Monday, March 25, 2024
My published letters from 20 years ago (from my old webpage) ... I am only one- so many have tried, and many many more will continue to try to free Palestine: PEACE & JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL !
Our words have a way of echoing out into either war or peace....
Anne Selden Annab***************************************************************************
A Few of my Published Letters to the Editor
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Patriot News 11-16-03
Broken Promises
Once upon a time, perhaps in 1948, a two state solution made much more sense (news article, Nov 2), but only in complete tandem with the full implementation of United Nations Resolution 194, from 1948, the Palestinian refugees inalienable right of return to live in peace.
Tragically for all, time has only compounded the very real pain and suffering of the native Palestinians.
Reach back into the history of broken promises that have done irreparable damage to the Palestinians both individually and collectively. Take for instance 1917's Balfour Declaration:
"His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
It is absolutely obvious to all who have the courage and compassion to reach beyond Israel's racist propaganda that the Palestinians have never really been given the opportunity to actually live in peace: Real peace depends on real justice.... and a leap of faith away from the ugly nightmarish realities wrought by Israel's own rampantly racist laws, walls and blind spots.
One people with full and equal rights for all-- one land, one people and one peace. Is that really so unreasonable.
Anne Selden Annab
Mechanicsburg PA
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Pittsburgh Post Gazette 11-16-03
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03320/240167.stm
Cultivating
caring
Thank you for publishing the wonderful Forum piece "Taking Back Macho Foreign Policy" by Marlene Nadle (Nov. 9). And I am thrilled that there was even a very respectful reference to Rachel Corrie, the young American college student who was cruelly crushed and killed by an Israeli armored bulldozer while she was trying to prevent the Israeli Defense Forces from destroying yet another Palestinian family home.
Many closed-minded and cold-hearted warmongers have been working hard to convince the world that Rachel Corrie (along with the rest of the International Solidarity Movement) put her life on the line in the occupied territories in order to support and protect terrorism, which is totally and completely wrong.
The ISM peace activists are amazing modern-day heroes who go to be human witnesses and shields, bravely leaving comfortable homes and lives in hopes that their presence will help turn the tide away from ugly escalating hate and war. They are trained in peaceful protest and are doing what they can to spread peace not war by using words not weapons.
What happened to Rachel Corrie was a horrible, horrible thing, but it has been made even worse by the lack of a concerned, honest and thorough investigation by both America and Israel into the situation surrounding her death.
It gives me great hope to hear that women across the globe are organizing to do what they can to create a culture of caring worldwide.
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
Mechanicsburg
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The Day
http://www.theday.com/eng/web/newstand/re.aspx?reIDx=5FD1C244-2AA7-4CDE-96AF-48A176A47E73
Israel's Wall Is One Of Hate, Not Protection
Published on 11/9/2003
Letters To The Editor:
Isaiah
D. Cooper is the one with a blatantly disturbed view. (“Writer's view
of war crimes disturbing,” Nov. 4.) Mr. Cooper sees Israel's huge
concrete walls of hate as a good thing, or a rational and reasonable
thing, blithely ignoring the obvious fact that not only are Israel's
racist walls quite physically ugly, they are also morally ugly.
Israel's racist walls are an aggressive insult to the Palestinians, and it is apparent to any one who can read a map that Israel's awful walls of hate are being built not to protect innocent Israelis but to protect a very racist Israel's biased laws and polices that persecute and impoverish the natives of the land.
Since 1948 Israel has refused to adhere to international law by respecting the Palestinian refugees inalienable right of return. I'd call that intentional ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile Israel has been investing a great deal of time, money and energy in building and expanding armed Jewish-only settlements through out the illegally occupied territories. Is it any wonder that neighboring Jordan has been forced to protect itself from Israel's many aggressive official and unofficial land grabs?
Israel's own rampant racism has created horrible problems in the Holy Land, with widespread ramifications for us all.
Anne Selden AnnabMechanicsburg, Pa
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/30/opinion/L30KRUG.html
The Way to Answer Anti-Semitism
To
the Editor:
"A Willful Ignorance," by Paul Krugman (column, Oct. 28), was exceptionally good. He dared to mention the fact that there are moderate Muslims. And he dared to look at the danger of assuming anti-Semitism in the wrong circumstances.
America has not kept itself well informed about world affairs, preferring to trust Israel's biased slant, which has thrust us onto a slippery slope.
