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

ATFP Springs Forward, Asks for Your Support

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

Dear NYTimes,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For instance a rather obvious choice regarding informed opinions on negotiations and statehood would be from the PLO Delegation to the United States:  Israel’s Provocative Land Confiscations Further Threaten Peace Prospects
Or the American Task Force on Palestine: Arab-Americans must embrace success over victimhood ... with the indubitable well worth quoting Dr. Hussein Ibish: Ruling on Jerusalem   & Dr. Ziad Asali: To honor a tragic history, we must work for peace  "The only way to honor our tragic histories is to create a future for our children free of man-made tragedy. This means making peace fully, completely and without reservation, between Israel and Palestine."

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
PBS: Six takes on the Palestinian unity deal

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

American Task Force on Palestine Springs Forward

Choosing Sides ... a poem  

To a State ...a poem

Outreach: American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) "Our Israeli and Palestinian partners in the Middle East as well as our partners in the U.S. believe as we do that a lasting peace must begin with a commitment to shared security for all."

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

"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

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

Peace Building ... civic muscle

• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

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

"The only way to honor our tragic histories is to create a future for our children free of man-made tragedy. This means making peace fully, completely and without reservation, between Israel and Palestine." ATFP's Ziad Asali: To honor a tragic history, we must work for peace

My letter to my Rep.Todd Platts RE closing the PLO mission in DC (the Ros-Lehtinen/Berman/Royce/Engel letter)

Stamps of Palestine - Christmas - Easter

Dear Rep. Todd Platts

Palestine's PLO mission in DC needs our support now more than ever as extremists, hate mongers, bigots, agent provocateurs and Islamists seek to destroy any chance of a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land. 

Ending the Israel-Palestine conflict with a fully secular two state solution based on full respect for international law and basic human rights is the only way to actually end the Israel-Palestine conflict... for everyone's sake.

Diplomacy matters and America's [Senate &] Congress should refuse to be coerced into crippling Palestine's diplomatic efforts to build a real Palestinian state.

Raja Shehadeh, a well known, award winning Palestinian author, wrote recently that he hopes "writers can serve the cause of peace by provoking people's yearning for it. Aren't new realities created by first imagining them, making what is possible in art thinkable in life?"

Palestine and peace really are worth seriously thinking about, prioritizing alongside Israel, and gently dreaming into place by continuing to give Palestinians a chance to become fully accountable for their own nation state and their own future and diplomatic efforts.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

************

Tell Your Member of Congress Not to Sign Anti-Peace Letter!

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5575/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=12327

CMEP Bulletin
December 14, 2012

Hamas Celebrates, Causes Concern

Hamas’ Meshal Visits Gaza for First Time
Take Action!
Extra Reading
Advent & Christmas 2012 Daily Reflections

