RE: Jackson Diehl, Deputy Editorial Page Editor: Obama’s Middle East
fallacy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jackson-diehl-obamas-middle-east-fallacy/2014/03/16/c72b273e-aad1-11e3-98f6-8e3c562f9996_story.html
Dear Editor,
Is Judaism really so fragile it needs a sovereign nation state with
tax payers here and there (plus many charities) coerced into
subsidizing Jewish scholars and Jews-preferred housing and the
appointment of official Jewish State Rabbis to say who can marry and
enjoy full citizenship rights and freedoms in a place that not too
long ago was known as Palestine.
Israel's alleged Jewishness is in the eye of the beholder. For some,
perhaps even many Jewish Israelis, Israel's alleged Jewishness has
been inspiring obsessions with demographics, which in turn generate
a misguided Israeli willingness to persecute, impoverish, oppress
and expel the native non-Jewish Palestinians.
As our world becomes more crowded and clean water and other
resources become more scarce, do we really want to set the precedent
for every community and every nation on earth to favor a preferred
religion or sect and faction, with every group and subgroup feeling
compelled to be a 'freedom fighter' for their own preferred
religious tyranny?
The global information age means that information travels fast, and
documentation is easily shared. We stand at an important junction in
the Israel-Palestine conflict, at a time when a fully secular two
state end to the conflict it still possible... Do we really want
America's fourth estate, and our religious leaders and our
politicians, and our President Obama, to advocate and promote the
idea that religious demographics matter more than the rule of fair
and just laws- and universal human rights.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES
Old
Man of Jerusalem... with an AP archive link to a wonderful old
(& very brief) video made in 1957 of an amazing Palestinian,
Mohammad Khalil Abulhawa, born in 1821
Outreach:
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) "Our Israeli and
Palestinian partners in the Middle East as well as our partners
in the U.S. believe as we do that a lasting peace must begin
with a commitment to shared security for all."
#LetUsThrough
... & KUDOS to The Guardian for a dignified glance at what
is it really like to be on the frontline of humanitarian
response
"The
best and most effective way to reduce the tensions and tragedies
such as the murder of the Jordanian judge, is to end the
occupation and totally remove the unwanted Israeli occupiers
from Palestinian territories." Daoud Kuttab Analysis: Allenby killing
highlights need for serious change
Rachel
Corrie 5th Grade Speech: I'm here because I care Rachel
Corrie was a 23-year-old American peace activist from Olympia,
Washington, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer on 16
March 2003, while undertaking nonviolent direct action to protect
the home of a Palestinian family from demolition.
Today
(15/03/2014): The Israeli civil administration delivered a
notice to a Palestinian village in the central West Bank
declaring plans to confiscate parts of the village's land
Netanyahu's demand for recognition of
Israel as a Jewish state bizarrely inserts Palestinians into the
'Who is a Jew' debate: Ziad Asali of the American Task Force on
Palestine
Ibish: How many times must the Palestinians recognize Israel?
Video
of the Late Amb. Sam Lewis, a Friend of both Palestine and
Israel
American
Task Force on Palestine... A Decade of Achievement: Answers to
Frequently Asked Questions About ATFP
U.N.
Denies Altering Image of Palestinian Refugees in Damascus By the
NYTimes' Robert Mackey
Sam
Jadallah: Netanyahu's Silicon Valley visit a lost opportunity
Visualizing Palestine: 20
Years of Talks Keeping Palestine Occupied
Arab
League, Abbas reject recognizing Israel as 'Jewish state'
Palestine
Refugees in Syria: An Andy Warner Comic
A
UN Committee Expresses Concern over Recent Developments in
Occupied Jerusalem... The committee said that Israel also
continues to construct settlements in East Jerusalem, in
violation of international law and in defiance of the
international community's repeated calls for ending such illegal
acts.
Plea
to the Pope... Ash Wednesday Letter To Pope Francis: Speak Out
Against Targeting of Palestinian Children
Official:
Israel refused to let Palestinian refugees in Syria return
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu never tires of inventing new
hoops through which he insists Palestinians jump. As he
acknowledged a few weeks back, it's all part of a cynical game
that he plays in an effort to kill the chances for peace....
The
Palestinian national soccer team, a source of pride for many,
has been under attack by the Israeli state.
Hanan
Ashrawi: "Today, 20 years after Baruch Goldstein cut down so
many innocent lives in a burst of hateful rage, the poisonous
anti-Arab racism that turned him into a mass murderer is alive
and well in Israel."
Palestinian Refugees (1948-NOW) refused
their right to return... and their right to live in peace free
from religious bigotry and injustice.
