Showing posts with label Sam Bahour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sam Bahour. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Israelis and Americans Would Act Just Like Palestinians Do Today: The situation is volatile, a veritable tinderbox. If the Mideast blows up, many will die, Palestinians and Israelis.
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| Image by Christian Dorn from Pixabay |
Sam Bahour....."The truth is
that, if placed in the same ill-fated predicament, Americans and
Israelis would act just like Palestinians do today; some would use
violence, like what emerged from Gaza recently. This is not to say that
this is a smart or effective strategy, it merely is a human reaction
when a community feels no other path to live exists.
Others,
the majority, would use diplomatic and non-violent methods to protect
their community, like boycotting and divesting from their occupier and
refusing to attend an “economic workshop” called for by a third party in
a foreign venue aimed at beautifying life in their cages of military
occupation. These non-violent strategies would become a rallying call to
mobilize all four corners of the earth to hold the occupying state
accountable.
Imagine,
for example, China suddenly invading New York City claiming that a
Golden Sky-Dragon gave it all of Manhattan. Imagine further that native
New Yorkers were forced into just two boroughs, all their assets
forfeited. Furthermore, every aspect of their new lives will be
controlled by the Red Army.
Suppose
further that Russia, North Korea, and others block UN resolutions to
punish China, and funds its illegal invasion/occupation. How long do you
think red-blooded Americans would put up with that and not fight back?
Palestinians
have tried every form of protest — from armed resistance to civil
disobedience to negotiations to lawsuits to boycotts. Nothing has
worked. Israel, like 18th-century England (the US Declaration of
Independence lists 27 grievances that British King George III ignored),
blocks all forms of redress while continuing to kill, land grab, and
steal resources.
Palestinians
are being pushed into ever-smaller enclaves with less and less to lose.
The situation is volatile, a veritable tinderbox. If the Mideast blows
up, many will die, Palestinians and Israelis. It would be a historic
tragedy for history to look back, yet again, and question how a
developed, modern society allowed itself to be governed into
never-ending turmoil."
Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American business consultant from Ramallah/Al-Bireh in the West Bank. He is chair of Americans for a Viable Palestinian Economy (AVPE) and serves as a policy adviser to Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network and is co-editor of “Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians” (1994). He blogs at ePalestine.com. @SamBahour
Friday, October 16, 2015
My letter to the NYTimes RE The Cycle of Violence in Israel editorial
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| Modern Technology |
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/opinion/the-cycle-of-violence-in-israel.html?ref=international
& The Israeli-Palestinian Tumult: Clashing Perspectives an excellent letter by Shelly Altman, co-chairman of Jewish Voice for Peace New Haven
Dear Editor,
The cycle of violence is very much generated by sovereign Israel's investment in Jews-preferred policies and settlement projects in the illegally occupied territories: "I’m a South African who lived through apartheid, I have no hesitation in saying that Israel’s crimes are infinitely worse than those committed by the apartheid regime of South Africa." former U.N. Special Rapporteur John Dugard. http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2015/5/6/ex_un_official_john_dugard_israel
Bad History : Ben Carson Is Wrong on Guns and the Holocaust points out that "It is preposterous to argue that the possession of firearms would have enabled them [Jewish people being persecuted by the Nazis] to mount resistance against a systematic program of persecution implemented by a modern bureaucracy, enforced by a well-armed police state, and either supported or tolerated by the majority of the German population."
That was 60 years ago- long before sophisticated computers and cellphones and satellites and drones and all sorts of ways for a sovereign government to interfere with an oppressed people's quest for freedom, justice, and equality.
Clueless American politicians like Hilary Clinton use their public podium to make a bad situation worse by ignoring the very real plight of the Palestinians. So do "Pro-Palestine" apologists for Hamas and armed Palestinian resistance.
There are however some clear headed thinkers who refuse to accept an insane and cruel status quo, such as Palestinian businessman Sam Bahour who writes in his most recent article Palestinians must not fall into this trap, again! "To cover up its crimes, Israel needs to feed all the western stereotypes of Palestinians as violent and subhuman rather than hungry for freedom and equal rights."
And your recent letter writer Shelly Altman, co-chairman of Jewish Voice for Peace New Haven, who states the facts "There are more than 500 checkpoints restricting their movement in the West Bank itself. The Palestinians have endured Israeli military occupation, arrests without charge, arrests of children, home demolitions and the uprooting of olive groves."
And your own editorial, which is basically good despite the fact that it really should have but did not fully show the big picture by pointing out who is in sovereign power with a very strong formal military and a plethora of modern technology that is being deployed to [torture,] silence and destroy the native non-Jewish men women and children of historic Palestine. Your conclusion is very true that "it should be clear that a peace agreement is the only chance Israelis and Palestinians have to stop the cycles of stabbings, shootings, bombings and fear"
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES
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.