The good news is that at least some are finally noticing that there is a "perception gap." Hang on to hope where you can, and you're much more likely to find the momentum to swing right up out of the messiest mess.
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
Mechanicsburg, Pa., Oct. 28, 2003
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New York Post 10-?-03
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/letters/8905.htm
Why in the world is Daniel Pipes, the man recently "elected" to
the U.S. Institute of Peace, digging up and flinging mud on a
Palestinian Fulbright scholar in Florida? And why should any reasonable
person trust Israel's accusations about who is and isn't a terrorist?
It is in Israel's best interests to completely oppress any intellectual stirrings that might lead to an actual questioning of Israel's racist laws and policies - especially peaceful Palestinian stirrings that might lead to sympathy for the very real plight of the Palestinian people.
Anne Selden Annab
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Miftah
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=2470&CategoryId=18
n Honor of Edward Said (A letter to President Bush)
September 27, 2003
By Annie Annab
Dear President Bush,
I am writing you today, in honor of Eward Said, a great and wise man who spoke out against America's massive support that arms and empowers Israel's ugly and racist war on the native Palestinians.
Edward Said bravely spoke out to help build a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. He, like so many others who dare point out the very real plight of the Palestinian people, was accused of supporting terrorism- but still he spoke out and encouraged others to do so also.
There is a phrase from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar ... "the rocks and stones themselves will start to sing".
Edward Said died today and his memory is being lifted up by many on the internet as all around the world people from many different races and religions and back grounds join together to mourn the passing of this amazing man who encouraged us all to speak out for the truth and for justice and for the inherent dignity of each individual and every culture and the beauty of music and the possibility of real peace.
Rocks and stones all around the world are protecting the truth as more and more people touched by wise heroes like Edward Said, see what Israel really is and how insane and counter productive America's support of a cruel and brutal and ugly Israel is.
Rocks and stones all around the world are coming together as witnesses to Israel's war crimes. Rocks and stones all around the world are speaking out to bash down Israel's walls of hate and neutralize Israel's poisonous propaganda so that real peace and possibility can take hold and flourish and fill people hearts and minds with hope.
Rocks and stones all around the world are rising up to protect both the truth and the Palestinians. We might not be scholars or wealthy or anything special but we all believe in peace.
There is no power greater than hope.... Hope holds the beauty of what once was and will be again. Hope holds the power of peace. Hope joins strangers so that billions of people of all races and religions and backgrounds can stand unified, mourning one wise man who died today.
He urged us all to speak out, and in honor of Edward Said, I urge you too to speak out about Israel's many crimes against humanity. And I urge every one I know to write their elected leaders and their newspapers and TV news shows and mourn the passing of Edward Said by doing what you can with your own voice and your own words and your hearts and your minds and humanity to prove Edward Said's words that "All human conflict is created by humans and it can be solved by humans."
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
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LA Times 9-13-03
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/letters/la-le-feldman13sep13,1,7486339.story?coll=la-news-comment-letters
Targeted Killings Fight Violence With Violence
I commend Walzer for condemning Israel's particular brand of brutal targeted killings but wonder why he didn't condemn all targeted killings. The big "if" underlying any targeted killing is what makes a targeted killing so very wrong: It is far too easy to accuse a person of a crime and then kill that person — plus any chance he might have to defend himself in a fair trial. The killer gets to kill not just his target but his target's personal story and any evidence he might have to prove his innocence, empowering propaganda rather than real justice.
Anne Selden Annab
Mechanicsburg, Pa.
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Patriot News 8-19-03
Wall of oppression
William Safire erred when he described Israel's "fence" as a wire fence (syndicated column Aug 6). His misinformation is no surprise since our naive news media has mainly refused to actually show the ugly reality of Israel's wall of shame.
Israel's monstrously tall wide concrete wall is anything but a straight line division between black and white- which would be bad enough in an age when we should know better.
Israel's apartheid wall runs in semi- circles around the Palestinians, trapping them, rather like a house of one way mirrors built to confound and confuse the people stuck inside, while the Israelis looking in from
every angle have the freedom and ease to keep living subsidized lives in armed Jewish-only settlements built on usurped Palestinian land, able and willing to keep shifting walls and borders on a moments notice.
Israel's wall is an act of war, one of many Israeli acts of war on the Palestinians basic human rights.