Given the U.S. commitment to
religious freedom, and to the international covenants that
guarantee it as the inalienable right of every human being,
the United States seeks to:
Promote
freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a
fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all
countries
The Office
of International Religious Freedom
( http://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/
)
Refugees and the Right of Return
We call for a just solution to our refugee issue in accordance with
UN General Assembly Resolution 194. Our position on refugees is also
included and supported in the Arab Peace Initiative (API),
which calls for “a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem
to be agreed upon in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution
194.” A just solution to the refugee issue must address two aspects:
the right of return and reparations.
Refugees, Borders & Jerusalem
"Where, after all, do
universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home -
so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of
the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person;
the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he
attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are
the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal
justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without
discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they
have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action
to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for
progress in the larger world."Eleanor Roosevelt
More than sixty years ago, back in 1949, the
Application of Israel for admission to membership in the
United Nations (A/818) clearly pointed out that Israel was
directly contravening "the previous recommendations of
the United Nations in at least three important respects:
in its attitude on the problem of Arab refugees, on the
delimitation of its territorial boundaries, and on the
question of Jerusalem." http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/85255e950050831085255e95004fa9c3/1db943e43c280a26052565fa004d8174?OpenDocument
It’s
important for people to know how far the Palestinians have come
to put an end to the conflict with Israel.
The
Palestinian Refugee's Right of Return: No issue is more
emblematic of the 20th century Palestinian experience than the
plight of the approximately seven million Palestinian refugees.
What
message do we send?
Reflections
By An ARAB JEW by Ella Habiba Shohat "
When my grandmother first
encountered Israeli society in the '50s, she was
convinced that the people who looked, spoke and ate so
differently--the European Jews--were actually European
Christians. Jewishness for her generation was
inextricably associated with Middle Easterness. My
grandmother, who still lives in Israel and still
communicates largely in Arabic, had to be taught to
speak of "us" as Jews and "them" as Arabs. For Middle
Easterners, the operating distinction had always been
"Muslim," "Jew," and "Christian," not Arab versus Jew.
The assumption was that "Arabness" referred to a common
shared culture and language, albeit with religious
differences."
UNITED NATIONS: Give Peace a Chance...
The year 2014 has been proclaimed the International Year of
Solidarity with the Palestinian People... “The objective
of the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian
People is to promote solidarity with the Palestinian people as a
central theme, contributing to international awareness of (a) core
themes regarding the question of Palestine, as prioritized by the
Committee, (b) obstacles to the ongoing peace process, particularly
those requiring urgent action such as settlements, Jerusalem, the
blockade of Gaza and the humanitarian situation in the occupied
Palestinian territory and; (c) mobilization of global action towards
the achievement of a comprehensive, just and lasting solution of the
question of Palestine in accordance with international law and the
relevant resolutions of the United Nations.”
History
of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by
the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, was the result of the
experience of the Second World War. With the end of that war, and
the creation of the United Nations, the international community
vowed never again to allow atrocities like those of that conflict
happen again. World leaders decided to complement the UN Charter
with a road map to guarantee the rights of every individual
everywhere. The document they considered, and which would later
become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was taken up at
the first session of the General Assembly in 1946. "
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/history.shtml
U.N.
Resolution 194 from 1948 Resolves that the refugees
wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their
neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable
date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those
choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which,
under principles of international law or in equity, should be made
good by the Governments or authorities responsible;
Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a
military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or
provide security for the parties, the council:
1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a
just peace is its strategic option as well.
2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:
I- Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied
since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4,
1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese
territories in the south of Lebanon.
II- Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee
problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General
Assembly Resolution 194.
III- The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign
independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories
occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
with East Jerusalem as its capital.
3. Consequently, the Arab countries affirm the following:
I- Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a
peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the
states of the region.
II- Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of
this comprehensive peace.
Palestinian refugees’ right to return to the homes from which they
were displaced is well established in International law. The first
source of support for Palestinian refugees’ claims to a right of
return is UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (III) Of December 1948,
paragraph 11, in which the UN General Assembly,
“Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and
live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at
the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be
paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss
of or damage to property which, under principles of international
law or in equity, should be made good by the governments or
authorities responsible;
Instructs the Conciliation Commission to facilitate the
repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation
of the refugees and the payment of compensation…”
Since 1949, this resolution together with UNSC Res. 242 and 338 have
been regularly reaffirmed by the UN General Assembly.
The rights outlined in this resolution are firmly grounded in
international humanitarian, human rights, and refugee law.
According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)
Executive Conclusion No. 40, “…the basic rights of persons to return
voluntarily to their country of origin is reaffirmed and it is urged
that international cooperation be aimed at achieving this solution.”
[xi]
UNHCR’s support for the right of return is based on the idea
that the right of return is a recognized customary norm of
International law which is included in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Fourth Geneva Convention.[xii]
- 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.
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