Saturday, October 1, 2011
The Cloud
"Since there are more ordinary people in the world than there are businesses, and since there’s nothing that ordinary people don’t want or need, or can’t be persuaded they want or need when it flashes up alluringly on their screens, the money to be made from them is virtually limitless." Daniel Soar http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n19/daniel-soar/it-knows
Friday, September 30, 2011
What Impact Will Anwar Al-Awlaki's Death Have In The West?
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/what_impact_will_anwar_al-awlakis_death_have_in_the_west.php
The death of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric linked to al Qaeda's operations in Yemen, is likely to impact American Arabs and Muslims in positive fashion, according to Dr. Hussein Ibish, former communications director for the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Commitee.
The death of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric linked to al Qaeda's operations in Yemen, is likely to impact American Arabs and Muslims in positive fashion, according to Dr. Hussein Ibish, former communications director for the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Commitee.
Al-Awlaki, who was killed in Yemen on Friday, was one of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's influential English-speakers, and part of its propaganda machine. Al-Alwaki was also implicated in a number of attacks on American soil. Before September 11, he was a preacher in a mosque outside Washington D.C. -- and some of the hijackers are said to have attended that same mosque in the days before the attacks.
According to Dr. Hussein Ibish, who is now a senior research fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP), because he was American and because of his influence, al-Awlaki created "fodder" for Islamophobes in the U.S... READ MOREWhere Do We Go from Here? Five things that Palestine could do to push forward the quest for statehood.
Hussein Ibish: "If they play their cards right, Palestinian leaders will have made the moral case for their statehood, demonstrated that they do have options outside the established peace process, and secured new diplomatic leverage and political capital at home. But if they mishandle diplomacy in the coming weeks and months, they could face a very dangerous crisis in relations with the West, and especially with the United States, which they can ill afford."
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/09/30/palestinian_statehood_un_where_do_we_go?page=full
In a perfunctory meeting on Wednesday morning, Sept. 28, as expected, and per its usual procedure for dealing with would-be new United Nations members since the late 1960s, the Security Council referred the Palestinian application to one of its standing committees. The committee -- which meets and votes in secret and requires unanimity to refer the matter back to the Security Council -- is scheduled to begin considering the application on Friday morning. The membership process usually takes weeks, but can take only days (as with the most recent U.N. member, South Sudan) or years (as in the case of Kuwait). Neither the committee nor the Security Council is under any specific obligation to act on the request in a limited time frame, so the process theoretically could drag on indefinitely....READ MOREMost in International Community Persuaded to ‘Actualize Endgame of Two-State Solution’, Now up to Security Council, Palestinian Rights Committee Told
Committee on the Inalienable Rights
of the Palestinian People
335th Meeting (AM)
Most in International Community Persuaded to ‘Actualize Endgame of Two-State Solution’, Now up to Security Council, Palestinian Rights Committee Told
Secretary-General’s Swift Transfer of Bid to Council Means It Was Impeccable, Says Palestine’s Observer, Proclaiming Palestinians Ready to Govern Themselves
Following the historic submission on 23 September of the application of Palestine for admission to membership in the United Nations, it was time for the natural, historic and legal right of the Palestinians to join the community of nations to be granted, Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, told the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People today.
“The application ushered in the beginning of the Palestinian Spring,” Mr. Mansour said, underlining that it was a peaceful but clear statement that the Palestinian people could no longer tolerate occupation. “Occupation has to end now. This is the time for our independence. This is the time for our membership.”
He said that the application was based on the widespread recognition that the Palestinians’ successful two-year State-building programme received from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the United Nations and others, as well as the assessment by the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee in Brussels in June and in September in New York that “we are ready to govern ourselves”.
In an indication that the application was “impeccable,” he said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, within an hour of receiving it, had passed it on to the President of the Security Council. The application, in turn, had been immediately distributed to Council members, and, in a unanimous action on 28 September, the Council had moved both to include the application on its agenda and to refer it to its Committee on the Admission of New Members. Furthermore, the Council was holding informal talks right now on Palestine’s membership application.
“We hope the Security Council will shoulder its responsibility and will not deny us,” Mr. Mansour said, arguing that by convincing 129 countries to “invest in peace” by recognizing Palestine — and with two additional countries set to announce their recognition in the coming days — the Palestinians had persuaded a majority of the international community “to actualize the endgame of the two-State solution”.