There is nothing democratic about Israel's 54 year refusal to implement international law by granting the Palestinians full and equal rights in the land of their birth. Israel has been ethnically cleansing the Holy Land rather than welcoming the natives of the land with the right to live in peace in the land of their birth.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
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New York Times 8-09-03
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/09/opinion/L09MIDE.html
Can a Barrier Bring Mideast Peace?
To the Editor:
Ethan Bronner (Editorial Observer, Aug. 8) confronts Israel's wall for what it is: ugly and cruel.
Real peace and security depend on real justice. Moderates and idealists who believe in democracy should be speaking out in support of international law, with the highest priority given to respecting the inherent wisdom of United Nations Resolution 194 of 1948, the Palestinian refugees' inalienable right of return.
Israel's newest wall is one of many Israeli walls that have been imprisoning and oppressing the native Palestinians for generations. Israel's laws and policies helped build that ugly wall long before a single strand of barbed wire was strung.
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
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The Day 8/4/2003
http://www.theday.com/eng/web/newstand/re.aspx?reIDx=FD6D0F3E-E4FE-42D4-BA02-581925003242
King Wouldn't Support Brutal Israeli Tactics
Letters To The Editor:
It was very brave — and very good — of you to publish Hassan Fouda's eye-opening letter (“Zionists Use Deception To Push Agenda,” July 24).
It's impossible to know for a fact what another person from another time and place would think, but given all the letters and speeches I have read by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I cannot help but believe that Dr. King would be quite horrified if he were to know about Israel's brutal state-sponsored terrorism of the Palestinian people.
And on further reflection surrounded as I am by the strength and beauty of dreams leaping up to be realized with full and equal rights for all people- regardless of race or religion, I am quite convinced that Dr. King would be publicly condemning a very racist Israel's apartheid walls and laws, and firmly calling for America to stop empowering Israel's persecution and impoverishment of the natives of the land.
Knowing what I know of our own struggles with civil rights, I am equally convinced that the key to a just and lasting peace is a real key. It is a large and cumbersome old metal key to a demolished home, a telling symbol treasured and polished smooth by the tender caressings of many young children listening to beloved parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts as they remember carefully-tended gardens and orchards and wells with cool water, laughter, work, school and a time when all brothers, sisters, cousins and friends were free to live and love each other in peace.
Anne Selden Annab
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Philadelphia Inquirer 8-3-2003
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/6444086.htm
Star of David in Auth cartoon was upsetting
Tony Auth's July 31 cartoon really stunned me. What a powerful and surprisingly true image. Auth's sketch of the perfect symmetry of Israel's state emblem, the Star of David, gives three dimensions to mimic Israel's "security fence" and shows it as an obvious cage. What brilliant insight. And such courage, too, since he is sure to be accused of being anti-Semitic because he exposed the ugly side of Israel's wall with his wit.
Israel usurped the Star of David from the Jewish religion, placing the religious symbol on a political flag. What a shame that Israel has chosen to wave that flag while flagrantly violating both international law and the Palestinians' basic human rights.
Anne Selden Annab
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Washington Times 7-31-93
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20030730-091824-9591r.htm
Responding to Suzanne Fields' Op-Ed column on Monday
"The last acceptable prejudice," the last acceptable prejudice is not anti-Semitism, it is our easy use of the word 'anti-Semitic,' which really is a racist word, a tainted remnant from a racist time when Nazis felt free to hate and hurt Jews just because the Jews were Jews. Racism is wrong period.
No one should ever be persecuted or impoverished because of who their mother was or where and how they pray. We are all human. We are all fully capable of both love and hate. Race and religion are arbitrary lines of separation drawn by modern definitions and reinforced by placing rumors alongside fact. Many of us are products of more than one race, more than one religion and so it has been throughout history. Our actual ancestry is more a matter of what we want to remember than anything else.
Rather than confusing justifiable complaints about Israel's own racist war on the Palestinians, Mrs. Fields should ponder the fact that Palestinians are Semites, too, but they are excluded from the word anti-Semitism in much the same way that Israel excludes the native Palestinians from full and equal rights in the land of their birth.
