and Craig stated "We are deeply saddened and troubled by what we heard today in the court of Judge Oded Gershon. This was a bad day, not only for us, but for human rights, for humanity, the rule of law, and the country of Israel…Rachel was a human being who deserved accountability, and we as her family deserve that too."

In contrast, the family of James Miller, an Emmy Award-winning British filmmaker killed by Israeli forces in Rafah two months after Corrie's death, ultimately received over $2 million in damages from the Israeli government. The government of the United Kingdom had threatened to seek the extradition of the Israeli soldiers in question.

"I hope that the U.S. government will use all reasonable means to ensure that the rights of American citizens are protected overseas and that justice is done for the Corrie family," said former President Carter.

####

"Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope."
A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in more than 70 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; improving mental health care; and teaching farmers in developing nations to increase crop production. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.

My letter to the IHT RE Don't Give Up on Mideast Peace By Jimmy Carter

Anne Frank

 RE:  Don't Give Up on Mideast Peace By Jimmy Carter
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/global/index.html

Dear Editor,

I am all for a two state solution to once and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict, but I think it is a huge mistake to perpetuate the institutionalized bigotry, injustice and angst created by insisting that Israel has to be "Jewish". 

A fully secular Israel and a fully secular Palestine as two sovereign powers and partners committed to respecting international law, basic human rights, and environmental concerns will build a just and lasting peace for all the people.

As Hussein Ibish quite wisely points out in his most recent Daily Beast column : "However hard it may now seem to achieve, ending the occupation by creating a Palestinian state still offers the only workable conflict-ending solution. Recognizing and supporting that is not Zionism, Palestinian nationalism, or American imperialism. It's not even buying into the deep logic of nationalism as a political or philosophical category. It's a simple recognition of unavoidable political reality. It should be embraced by anyone who cares more about peace, preserving human life, and building a better future than about ideologies, narratives and slogans."

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES:
"If you ask “what are the real threats to our security today,” said Brown, “at the top of the list would be climate change, population growth, water shortages, rising food prices and the number of failing states in the world. As that list grows, how many failed states before we have a failing global civilization, and everything begins to unravel?”" The Other Arab Spring By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
 

An Anne Frank Moment ... a poem by Anne Selden Annab

A bookcase opens to reveal the steps up to Anne Frank's secret annex

The Elders: For the recognition of a Palestinian state... Peace negotiations must be "based firmly on international law and universal human rights"

from the Elders

... Any future peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians cannot be a return to business as usual. If they are, they will be doomed to failure. Instead they must start on a fresh basis, one based firmly on international law and universal human rights with clear parameters and an agreed deadline for their conclusion.

Twelve months ago US President Barack Obama used his annual address to the UN to declare that he looked forward to welcoming Palestine to the ranks of the UN’s members by the start of its next session. Unfortunately, the bilateral negotiations that might have produced this desired result have not been possible, due in large part to the continued expansion of Israeli settlements on the occupied territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

These settlements have repeatedly been declared by the international community to be illegal under international law. To salvage the remaining opportunity to create a “contiguous and viable” Palestinian state, all construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem intended solely for Jewish occupants must halt immediately.

Any negotiations that resume following action at the UN should aim to define the boundaries of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, with its capital in East Jerusalem. Such an accord could entail equal land swaps to allow for minor adjustments.

Fair and robust external mediation will be another essential ingredient as, under present circumstances, the parties are unlikely to be able to reach an agreement on their own. In this regard, a positive and united stand over the anticipated UN resolution by the European Union, Israel’s largest trading partner and, at a billion Euros per year, by far the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority, would give it leverage to play a bigger political role to help resolve the conflict.

For over two decades, negotiations have been more about process than real substance, leading to understandable disillusionment and frustration among Palestinians and all those who seek a just and lasting peace agreement. It has been almost 65 years since the UN agreed to the creation of two states – this solution has been delayed for far too long

My letter to the IHT RE Jimmy Carter's After the U.N. Vote on Palestine

RE: Jimmy Carter's After the U.N. Vote on Palestine
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/opinion/14iht-edcarter14.html?ref=global

Dear Sir,

Jimmy Carter's spin on the Palestinian refugees right of return which he whittles down to "the right of return of its people to its own lands (with perhaps a token number to Israel)" is off the mark... and so is his assumption that The United States will regain its leadership role in the region.

The refugees right to return is to return to original homes and lands- and it is an inalienable right clearly affirmed by international law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The reality of a two state solution to end the Israel/Palestine conflict once and for all will be that many (if not most) Palestinian refugees will wisely decide to resettle in the new Palestinian state rather than be Israeli- but it has to be the refugees' individual choice. The refugees should not be tricked or bullied into relocating and resettlement. Nor should they be forced to remain in refugee camps. The onus really is on Israel to fully respect the Palestinian refugees right of return- and the onus is on Palestine to welcome home all who would rather invest their talents (and taxes) into building and empowering a sovereign Palestinian state. A real state, not a rally cry.

And as far as the United States regaining its leadership role that is impossible with the global information age as our own fourth estate and freedoms which help keep our own democracy honest and on track provides far too much fodder for misguided anti-America activists and hate mongers operating in countries which do not have real freedom of speech and the freedom to flex civic muscle locally.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

Refugees, Borders & Jerusalem...

"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

Growing Gardens for Palestine

"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." http://plodelegation.us/palestine/core-issues/

ATFP Resources on September UN Initiative

The American Task Force on Palestine continues to expand and update its extensive set of news and information resources on a possible Palestinian UN initiative in September, covering Palestinian, pro-Palestinian, Israeli, American, Arab, European and other international perspectives, as well as general news items. This resource list is in chronological order within each category, beginning with the most recent items. This set of resources has been updated daily since it was launched a week ago, and will continue to be updated on a daily basis.

The ATFP resource guide on potential Palestinian September UN initiatives can be accessed here.