He said that, while one very powerful country in the Council had assured the Palestinians both in open and closed meetings that it would wield its veto to prevent Palestine’s full membership, everything must be done to expand the number of Council members favouring it. At this point, the Palestinians were not dwelling on any alternate path through the General Assembly and would only consider such a route if events dictated they must.
Turning to the statement issued on 23 September by theMiddle East Quartet ( United Nations, Russian Federation, United States and European Union), he said the Palestinian leadership’s response amounted neither to enthusiastic support nor enthusiastic rejection. Despite many vague statements that required clarification, the Quartet statement included elements that could be expanded on. However, the Palestinian Authority had made clear that, accepting the principle of land swaps, the 1967 borders were the basis for their negotiating terms, and a full settlement freeze was required for talks to take place. If paragraph 5 of the Quartet’s statement referred to those terms — and if the Israelis accepted that understanding — there was a possibility for negotiations.
Unfortunately, however, the Israeli Government responded to the statement, not in words, but in deeds, authorizing the construction of 1,100 houses. He stressed that this answer was a rejection of the Quartet statement, as well as of the Road Map, which also required a settlement freeze. “They are closing the doors and windows of negotiations before the possibility of taking the first step,” he said, underscoring that the Palestinian Authority would not relent on the issue and that the international community must find collective ways to force Israel to abide by international law.
Earlier, Committee Chairman Abdou Salam Diallo ( Senegal) outlined recent developments since the Committee’s last meeting on 27 July, noting that the Israeli Government had accelerated its settlement expansion into the West Bank and East Jerusalem. On 4 August, it approved the construction of 900 new homes in the “Har Homa” settlement, while on 11 August, final approval was given for 1,600 new homes in the “Ramat Shlomo” settlement. Further authorizations were also granted for 277 new homes in the “Ariel” settlement and for 110 new homes in the “Beit Aryeh” settlement. Most recently, on 27 September, 1,100 new homes were approved in the “Gilo” settlement.
Among other activities, he said Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe briefed the Security Council on 25 August and 27 September. He noted that during the reporting period, Palestine had been recognized as a State by El Salvador, Honduras, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Belize.
In other developments, he drew attention to the controversy created over the report of the Panel of Inquiry on the 31 May 2010 flotilla incident. The report, which was submitted to the Secretary-General on 2 September, was criticized by a group of five independent United Nations human rights experts, among many others, in particular, for the conclusion that Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip was legal.
Introducing the Palestinian Rights Committee’s draft report to the General Assembly and outlining it chapter by chapter, Rapporteur Saviour F. Borg said Israeli settlement activities were “inimical” to the peace process and contravened international law, Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, and the Road Map. In the Committee’s view, further progress required the dismantlement of the Israeli occupation and its associated settlements, which had intensified. The Committee recommended that international meetings in 2012 focus on widening support for Palestine’s right to self-determination, strengthening support for permanent status negotiations and ending all illegal Israeli practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
He said the Committee would convene a meeting on the role of youth to resolve the question of Palestine, and would pay particular attention to the empowerment of women and their organizations to help end incitement on both sides. The Committee also strongly recommended continuation and enhancement of the annual training for Palestinian Authority staff by the Division for Palestinian Rights, and requested that continued attention be given to development of the “Question of Palestine” website and use of new technology and social media. Finally, the Committee requested continuation of the Department of Public Information’s special programme on the question of Palestine, which made an important contribution.
Before the Committee adopted the draft report, to be presented to the General Assembly in November, the representatives of South Africa and Cuba proposed that its recommendations should positively support Palestine’s recent request for United Nations membership. Cuba’s representative proposed that the report’s recommendations express the Committee’s desire for the Security Council to favourably consider that request. Following Mr. Mansour’s expression of support for those proposals, the Rapporteur invited South Africa and Cuba to submit a written formulation of those additional recommendations to the Bureau for examination and possible inclusion in the draft report.
In other business, the Chair said the annual training programme for Palestinian Authority staff had started on 12 September, welcoming Jumana El-Ghoul and Bassam Qawasmeh, First Secretaries in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. He also recalled that the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People would be observed on 29 November, at which time the Assembly would consider the item on the question of Palestine.