Racism might seem harmless or even safe at first, starting out with low murmurs and mumblings. But it has a habit of quickly becoming monstrous and ugly and uncontrollable, making enemies out of strangers and spreading hate, despair, violence, anger and pain in every direction. Racist walls and words have no place in or even near a democracy. It should be enough to say that an offensive cartoon was a racist insult and that racism is wrong.
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
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Patriot News, June 27, 2003
Doonesbury' brilliance
Joel R. Burcat ( Letters, June 20) must be confusing the sophisticated "Doonesbury" political cartoons of Garry Trudeau's with work like Peanuts, expecting silly Snoopy antics that are only meant to make us giggle. Trudeau's creative brilliance is in his amazing ability to make stunningly brilliant social and political commentaries with brief glimpses and statements. He does tend to tackle serious topics, and he does tend to explore them as honestly as he can, which of cause does accidentally offend some people at times.
Without a doubt it is a horrible tragedy when any human being, regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation is killed by a suicide, a suicide bomber, or a bomb. Nowhere did I see in Trudeau's series on suicide bombers any hint of approval or delight for suicide, suicide bombers, bombs, or Israeli snipers. I did, however, see that his main focus was clearly on the media and stereotypes versus the truth.
I find it odd that the Patriot News chose to publish a letter that perpetuates the very problems and contradictions that Trudeau was pointing out.
Anne Selden Annab
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The Morning Call -- June 16, 2003
http://www.mcall.com/news/opinion/letters/all-annabjun16,0,7897952.story?coll=all-newsopinionletters-hed
Congress and Israel need to rethink practices
Congress needs to rethink its practice of supporting Israel as a racist nation in the process of ethnically cleansing the Holy Land. I have been horrified by Israel's use of American-made helicopter gunships to kill people, including women and children, in crowded Gaza.
Israel really should fully implement international law, including the Palestinian refugees' inalienable right of return.
Anne Selden Annab
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Washington Times 6-13-03
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20030612-104627-9757r.htm
Dissension and division in the Mideast
Thank you for publishing David Nassar's exceptionally good letter ("No 'zero-sum game,' " Wednesday). He summed it up quite well by saying, "Peace is not an ethnic birthright." The most important function of the peace advocates is merely to be witnesses to the horrors wrought by Israel's racist war on the oppressed and persecuted Palestinians.
Those International Solidarity Movement peace advocates are today's most valiant heroes in bravely standing up to a well-armed and racist nation and doing what they can for real justice and a lasting peace.
How dare we accuse any Palestinian or their pro-peace supporters of being terrorists when Israel sends in helicopter gunships and "accidentally" kills innocent Palestinian women and children with brutal missile attacks.
No one should be discriminated against because of race or religion, and it is insane that superpower America willingly arms and empowers Israel's ethnic cleansing of the Holy Land.
Zionism really is racism, and pretending it is not has only misled many otherwise decent people into thinking and doing despicable things. There is no security in institutionalized racist hatred; there is only a continuing holocaust and flagrant violations of both moral and international law. There is nothing but chaos, suffering and pain on both sides of Israel's apartheid walls.
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
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USA Today 6-5-2003
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20030605/5215581s.htm
Mideast peace requires 'full and equal rights for all'
Commentary writer and rabbi Michael Lerner had some very good points in his column ''First draw peace map that works'' (The Forum, Tuesday). However, one vital point was not mentioned: the importance of implementing internal law, including United Nations Resolution 194, the Palestinian refugees' inalienable right to return.
As long as Israel is allowed to delude itself into believing that persecuting and oppressing the native Palestinians are actually security measures, there will be righteous indignation and perpetual war.
Full and equal rights for all -- including the right to vote -- are the basis for a real democracy, and actual justice is the foundation for a lasting peace.
Without the full implementation of U.N. Resolution 194, any road map is merely an exercise in driving in circles.
Anne Selden Annab
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Patriot News 5-30-03
Racist tirade threatens liberty
I was shocked to see Cal Thomas' racist tirade against Muslims in his bigoted column "The Threat Among Us" (May 23) .
Imagine if the words "Jews" or "Jewish" were swapped throughout his column for "Muslim" and "Islam". Within living memory, Nazi propaganda tactics worked once to dehumanize the Jews and systematically raise the gullible public's level of fear and hate into a holocaust of pain, suffering and death for many innocent and decent and good people.