***********************************
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
"To cover up its crimes, Israel needs to feed all the western stereotypes of Palestinians as violent and subhuman rather than hungry for freedom and equal rights." Sam Bahour: Palestinians must not fall into this trap, again!
Palestinians must not fall into this trap, again!
"Israel
has a single gamebook against the legitimate Palestinian struggle for freedom
and independence, that of using their well-oiled military machine to squash any
Palestinian who attempts to resist occupation. Israel since 1948 and 1967 has
routinely used war and violence to seize more land, all the while pushing
Palestinians to either turn violent or emigrate."
[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 (& America)]
Palestinians mustn't fall into this trap, again http://972mag.com/palestinians-mustnt-fall-into-this-trap-again/112765/ … via @972mag #Palestine #Israel
Palestinians must not fall into this trap, again! @SamBahour
http://bit.ly/palestinians-must-not-fall-into-this-trap … #alshabaka #Palestine #Israel
Sam
Bahour serves as a policy adviser to Al-Shabaka, the
Palestinian Policy Network,
and is chairman of Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy. He blogs at ePalestine.com.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Analysis: Presbyterian church shows Israel tough love
"Presbyterians can use this
opportunity to straighten the White House's spine based on what the
administration already knows: Israel is intentionally blocking progress
in the peace talks while jeopardizing US strategic interests in the
region, not to mention the fate of Palestinians and Israelis alike."
[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.huffingtonpost.com/sam-bahour/the-presbyterian-churchs-_b_5505929.html http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=704941
By Sam Bahour
Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American business consultant in Ramallah and blogs at epalestine.com.
The two million-member Presbyterian Church (USA) is about to make history in the Middle East, yet again.
In the coming days, local delegates from the Church will travel to Detroit to attend the 221st Presbyterian General Assembly to consider a set of eight overtures that ask church leaders to review support of two states for Palestine and Israel in light of unfolding facts on the ground.
Other issues to be considered are backing of equal rights and unblocked economic development for all inhabitants of Israel, and divesting from the likes of Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions. The church is clearly stepping up to the plate and realigning its policies with its values.
Political America and Corporate America should be taking note.
Reminiscent of the struggle against Apartheid South Africa, the church is poised to step in where successive US administrations have failed to hold Israel accountable to international and humanitarian law, not to mention sheer common sense.
The US has paid never-ending lip service to the need to end Israel's 47-year military occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. During the past two decades, the US has coupled lip service with the monopolizing of a peace process that has led the international community to a dead end; not to mention leaving Muslim and Christian Palestinians on the ground, in the occupied territory as well as in Israel, standing naked in front of a state bent on militarily controlling another people and discriminating against over 20 percent of their own non-Jewish population.
Presbyterians have had enough and are taking the lead to change the equation and stop the damage being perpetrated by Israel.
Political America should not take lightly the new reality that mainstream churches and civil society have reached a point where they can no longer blindly repeat calls for a resolution based on "two states" when Israeli actions on the ground, by way of continued illegal settlement building and much more, have created a single state reality between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River.
Secretary of State Kerry alluded to exactly this at the outset of the last failed round of US-led negotiations when he testified to the House Foreign Affairs Committee in April 2013 and noted, "I believe the window for a two-state solution is shutting, I think we have some period of time -- a year to year-and-a-half to two years, or it's over."
The Presbyterian Church is crying out from the highest mountain it can that for a two-state solution not to be "over" immediate action must be taken. They are calling for the Church to review this core issue over the next two years.
Corporate America should also be closely following the Presbyterian General Assembly's proceedings.
In the 2012 Assembly, delegates addressed the issue of divesting from firms that benefit from or contribute to Israel's military occupation by attempting to pass a resolution calling for divestment from Israel. When the so-called pro-Israel lobby got word of this, they mobilized to introduce and pass a counter overture that promotes "positive investment" instead of divestment.
In a perfected Orwellian move, these lobbyists publicly promote investment in Palestine, while simultaneously turning a blind eye to the systematic Israeli polices strangling the Palestinian economy.
Investment in Palestine -- without divestment from the Israeli occupation -- only continues to underwrite the status quo of military occupation. For investment to be successful occupation must be dismantled and sovereign control of Palestine's economic resources passed to the Palestinians.
In this month's assembly, the divestment resolution will be brought to the floor once again for a vote. Now it comes at the heels of Secretary Kerry's failed blitz to resolve the conflict and a momentous trip by the Pope to Bethlehem where he prayed at the illegal Separation Wall. The US-based organization, Jewish Voice for Peace, recently noted that the Israel lobby's efforts have included offering Presbyterian leaders all-expense-paid trips to Israel.