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For information media • not an official record
Why Jeff Goldberg is Wrong about Mearsheimer--Again | Stephen M. Walt
Ever since John Mearsheimer and I began writing about the Israel lobby, some of our critics have leveled various personal charges against us. These attacks rarely addressed the substance of what we wrote -- a tacit concession that both facts and logic were on our side -- but instead accused us of being anti-Semites and conspiracy theorists. They used these false charges to try to discredit and/or marginalize us, and to distract people from the important issues of U.S. Middle East policy that we had raised...READ MORE
Committed art radiates hope
Work by Abdul Hay Musallam on display at the Jordanian Plastic Artists’ Association in Jabal Luweibdeh (Photo by Mohammed Abo-Afefa)http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=12206
Committed art radiates hopeBy Sally Bland
Abdul Hay Musallam has become known for his depictions of Palestinian heritage and pre-1948 village life, and these elements are present in the exhibition of his works titled “Art and the Cause”, which opened November 12 at the Jordanian Plastic Artists’ Association in Jabal Luweibdeh. But the real focus is elsewhere, for the works on display all have a political thrust. They are the artist’s response to recent and historical events affecting the Palestinian cause.
Two opposing currents are apparent in Musallam’s reliefs now on display at the Jordanian Plastic Artists’ Association. One is the recurring Israeli drive to eliminate the Palestinian people. The other is the Palestinians’ persistent efforts to defend themselves and recover their lost rights and homeland.
The power and detail with which these opposing trends are depicted - often face-to-face in the same work - is impressive. There are several reliefs commemorating massacres, starting with the one inflicted on Musallam’s home village, Duwaymeh, in 1948. Yet, however severe the attack, Musallem adds a sign of resistance, a sprig of hope for the future. A striking example of this is the relief showing the massacre in Jenin, where a small group of militants remain standing on a mound of dead bodies still trying to defend their camp.
Of the 23 exhibited works, some will be familiar to those who know Musallam’s work, while others are entirely new. A few are in muted green, brown or reddish earth tones, but most are brightly painted in primary colours - a virtual celebration of Palestinian traditional culture which has become Musallam’s signature, forming the backdrop to the events portrayed. His works are unmistakable. Who else would paint every stitch of the embroidery pattern on a woman’s thob and sometimes even the tattoos on her chin or forehead?
The intricacy of the design defies that simplicity of the media, for all of the exhibited works follow Musallam’s special recipe for mixed media. Combining sawdust and glue into a paste, he moulds his figures onto a slab of wood, creating a relief, which he then paints, often in minute detail.
Many of the pieces honour martyrs. One of them, titled “A Dove from America in Rafah”, is dedicated to Rachel Corrie, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while trying to prevent a house demolition. She appears as a dove cloaked in a Palestinian kofia and embroidered thob. In the background, a cactus stands as a symbol that the Palestinians will remain on their land, defying the odds, despite the costs.
In another relief, a tree sprouts from the blood of a martyr, its shape formed by inscribed poetry, in what is sometimes called a concrete poem. There are also reliefs honouring Mahmoud Darwish and Palestinian artist Mustafa Hallaj.
Bright green is a predominant colour in the exhibited works, the sign of new life, as in the piece titled “The Martyr”, showing a fallen Palestinian draped in green being carried in a funeral procession. In the process, his body has stretched horizontally to an extraordinary length and sprouted a row of young trees, flowers and cacti.
“The Martyr” is the centrepiece of three large reliefs, all new, that together cover one wall of the exhibit. To the left is a complex composition of struggle and martyrdom. To the right is a depiction of the Apartheid Wall, showing how it arbitrarily cuts through villages, shutting off neighbours from each other, yet at the same time uniting them in resistance.
Another large relief is boldly titled “Holocaust in Gaza ,” commemorating the many Palestinians killed by the Israeli army in February 2008. Here Musallam is keen to gage reactions to this crime. A row of cacti endowed with wide, shock-filled eyes stand as witnesses, while three male figures mimic the “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” paradigm, trying their best to ignore what is happening - a graphic depiction of Palestinian disappointment at the meager regional and international response to Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians.