Have we learned nothing from that horrible chapter in world history? Racist hate really is evil and wrong and only leads to increasing ugliness and violence and despair for all. Racist hate poisons each one of us by imprisoning people with paranoias large and small spewing from a learned inability to perceive the inherent dignity of others.
In addition, Thomas' fear- mongering rants against the inclusive use of the word "Abrahamic" defy both logic and history. Our civilization is deeply indebted to the Muslim world for contributing to and preserving a great deal of knowledge and art during the Western world's Dark Ages. Our Renaissance would have never flourished with out the enlightening influences of Islamic scholarship.
The day that our own democracy steps away from fully supporting freedom justice and equality for all is the day that the tyranny of hate wins and every American battle ever fought for freedom becomes a shackled slave to a state-sponsored war of terrorism on the basic human rights of each individual.
Anne Selden Annab
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Christian Science Monitor 5-29-03
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0529/p08s01-cole.htm
An exhibit US politicians should see
Thank you for publishing the fascinating article "An artistic 'road map' to progress" (May 28) concerning the Palestinian art show in Houston. The details about the difficulties in getting both the art and the artists here from the occupied territories gave a glimpse of the difficult circumstances that inevitably can't help but politicize any artist's work.
Perhaps all our own politicians should convene for talks in the midst of this telling exhibit of Palestinian art, drink deeply of the insight and expression found there, and think carefully before continuing to blindly endorse and empower Israel's war against the natives of the land.
Anne Selden Annab
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Ha'artz 5-15-2003
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/LiArt.jhtml?contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0
Attacking the roots
Regarding "Israel to bar pro-Palestinian activists from entering country," by Amos Harel and Aluf Benn, Haaretz, May 2
Israel is to bar pro-Palestinian activists from entering country. Isn't it rather late right now - at a time when even the most obscure detail can be dug up and spread worldwide on the internet in mere seconds - to try to stop the work of the International Solidarity Movement?
Wouldn't it be easier, and kinder really, to let the ISM stay, but give them nothing horrific to witness? Wouldn't it be wiser to stop challenging the presence of the ISM and start challenging the circumstances that brought them in the first place?
An armored bulldozer demolishing a civilian home needs no blackening to make it look bad. Some things just are ... and are a very bad idea in the first place.
Anne Selden Annab
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New York Times 5-1-03
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/01/opinion/L01MIDE.html
Mideast Path: Promise and Agony
To the Editor:Israel claims to be a democracy, so where are the full and equal rights for all ("Mideast Hope Meets Its Enemy," editorial, April 30)?
If every Israeli were told that tomorrow he had to trade places with a Palestinian in the occupied territories, swapping lives and jobs and homes and even weapons and access to water, what choices would Israel be making today?
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you would be a higher priority than it is right now.
That Israel is in long-term violation of international and moral laws, including the Palestinians' basic human rights, is the major factor in this terrible nightmare of suffering and rage.
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
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Harrisburg Magazine
http://www.harrisburgmagazine.com/hbgmag_online/0503dept-lttr-2-editr.html
May 2003 Issue
Dear Editor,
Concerning Harrisburg Magazine’s February “Last Paige” column on the Arab-Israeli conflict: The most sensible thing to do if you really want to work toward a just and lasting peace is to stop skimming the surface of the conflict and flinging out racist generalizations such as, “Perhaps the only way to end this conflict is to deconstruct the dominant Palestinian culture, which approves of terrorism.”
Israel’s racist laws and policies predate both Hamas and any Palestinian suicide bombing. Israel is in blatant and long-term violation of multiple U.N. resolutions … Racism is wrong… No one should be persecuted, impoverish or imprisoned in a ghetto because of what is or isn’t on an ID card.
The Palestinians are not the enemy, and neither are the Jews … racist hate is.
America should be insisting that Israel fully implement all the U.N. resolutions, including 194, the Palestinian refugees’ right to return.
Anne Selden Annab
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Advance Titan
The Student Newspaper of the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh
http://at.mio.uwosh.edu/story.asp?issue=10924&story=2319
Letter to editor commended
4/26/2003Online, I accidentally came across Barbara Fink’s letter “Holocaust not sole tragedy” concerning the current Holocaust in the Holy Land and I applaud you for printing her insightful letter.
I wish it were a billboard for all Americans to read because it is utterly insane that our hard-earned tax dollars are underwriting and arming Israel’s racist war on the Palestinians.