Presbyterians can use this opportunity to straighten the White House's spine based on what the administration already knows: Israel is intentionally blocking progress in the peace talks while jeopardizing US strategic interests in the region, not to mention the fate of Palestinians and Israelis alike.
Palestinian civil society and Palestinians -- Christians and Muslims -- have urged everyone interested in seeing peace with justice to divest from the occupation and to invest only where the occupation does not benefit. We struggle to remain hopeful while a cement wall as high as 24 feet tall snakes through our homeland.
After all, we do not seek a beautified prison. We want the prison walls dividing Palestinians from Palestinians to come tumbling down, and that will not happen unless economic pressure is placed on Israel to end the occupation. Thus, the upcoming Assembly's overture that calls for divestment from firms benefiting from the occupation, while affirming "Occupation-free Investment in Palestine," is spot on.
Palestinians did not invent the non-violent tool of divestment. After unsuccessfully trying to secure their rights using a multitude of other means, Palestinians have focused their efforts on non-violent methods of resisting military occupation that have been used throughout history by others: boycott, divestment, sanction, international law, civil disobedience, diplomatic efforts, economic resistance, and the like. Supporting these tools is supporting non-violence; the alternative is to push Palestinians into using violent means of resistance. If nonviolence is deemed unacceptable then violence becomes that much more likely.
The upcoming Presbyterian votes provides an important opportunity to say yes to nonviolence as the means to overcoming Israeli occupation and discrimination.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
My letter to the NYTimes RE U.S. Inaction, Mideast Cataclysm? by Israel's Bernard Avishai and Palestine's Sam Bahour
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2013 inauguration: Waiting, watching, bearing witness PHOTOS |
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/opinion/us-inaction-mideast-cataclysm.html?ref=global&_r=0
Dear Editor,
Following the news and opinion regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict one gets used to an avalanche of the same old excuses and rants and distractions that tempt many novices away from taking efforts for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East seriously.
Thus, I was surprised and quite impressed by the clear headed thinking and excellent analysis in the timely op-ed "U.S. Inaction, Mideast Cataclysm?" ( written by Israel's Bernard Avishai and Palestine's Sam Bahour).
In my opinion, Obama would be wise to listen carefully to his own inspiring inauguration speech, and apply that exact same logic and hopefulness to our foreign policy and our expectations for both Israel and Palestine because indeed: " We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity." President Barack Obama
A fully secular two state solution firmly based on international law and full respect for universal basic human rights, including but not limited to the Palestinian refugees' legal, moral and natural right of return, really is the best way forward- for everyone's sake.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES
Arab League official urges Arab Israelis to go out and vote to thwart ‘racist’ Israeli plans
Palestinian passengers will be more tempted to read books after a new reading campaign is launched next week. A group of young writers are gathering books to put in mini-vans linking major cities in the West Bank, routes that can waste hours.
Diplomacy in action- for peace & Palestine
Palestinians set up new tented protest village northwest of Jerusalem
Museum displays Palestinian heritage in Tulkarm. - YouTube
PLO Delegation: Statement on Killing of Palestinian Youth
UN Chief Urges Israel to Rescind E1 Settlement
Israeli forces demolish 2 East Jerusalem homes
Aid agencies tread gingerly in Area C... Palestinian communities here, among the poorest and most vulnerable in oPt, desperately need access to water, electricity, sanitation and other basic infrastructure.
*******
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 countriesPalestinian Refugees(1948-NOW) refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.
".... it being clearly understood that nothing
shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..."
The
Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them
do unto you
"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
Empowering
Peace & Palestine
"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."
"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."
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.
NYTimes: U.S. Inaction, Mideast Cataclysm? ...by Bernard Avishai and Sam Bahour
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/opinion/us-inaction-mideast-cataclysm.html?ref=global&_r=0
Published: January 21, 2013
ISRAELIS go to the polls today in an election that will likely give
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a third term; like the current one, Israel's next governing coaltion will probably be heavily reliant on right-wingers and religious parties.
Even so, Mr. Obama’s second term could offer a pivotal opportunity to
restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. In his first term, he
backed away from the process, figuring that America could mediate only
if the parties themselves wanted to make peace — and that new talks were
unlikely to be productive.
This is a mistake. The greatest enemy to a two-state solution is the
sheer pessimism on both sides. Unless President Obama uses his new
mandate to show leadership, the region will have no place for moderates —
or for America either....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]
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Arab-Jewish dialogue: Is there a purpose?