In many of the reliefs, it is children who signify the continuation of struggle and hope for a better future. Most often, it is a strong, mature woman entrusting the future to the new generation. In a particularly striking work titled “The Right of Return”, a woman holds out her thick braids to serve as bridges for marching children heading to recover their homeland.
This is committed art at its best, combining beauty with protest, revealing real events and challenging the viewer to take a stand. No art should be reduced to a single message, but if the exhibition can be summed up in one theme, it is that despite the immense difficulties of the present state of the Palestinian cause, the people will not be daunted, nor will they simply go away. On the contrary, the Palestinians will remain and persist by all means, striving to regain their rights and homeland.
The exhibition continues until November 26.
Celebrating Palestine through the Art of Abdul Hai Musallam
Celebrating Palestine through the Art of Abdul Hai MusallamBy George Al Ama and Nada Atrash
Palestine and its celebrations were the motivation behind the talent of Abdul Hai Musallam. At the age of five, Abdul Hai lost his father and continued to live peacefully among his five sisters and their mother in his little village of Al Dawaimeh, near Hebron. They were expelled from the village in 1948. That period of Abdul Hai’s life was the most influential on his art; he spent his childhood in his village home where all the women in the neighbourhood used to gather each morning. He represented this repetitive event in his work Abdul Hai’s Mother’s House, in which he recounted the daily routine of the village women who came together to embroider and chat while sipping their morning coffee. The little child Abdul Hai is observing the details while sitting in a tree and watching the scene.
In 1970 - a date that Abdul Hai refers to as his true date of birth - he began to use a carpenter’s technique of mixing sawdust with glue to produce a dough-like substance to fill the cracks of a piece of wood in order to form bas-relief figures and shapes. The ensemble is later painted to form masterpieces that reflect the memoirs of the artist’s early life in Palestine. It was a long journey for the self-taught Abdul Hai to discover the artist that lay inside him; his ultimate dream was to fight for Palestine. Unable to fulfil this dream, he was led by an urge to employ his art to serve the Palestinian cause.
In Tripoli, Libya, the first station of his mysterious journey with art, the Libyan Desert added to his feelings of pain and alienation. Later he moved to Beirut and then to Damascus before settling back in to the crowded neighbourhood of Al-Qusour in Amman. Throughout his journey Abdul Hai maintained his spontaneous nature and honesty, which were reflected clearly and freely in his representations of pre-1948 Palestine. He concentrated on the beauty and simplicity of the Palestinian village and its richness - daily life, celebration, feasts, and traditions - forgetting the painful reality of Palestine.
The late seventies and early eighties in Beirut were an important period in Abdul Hai’s art, during which he continued to work under the Israeli bombing. Sitting on a chair in his makeshift studio in the entrance of a building, Abdul Hai spent his days working vigorously on his art. At sunset he would arrange his equipment, pick up his rifle, and leave to begin his night duty as a guard. His art during that period reflected the Palestinian struggle; a bas-relief work of young women and men dancing with rifles in their hands represents pride and power, and the commitment to resist. His works of that period were exhibited in many places. One of the most significant exhibitions of that time - and one that was visited by the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat - was held in Beirut in 1982, under the fire of the Israeli invasion.
Another approach to resistance is noticeable in the prominence of “the woman” in works that reflect Palestinian heritage and folklore. For Abdul Hai, woman is the reason for life; she is the mother, the daughter, and the lover. Sometimes she is there with her impulsive nature and at other times she is there simply wearing her traditional dress; she could be as lofty as an empress in a legend or as transparent as a mistress. For him she is a symbol of the earth, the revolution, or freedom; she is a representation of fertility and the land.
Born in 1933 and living in his home village until 1948, Abdul Hai now enters his Amman studio in the morning and leaves behind his reality to return to those fifteen early years, trying to assemble his memories and arrange them in artistic masterpieces together with the joys and delights of Palestinian cultural heritage. Abdul Hai creates folkloric portraits and documents traditional songs, sayings, and poems that relate to various occasions and situations. His works represent traditional dresses from various areas of Palestine; a collection of relatively small art pieces shows one to three figures modelling costumes from the various areas of Palestine. He often inscribes sayings on love, romance, affection, and sorrow on these works.