Imagine having multiple squadrons of armed “Christian-only” communities reached by “Christian-only” roads right here in America on every hilltop, leaving everyone who happens to have the “wrong” religion on their ID cards with little water and no rights.
Next imagine a select group of “world leaders” deciding that the solution to the rage and frustration that that racist “Christian-only” armed fortresses inspire is to shift those “Christian-only” armed forces to one side of an arbitrary line, leaving everyone else who happens to the “wrong” religion written on their ID card still with little water and no rights.
Sound far-fetched? Well that is exactly what is going on right now in the Middle East.
Israel should fully implement all the United Nations resolutions they are violating – including U.N. resolution 194, the Palestinian refugees (inalienable) right to return.
Anne Selden Annab
Pennsylvania
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The Christian Science Monitor 4-10-03
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0410/p10s02-cole.htm
Watching the same war from different perspectives
The April 8 Opinion piece "Whose 'truth' is being reported?" by Mohammed el-Nawawy was utterly fascinating. I envy all who have both the ability to intelligently comprehend more than one language and easy access to more than one country's views.
My cable TV offers almost a hundred channels with multiple newscasts blaring basically the same bright, red-white-and-blue stuff. Being leashed to a very limited worldview will only make coexistence with the rest of the world more and more difficult every day.
Winning the peace would be a great deal easier if more Americans understood how very small this earth of ours actually is, and that our words have a way of echoing out into either war or peace.
Anne Selden Annab
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WASHINGTON POST April 10, 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1544-2003Apr9.html
Israel's Influence in America
Colbert I. King is sobered by "the realization that there are people in this country who regard Jews as so dangerous that they bear watching and keeping tabs on their comings and goings in government and in other positions of influence in society."
A fascinating observation. However, it is not Jews but Muslims and Arabs who are being watched by their own government. Muslim and Arab countries and charities are put on official lists as supporting terrorism, and rumor, innuendo and secret evidence are used to round up racially profiled suspects, strip them of their rights and charge them with being terrorists.
Recently, Robert J. Goldstein was arrested for allegedly plotting to blow up as many as 50 mosques in the Tampa area. Mr. Goldstein, who is Jewish, allegedly wanted to make a statement for "his people" after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He had in his possession more than 30 explosive devices, including light-armor rockets, hand grenades and a gasoline bomb. But he was not charged with being a terrorist. Apparently, that privilege is reserved for Arabs and Muslims.
Perhaps if Israel did not receive such massive amounts of U.S. taxpayer money, weapons and political support; perhaps if Israel were not waging such a brutal and racist war against the Palestinians; perhaps if Israel didn't have such a loud voice in America's political process, sidelining politicians who show even an iota of sympathy for the Palestinians; perhaps if Israel weren't in the process of bulldozing Palestinian homes and confiscating Palestinian land and building apartheid walls -- well, perhaps then the threat of anti-Semitism would not be rearing its ugly head.
Racism is wrong -- period. The United States' support of Israel has ramifications worldwide, empowering sick lunatics such as Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, who hijack the Palestinians' suffering and just cause for complaint.
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
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Patriot News 3-25-2003
"Beautiful tribute to Ambrose Klain"
Thank you for publishing "Remembering" the beautiful tribute to Ambrose Klain the holocaust survivor who made his home in central Pennsylvania (news article , March 8).
"The Germans are much too civilized to do those things" Klaine's father said, when told of the death camps...and then Ambrose goes on to say in his memoirs "the ashes of their incinerated bodies rose from the gas chambers of Auschwitz to heaven. Their voices still cry to God for mercy and they are met by silence".
I cringe when I think of the atrocities wrought by racist hate then and even now, as all the innocent, the good, the decent, the kind, the gentle, the loving, the generous... as all that actually enriches our lives and fills our world with beauty and promise is butchered for
political purposes.
I am grateful that Ambrose Klain was able to come make his home in America and that he hasbeen able to help others like me hear the warning in the voice of his father who had no idea how much worse things would quickly become.
Racist hate for anyone is just so very very wrong; it leads to nothing but escalating despair and suffering and war.
There is no safety in racism, no haven in hate: We must always remember that Auschwitz, where Klain's family was murdered, is the real face of racism, and that there is nothing reasonable, much less civilized, in letting hate win.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
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Christian Science Monitor 3-19-2003
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0319/p10s03-cole.htm
Palestinians not
free to
enjoy flowers
Helen Schary Motro's March 17 opinion piece "An erstwhile island of peace" gently evades the very harsh realities of the situation in Israel, such as the inherent brutality of laws and policies that have been the driving force behind violence and suffering and despair on every side.
