Blogged for Memorial Day- a letter I sent to my local newspaper 2025: This Earth Day please start noticing how much pollution and injustice war creates.

Dear Patriot News,

Our earth, our precious earth is home to a diverse and fascinating mix of flora and fauna, including us.  We live we die. Life in general is not fair, but we human beings should do all we can to make life more fair, more bearable, and more beautiful for more people.

This Earth Day please start noticing how much pollution and injustice war creates. 

Yes, we need to support our troops, but we tax payers should not be funding the weapons industry.  Creating and selling weapons of war inevitably leads to killing and endless cycles of revenge and vindictiveness worldwide. No family is safe.

Our collective recorded history has been one of violence in many ways to countless people and to our planet.  Our future needs to be different. 

Our future needs to be of hope and helpfulness, cooperation and kindness- prioritizing good investments in nonviolence and sustainable practices that help our planet earth and all its inhabitants.

Weapons and war are poisoning our planet, just as much as racist hate poisons hearts and minds and turns people into monsters doing despicable things to others.

Harassing and killing people, destroying lives and livelihoods, is wrong.  Be braver than a bully, be stronger than tyrant- be aware and be kind.  Be kind to and about others, even those you do not like.

Diplomacy and dialogue create security- and prosperity for ALL, not just lucky billionaires. 

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab 

Prioritize Human Rights, The Rule of Fair & Just Laws, and Golden Rule Thinking: END WAR

 

My more recent Letters

Tragedies abound here on planet earth, but at least we can try to make our world a better, more fair, just and secure place for more people.

Racist times created hell on earth for "others" then, we really should know better now...

Dear America- Funding religious extremists and charlatans is a recipe for disaster.

Dear America- Please do not let this tragic situation became a reason for more people to be treated more unequally, with more Palestinians and Palestinian Americans being doxed, destroyed, and displaced.

Life is not a video game. These are real human beings and American made weaponry has been creating a Holocaust with The Rule of Lawlessness in the Holy Land.

Taxpayers' money should not be shoring up greed, corporate corruption, injustice, and war.

Please, let Golden Rule thinking and the rule of fair and just laws guide US all towards a better way forward.

State sponsored violence is not the way to convince vulnerable people to veer away from arming religious tyranny and terrorism.

Hate crimes are escalating here in America with people primed by to think, say and do horrible things...

Slavery, Segregation and Forced Displacement are wrong. Wrong then and wrong now

"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

My letter to the Washington Post RE U.S. needs to keep nudging Israel on a Gaza fix By David Ignatius & Israel, disarmed by Charles Krauthammer

RE: Israel, disarmed / Those troublesome Jews, Israel has every right to its blockade of Gaza, and here's why. by Charles Krauthammer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060304287.html
& The U.S. needs to keep nudging Israel on a Gaza fix By David Ignatius
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060302709.html

Dear Editor,

Thank heavens for the internet- an inquiring mind is no longer stuck in the ruts of so many syndicated American columnists who have been groomed to promote Israeli perspectives rather than looking at the larger picture.

All this week I have been thinking about a recent frankly shocking online photo essay Once Upon a Time in Afghanistan... in Foreign Policy Magazine which shows a very different Afghanistan than what one sees today: "There was a tradition of law and order, and a government capable of undertaking large national infrastructure projects, like building hydropower stations and roads, albeit with outside help. Ordinary people had a sense of hope, a belief that education could open opportunities for all, a conviction that a bright future lay ahead.". http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/05/27/once_upon_a_time_in_afghanistan?page=full

That photo essay could have just as easily been about Palestine in the forties and fifties.

I do not support or admire much less want to apologize for Hamas or Hezboullah because I very much believe that armed Islamic resistance and militancy very much harms Palestine. However it is also obvious to me that people all over the Middle East can clearly see how successfully Israel has used religion to gather money, supporters, international respect and power- including the power to make life utterly miserable for the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land. The lesson of Israel today is that funding and 'defending' one religion with tax payers' money and a full arsenal of lethal weaponry can create a strong economy and a loyal following.

Najeeb Mubarki, in an recent op-ed in the Economic Times Why Israel does what it does points out that the recent Memorial Day Massacre is not the first act of Israeli hostility against a ship carrying civilians: "In 1988, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) had chartered a vessel, called al-Awda (the Return), to take a few Palestinians living in exile back to their land. The idea was dramatic, deeply symbolic..." http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Why-Israel-does-what-it-does/articleshow/6009664.cms?curpg=1

"The same naval unit that carried out Monday’s bloody raid on the aid flotilla, was reportedly used to sabotage and sink al-Awda in its harbour in Cyprus before it could start on its journey."