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Hamas’ Meshal Visits Gaza for First Time
On Friday, December 7, the long-exiled leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshal, entered Gaza for the first time to celebrate the 25years since Hamas’ founding. Tens of thousands of Gazans showed up to hear him deliver his first speech on Palestinian soil. While the atmosphere in Gaza was jubilant, the occasion made many nervous about the burgeoning power Hamas is acquiring and what this means for peace. 
While the official anniversary for Hamas was December 14, officials moved the festivities forward a week to also celebrate Hamas’ “victory” against Israel during the latest round of fighting in November. At least 175 Gazans died during the eight day Israeli offensive aimed at stopping rocket fire eminating from the coastal enclave. Theair strikes resulted in over $300 million in property damage. Meshal’s speech was defiant, insisting, “Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north. There will be no concession on any inch of the land.”  
The New York Times described the content of his speech as reflecting “longstanding Hamas principles rather than new, specific threats toward Israel. But they will only reinforce Israel’s belief that Hamas is its enemy and intends to continue to use military force to reach its goals.” Indeed, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s weekly cabinet meeting he said, “Yesterday we were re-exposed to our enemies' true face. They have no intention of compromising with us; they want to destroy the state."
The speech from Meshal did not strike the same tone that he had been hinting towards in recent months and seems like a step backward for a leader who many thought had been slowly inching closer to moderation. In recent statements, the leader raised the possibility of a Palestinian state only in the West Bank and Gaza. He also suggested Hamas may move away from armed resistance and towards non-violent popular resistance. This moderation was absent from his speeches in Gaza.
To understand the militant content in the speech, it is important to understand the current political dynamics in Hamas and Gaza. Much of Hamas’ political structure lives in exile outside of Gaza. The politburo’s main offices were in Damascus until February 2012 when Hamas leaders shut down their offices and announced support for the Syrian opposition. Meshal now lives primarily in Doha. The move caused a shift away from Iran, Hamas’ longtime benefactor, and caused Hamas leaders to turn to other Arab countries, especially in the Gulf, for financial support.
The Hamas members governing on the ground in Gaza operate under the exiled leadership but in recent years tension has emerged between these two groups over reconciliation with Fatah and the importance of armed resistance. Meshal is a proponent of reconciliation and has negotiated agreements with Fatah that have yet to be implemented. While Hamas militants in Gaza fired rockets into Israel in November, Meshal negotiated the truce with Israel via Egypt. American Task Force for Palestine’s Hussein Ibish writes, “The regional calculation remains that the externally-based Politburo will be ultimately restrained by its new regional Arab patrons while local Gaza leaders, at least for now, have a greater interest in conflict.
With this in mind, why did Meshal choose to be so inflammatory in his speech? Ibish believes that Meshal is fighting for his political life as the internal leadership in Gaza moves away from him. Ibish says the speech was so confrontational because “Meshal’s main point was that he’s not going to allow himself to be outbid by an extremist turn by local leaders on the ground: he can be every bit as aggressive and recalcitrant as them and there is no need to look for an alternative leadership.”
The celebration was not limited to Gaza. Hamas members held their first West Bank demonstration since 2007 on December 13. 5,000 supporters marched through Nablus. Over the past five years, the Palestinian Authority security forces have cracked down on Hamas after the group violently took over Gaza but this time it did not interfere. The Associated Press theorized that it could be another sign that relations are thawing between the PA and Hamas. Last month Hamas announced support for the UN bid which was also seen by some as a positive signal for unity. However, after Meshal’s comments Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas disagreed and said, “I don’t agree with Khaled Mashal’s statement on the non-recognition of Israel because we, in fact, recognized it in 1993.” Abbas is referring to the letters of recognition exchanged between Yassir Arafat and Yitzak Rabin that paved the way for the Oslo Accords.
For his part, Meshal did stress the need for unity, saying, “From Gaza I have stressed the need for reconciliation, and I do so again. Gaza and the West Bank are two dear parts of the greater Palestinian homeland, and they need each other.”
Many observers are worried about the growing influence Hamas is having amongst Palestinians in the territories and the Arab world. With negotiations at a standstill, Abbas has little to show for his commitment to non-violence. A growing number of Palestinians on the streets are expressing impatience with the lack of results and are turning to Hamas. The PA’s current budget woes are not helping its case either. At a meeting with Israeli peace activists days before the United States election, Abbas warned the group about the consequences of not seeing any improvements on the ground. According to one person present he (paraphrasing) said, “You want to be occupiers? So you occupy? I’m not going to be your shield. I’m not going to do for you the dirty work of keeping the security of Israel from the West Bank and getting nothing in return. Enough is enough. You want to continue and build the Hamas and (its leader, Ismail Haniyeh), do that with pleasure.’’
Take Action!
Earlier this week, CMEP sent out an action alert regarding a letter to President Obama currently circulating for signatures in the House asking him to close the PLO mission in DC, recall the U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem who works with the Palestinian Authority, and cut off funding to any other UN body that admits the Palestinians as a member. The letter is being circulated by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Howard Berman (D-CA), Edward Royce (R-CA), and Eliot Engel (D-NY).

The measures recommended in the letter are ill-conceived and self-defeating. The Members state that direct talks are the only way to resolve the outstanding issues between Israelis and Palestinians, but the measures they propose would undercut U.S. diplomacy and make it harder for direct talks to take place. Cutting off funding to UN agencies would deprive the U.S. of the benefits those bodies bring to U.S. national interests around the world. Take action now!

Extra Reading
Americans for Peace Now’s Lara Friedman writes, “It's hard to believe that four years of serial humiliations from Netanyahu haven't already driven this message home. Will this latest UN debacle finally teach the Obama Administration that even when it rolls over and sits up on command, it won't get a treat or even a pat on the head from Netanyahu or his fellow travelers in the U.S. and Israel?” She suggests the White House call Bill Clinton or former Secretary of State James Baker for some advice on how to get tougher.
The fifth “price tag” attack on a Christian site this year happened at a Greek Orthodox monastery in Jerusalem where vandals spray-painted offensive language on the stone surrounding the structure. The monastery was also targeted in February. Father Claudio the superior told reporters, “I forgave them the first time, I will forgive them the second time. I will forgive them the seventh, and 75th times, the 77th time I forgive.” He also said he knows that 99 percent of Israelis support his church. Netanyahu and the mayor of Jerusalem both strongly condemned the attack. Only two people have been arrested for the crimes against Christian holy sites this year but the police chief promises to pursue the criminals.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that the cash-strapped PA will not see any of the $100 million in tax revenues Israel collects on its behalf until at least March. He said, "The Palestinians can forget about getting even one cent in the coming four months, and in four months' time we will decide how to proceed.” However, on Friday, Lieberman resigned from his post following a “breach of trust” indictment. It is unclear if his resignation will change this policy.
Advent & Christmas 2012 Daily Reflections
As Christians the season of Advent is a time of expectant waiting. We know God is with us. We believe God is with us. Yet, sometimes, especially when we think of the violence, pain, and sorrows of the people of Israel and Palestine, we may not necessarily feel God's presence with us.
To help all of us during this season of Advent (December 1st in the Catholic and Protestant calendars) and through Christmas (January 7th in the Orthodox calendar), CMEP will be sending daily emails to encourage all of us to ponder and pray for peace.