While Ms. Motro is free to wander most anywhere
she wishes in Israel, enjoying the
wildflowers that gloriously color the Galilee in early spring,
the Palestinians are imprisoned in rubble-filled ghettos by Israel's
apartheid laws and walls, as army checkpoints, curfews, and tanks churn
up and destroy Palestinian homes, villages, and farmland.
As an American lawyer, she should be more aware
than most of the importance of just
laws and civil rights. There is no security in Israel's racist laws,
and there is no hope in empowering racist hate, no matter how gently
it's done.
Israel should fully implement all the UN
resolutions it has been violating, including
Resolution 194, the Palestinian refugees' right of return:
one people, one land, one peace. Anything less is continued apartheid.
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USA Today 3-13-2003Young Americans are rising up to voice their opposition to a military
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20030313/4942619s.htm
Attack on Iraq would spur worldwide terrorism, war
strike against Iraq, and we really need to listen (''Debate over Iraq fires
passions not seen since the Vietnam War,'' Cover Story, News, March
6).
Pre-emptively annihilating Iraq likely would be the beginning of
worldwide terrorism and war, especially in light of the fact that for years
America has been planting seeds of despair, pain and righteous outrage
in the Arab and Muslim world by arming and empowering the Israelis
in their conflict with the Palestinians.
How dare we speak of spreading democracy while generously
underwriting Israel's ethnic cleansing of the Holy Land? How dare we
speak of freedom when, as far as I'm concerned, most of our elected
politicians and many of our media outlets suppress the truth about the
real plight of the Palestinians? They've been terrorized by Israel's hate
for more than half a century.
Anne Selden Annab
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Washington Times 2- 8- 2003It was oddly disjointed how Mona Charen's column,
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20030208-15786076.htm#2
Misfired eulogy of Israeli astronaut
"One nation ... hails Columbia" (Commentary,
Thursday), went from praising and honoring American
nationhood for encompassing "a continent of different
ethnic, religious and racial groups" right into fully
sympathizing with Israel, which is a place where the
non-Jewish segment of the population has been fiercely
discriminated against for generations.
We simply do not know what was in Israeli astronaut
Ilan Ramon's heart in outer space when he gazed at the
drawing "Moon Landscape," which was made by a
young boy whose life and promise were cruelly usurped
by the Nazis, who imprisoned so many innocent men,
women and children in concentration camps.
Yet, Holocaust relics and stories have been used for
pro-Israel propaganda for years, as Israel is ever eager to
hijack the sick brutality of Adolf Hitler and his
henchmen to justify and expand Israel's racist war on
the Palestinians.
There is always the chance that Israel's "war hero"
abandoned his country's racist notions as he lifted off
from Earth and broke free from our atmosphere.
Perhaps he found his recent years of study in the United
States — where full and equal rights and opportunities
for all are assured by just laws — rewarding and
enlightening. Perhaps Holocaust victim Petr Ginz's
drawing "Moon Landscape" reminded him of all the
rubble and ruin wrought by Israel's racist war and of all
the Palestinian children trapped in impoverished ghettos
in the Holy Land.
Perhaps, as he gazed down at the fragile orb called
Earth, he fully understood that no child anywhere
should be discriminated against because of his race or
religion, and that every child deserves a future full of
possibility ... and peace.
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
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Washington Post 12-7-2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21151-2002Dec6.htmlFreedom, Justice, Equality -- for All
Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, demonized Egypt
for broadcasting a TV series called "Horseman Without a Horse" [letters, Nov. 26].
If Mr. Foxman and the Anti-Defamation League spent as much energy insisting that the
Palestinians be treated fairly both on the ground and in the media, then I would find
his comments more pertinent. But he claims anti-Semitism whenever anyone questions
Israel's laws and policies.
As a prominent American voice, Mr. Foxman should be emphasizing secular freedom and
justice and equality for all, even the Palestinians. Egypt's "Horseman Without a
Horse" would have no audience if the Arab world wasn't witness to the racist crimes
perpetuated against the Palestinian people.