As things stand today (with the Palestinian refugees inalienable legal, moral, sacred and natural right to return to original homes and lands still ignored and/or demonized by the sovereign power who should have welcomed them home decades ago) the lesson of Israel tomorrow will be that nations worldwide are free to invest in institutionalized bigotry, free to persecute innocent people- and free to usurp and/or demolish the homes and gardens of men, women and children that the state 'elects' to impoverish and destroy: Do we really want that to be the future of democracy?!

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

Unclench your fist... Live by the Golden Rule

Growing Gardens for Palestine

Refugees, Borders & Jerusalem

Freedom to me is ... (a poem)

Awda- The Return
Calligraphy by Fayeq Oweis, Ph.D.

The USS Liberty, The Memorial Day Massacre & the vital importance of fully respecting the Palestinian Refugees right of return ASAP.

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/userletter/?id=3181&letter_id=5284085406

The USS Liberty, The Memorial Day Massacre & the vital importance of fully respecting the Palestinian Refugees right of return ASAP.

Dear President Obama,

There is and will be spin and plenty of hate mongering inspired by Israel's recent commando attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

Please don't let the hate mongers and the obfuscation experts and angry extremists "win", for then we all lose... Please do not let this incident be swept aside as Israel's 1967 attack on the USS Liberty was swept aside. (On June 8, 1967, US Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty was suddenly and brutally attacked on the high seas in international waters by the air and naval forces of Israel. http://www.gtr5.com/ )

No matter what you think- or what you have been told to think about about what many have dubbed "The Memorial Day Massacre", Israel is and has been in long term and flagrant violation of international law on many counts.

Israel refuses to respect the Palestinian refugees inalienable legal, moral and natural right to return to original homes and lands... In 1948 United Nations Mediator Count Folke Bernadotte pointed out that "It would be an offence against the principles of justice if those innocent victims of could not return to their homes while [Zionist] immigrants flowed into Palestine to take their place." This is still true today- and each and every Palestinian child knows this as an absolute fact.

Please note from the start: "The United Nations had certainly not intended that the Jewish State should rid itself of its Arab citizens" 5 May 1949 Application of Israel for admission to membership in the United Nations http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/85255e950050831085255e95004fa9c3/1db943e43c280a26052565fa004d8174?OpenDocument

What matters is the idea of home- and respect for the rule of fair and just laws.... true security for all people, for all families, for all children regardless of supposed race or religion, and regardless of borders.

Israel's sovereign failure to respect Palestinian homes and families takes on many forms- the Nakba of 1948 continues on and on as Palestinian men, women and children continue to be pushed into forced exile. For instance " The dig dividing Jerusalem: The search for the City of David may offer tourists a reminder of Jerusalem's ancient past. But for the Palestinians whose homes are threatened by the excavations, archaeology is merely the latest weapon being used against them" http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/26/jerusalem-city-of-david-palestinians-archaeology

Families are being fragmented and impoverished in many ways by the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Please get to the bottom of it all- insist that first and foremost Israel must FULLY respect UN Resolution 194 ... and keep in mind that "What is important is that individual refugees decide for themselves which option they prefer – a decision must not be imposed upon them." PLO Core Issues http://www.plomission.us/index.php?page=core-issues-3

One state or two or none- real peace and real justice in the Holy Land must start with true respect for the Palestinian refugees' very real right to return to live in peace, unmolested by institutionalized bigotry and free from religious tyranny of all types.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
American Homemaker & poet

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." http://www.plomission.us/index.php?page=core-issues-3

Unclench your fist... Live by the Golden Rule

Growing Gardens for Palestine

Refugees, Borders & Jerusalem

On June 8, 1967, US Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty was suddenly and brutally attacked on the high seas ...

On June 8, 1967, US Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty was suddenly and brutally attacked on the high seas in international waters by the air and naval forces of Israel. The Israeli forces attacked with full knowledge that this was an American ship and lied about it. Survivors have been forbidden for 40 years to tell their story under oath to the American public. The USS Liberty Memorial web site tells their story and is dedicated to the memory of the 34 brave men who died.

The Attack

After surveilling USS Liberty for more than nine hours with almost hourly aircraft overflights and radar tracking, the air and naval forces of Israel attacked our ship in international waters without warning. USS Liberty was identified as a US naval ship by Israeli reconnaissance aircraft nine hours before the attack and continuously tracked by Israeli radar and aircraft thereafter. Sailing in international waters at less than five knots, with no offensive armament, our ship was not a military threat to anyone.

The Israeli forces attacked without warning and without attempting to contact us. Thirty four Americans were killed in the attack and another 174 were wounded. The ship, a $40-million dollar state-of-the-art signals intelligence platform, was later declared unsalvageable and sold for scrap...read more