"What is worth dialoguing about today, just as much as yesterday, is something that is very dear to Jewish communities – social justice and equality. There is no logical reason why dialogue groups should not be taking a side in the conflict in the Middle East, not the side of Palestinians or Israelis, per se, but the side of ending the 44 years of military occupation, finally letting Palestinian refugees return home, supporting both societies to respect the equal right of the “other,” and supporting the stopping of violence, all kinds of violence." Sam Bahour
http://www.jewishpostandnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=290%3Abahour&catid=47%3Afp-roknewsflash&Itemid=53
Arab-Jewish dialogue: Is there a purpose?
Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American business development consultant from Youngstown, Ohio living in the Palestinian City of Al-Bireh in the West Bank. He is co-author of HOMELAND: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians(1994) and may be reached at sbahour@palnet.com .
Sunday, November 21, 2010
OPT: Economic Prison Zones
OPT: Economic Prison Zones
Source: The Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP)
Date: 19 Nov 2010
Sam Bahour
November 19, 2010
(Sam Bahour is a Palestinian business management consultant living in Ramallah. This essay was made possible with partial support from the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.)
When a project mixes the feel-good words of jobs, economic development and Israeli-Palestinian cooperation, how can anyone complain? These things are some of what the international community has been promising to deliver through the construction of industrial free trade zones in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The free trade zone model has been promoted locally and globally by powerful third parties like the United States, France, Germany, Turkey and Japan for two decades, but none has much to show for the enormous efforts and amounts of money spent to bring these zones to life. Nonetheless, the project's proponents expect the zones to constitute the economic foundation for a future Palestinian state. They hope that, by bolstering Palestine's economy, the zones will make Palestinians less prone to social upheaval, less insistent on their national rights and more amenable to the status quo. The idea is that a peace agreement with Israel will ensue.
While this expectation is unlikely to be realized -- at least not in the way that the projects' advocates anticipate -- these mega-employment projects present a serious challenge to those who strive to build an independent and viable economic foundation for a future Palestinian state. Because the zones will depend on Israeli cooperation to function, and because they will exist within an Israeli-designed economic system that ensures Palestinian dependence on Israel, they cannot form the basis of a sovereign economy. Relying on them will perpetuate the status quo of dependency.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
My letter to The Guardian RE The upcoming OECD tourism summit in Jerusalem will test its member countries' commitment to international law
The crown jewel of Jerusalem is Palestine's glorious Dome of the Rock. It was completed in 691-692, making it the oldest existing Islamic building in the world according to wikipedia. The names of the two engineers in charge of the project are given as: Yazid Ibn Salam from Jerusalem and Raja Ibn Haywah from Baysan.
Israel lists tourist sites in occupied territory, such as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, as Israeli. Photograph: Michele Falzone/JAI/CorbisRE: Can the OECD stand up to Israel? The upcoming OECD tourism summit in Jerusalem will test its member countries' commitment to international law by Sam Bahour and Charles Shamas
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/12/israel-oecd-tourism-summit
Dear Sir,
Thank you for publishing the revealing article "Can the OECD stand up to Israel?" concerning the fact that the upcoming OECD tourism summit in Jerusalem will test its member countries' commitment to international law... and Palestine.
It is quite troubling to read of this upcoming tourism conference considering the fact that as of this week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now refusing to stop Israel's settlement activities in the illegally occupied territories unless Palestinians agree to recognize Israel as a "Jewish state." Hussein Ibish rightly points out that "Netanyahu's “Jewish state” demand is ultimately about Jerusalem.
Time and time again modern man made Israel has done all it can to harass, displace, discredit, divide, demoralize and silence the native non-Jewish men women and children of historic Palestine. Economics, institutionalized bigotry and ignorance play a large part in how Jews-preferred Israel has been able to disenfranchise and oppress the native non-Jewish Palestinians on both sides of that ugly Israeli made Apartheid-Security Wall.
Zionist tours are often arranged for American politicians and businessmen, giving a very skewed picture of what really is going on. Israel's own school children are also victims of this skewed picture: Last year, the Israeli educational ministry banned the use of the word "Nakba" in school textbooks as part of a larger effort to promote Jewish identity. Last month Israeli officials harassed the principal of an Israeli school for using the textbook "Learning the Historical Narrative of the Other" which covers both Israeli and Palestinian views of the violence around the time of Israel's birth in 1948.
Ending the Israel/Palestine conflict with a secular two state solution in line with international law and The Universal Declaration of Human Rights really should be a top priority for all who value the lessons learned from history, as well as good business practices.... and The Golden Rule. Be wary of disingenuous Zionist propaganda: International law and The Arab Peace Initiative really do provide the best guide posts for travelers and residents who wish to help empower a just and lasting peace for everyone's sake.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
Growing Gardens for Palestine
The Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
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