Stop hate, don't inspire it
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
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Philadelphia Inquirer 12-4-2002
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/4659470.htm
I totally agree with Steven Rosenzweig's letter "Cartoon unfair
to Muslims" (Dec. 3).
In Hitler's Germany, anti-Semitism was part and parcel of the
times, and the media there and in many other
places were filling people's minds with horrible racist stuff.
Bad went to worse as people too easily accepted the
unacceptable and did not understand the ugly ramifications of
racism.
We should know better now.
Thank you for at least printing Mr. Rosenzweig's letter, but I
can't help but think the type of people most swayed
by cartoons need to be reached in the same medium. Auth should
work on stopping racist hate, not inspiring it.
Anne Selden Annab
MechanicsburgIsrael's latest wall is not a wall of fear- it is a weapon (in response to Thomas
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Patriot News Monday, December 02, 2002
SEEKING REAL PEACE
Friedman's column Nov 28) . A huge churning land confiscating choking primitive
weapon in a siege attack on the Palestinians' basic human rights.
Anwar el-Sadat declaring "No more war" is simply not enough to make this very
real nightmare go away. Real peace depends on real justice.
Israel should stop blaming the Palestinians for everything and start the long
and difficult task of building legal walls against racist discrimination... fighting
anti-semitism should include fighting for the full and equal rights of each and every
Palestinian.
In addition, fully implementing international law would go a long way towards
laying the ground work towards a just and lasting peace. Israel must fully implement
United Nations Resolution 194, the Palestinian refugee's right to return; anything
less is continued apartheid.
Peace really is possible.
Anne Selden Annab
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New York Times 11-10-2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/10/opinion/L10RAMA.html
On Being a Muslim in America
To the Editor:'Honest' account depicts reality of Palestinians' lives
Thank you for "Learning a Lesson for Ramadan," by Asma Gull Hasan (Op-Ed,
Nov. 6). Will this glimmer of truth help usher out all the wild assumptions,rash fears and gratuitous opinions about Islam, which are based mainly on misinformation and ugly stereotypes? I hope so — our democracy dependson it.
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
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USA Today 8-7-2002
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020807/4339713s.htm
Thanks for publishing the brutally honest commentary by Sherri Muzher, an American of Palestinian descent (''Mideast conflict bores too many,'' The Forum, Friday).
I am outraged by our media's fixation on Israeli pain and suffering, especially when compared with the meager and limited information provided about the plight of Palestinians. I am shocked that U.S. taxpayers are giving billions of dollars in aid that empowers Israel's policies of
apartheid.
Despite the ongoing suicide bombings, Jewish Americans are still eagerly encouraging their kids to study in Israel. Jewish-only roads lead to Jewish-only settlements occupied by a fair portion of
American Zionists and guarded by American zealots determined to protect ''the Jewish state.''
It is obvious that the Palestinians are not monsters. They have just complaints about being made into refugees and being impoverished and persecuted by Israel. It's clear to me that Israel's
continued racism is made possible with U.S. aid.
A two-state solution is no longer possible because of Israel's state-sponsored terrorism, which includes many illegal settlements.
The only hope now is a secular state with full and equal rights for all. A good first step would be for the United States to stop supporting and sustaining Israel and start paying attention to what is
really going on.
Anne Selden Annab
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*****************************************************
A Small Sampling of My Published Poems
*****************************************************Poems published at Moongate Internationale
*****************************************************
Aspens
*****************************************************
Poets Against The War
Sunrise in Suburbia
in the warmth
of flannel
and a soft sleepy stir of skin
in the warmth
cupping an old white ceramic mug
filled with sugared coffee and cream
my own babies sleep upstairs
snuggled in soft blankets
in rooms brimming with bright toys
while far away from print and film
Palestinian babies shiver with IDF bomb blast
and the grind of military tanks approaching again
My morning their afternoon
My sleep their despair
My silence
more deadly than arsenic or anthrax
as racist insanities obscure
the suffering sweeping our papers, and
films full of fluff as thick as blankets
flicker and dodge bullets so we won't know
of the faraway hunger and hopelessness
Flicker and dodge and deflect justice
wrap our minds with silk and our hearts with stone
so we can rise again to work for this war
our wages taxed to the hilt...
So that faraway children can shiver and bleed to death
glazing pebbles in the rubble of the Holy Land
with bright crimson blood.
Anne Selden Annab
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