A detailed illustration of village weddings is a living witness to all the celebrations that accompany the occasion, starting with the visit of the groom’s family to the bride’s house, the bride’s henna, the bride’s arrival on a camel (al-zafeh), the arrival of the bride at the bridegroom’s house, and the dancing and dabkeh that accompany the celebration. His works display a spontaneous yet sophisticated illustration of embroidered traditional dresses, headdresses, veils, and jewellery, as well as rugs, carpets, and scenes of the village in the background.
Other special celebrations, feasts, and activities of the Palestinian village are documented in the works of Abdul Hai; the Festival of the Tree - Spring Festival, Sham Al Nasim documents a traditional festival that is no longer celebrated in Palestine. Fasting Ramadan is another work of art that represents the holy month of Ramadan: men are gathered around a low table holding their beads and waiting for the sunset prayer. In a distance, boys and girls are standing on the roofs, observing and waiting for al-mu’athen at the mosque to call for prayer, after which they would run to their houses to break their fast. The popular poet, the women’s return from the vineyards and fig groves, and the celebrations that accompany circumcision are also documented in his works.
Not only did Abdul Hai celebrate the Palestinian village and the Palestinian diaspora and struggle, he was also involved in, devoted to, and influenced by the turbulence that afflicted Palestine. After the assassination of his colleague and friend of eight years, the artist Naji Al-Ali, in London in 1987, Abdul Hai dedicated his time to produce a collection of works on the artist, leaving behind all his other works and insisting on keeping alive the memories of a great friend.
Gold Dust is a film produced in 1986 by Mohammad Mawas that tells the story of Abdul Hai Musallam. The title refers to the ability of the artist to transform cheap raw materials into pieces of art that tell the story of Palestine. Today, Abdul Hai Musallam still lives in Amman and continues to dream of gathering into a museum his 1,200 bas-relief works that document Palestine, its cultural heritage, its traditions, and its folklore.
George Al Ama and Nada Atrash are part of the Research and Training Unit at the Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation (CCHP). George and Nada can be reached at info@cchp.ps.
“The Visit of the Groom’s Family to the Bride’s House” 2007. Photo courtesy of Dar Al-Anda Gallery, Amman Jordan.
“The traditional Dance”. Photo courtesy of Dar Al-Anda Gallery, Amman Jordan.
“The Bridal Trousseau” 1991. George Al Ama collection.
“The Festival of the Tree” or “Sham el Nasim”. Photo courtesy of Dar Al-Anda Gallery, Amman.
In 1970 - a date that Abdul Hai refers to as his true date of birth - he began to use a carpenter’s technique of mixing sawdust with glue to produce a dough-like substance to fill the cracks of a piece of wood in order to form bas-relief figures and shapes. The ensemble is later painted to form masterpieces that reflect the memoirs of the artist’s early life in Palestine. It was a long journey for the self-taught Abdul Hai to discover the artist that lay inside him; his ultimate dream was to fight for Palestine. Unable to fulfil this dream, he was led by an urge to employ his art to serve the Palestinian cause.
In Tripoli, Libya, the first station of his mysterious journey with art, the Libyan Desert added to his feelings of pain and alienation. Later he moved to Beirut and then to Damascus before settling back in to the crowded neighbourhood of Al-Qusour in Amman. Throughout his journey Abdul Hai maintained his spontaneous nature and honesty, which were reflected clearly and freely in his representations of pre-1948 Palestine. He concentrated on the beauty and simplicity of the Palestinian village and its richness - daily life, celebration, feasts, and traditions - forgetting the painful reality of Palestine.
The late seventies and early eighties in Beirut were an important period in Abdul Hai’s art, during which he continued to work under the Israeli bombing. Sitting on a chair in his makeshift studio in the entrance of a building, Abdul Hai spent his days working vigorously on his art. At sunset he would arrange his equipment, pick up his rifle, and leave to begin his night duty as a guard. His art during that period reflected the Palestinian struggle; a bas-relief work of young women and men dancing with rifles in their hands represents pride and power, and the commitment to resist. His works of that period were exhibited in many places. One of the most significant exhibitions of that time - and one that was visited by the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat - was held in Beirut in 1982, under the fire of the Israeli invasion.
Another approach to resistance is noticeable in the prominence of “the woman” in works that reflect Palestinian heritage and folklore. For Abdul Hai, woman is the reason for life; she is the mother, the daughter, and the lover. Sometimes she is there with her impulsive nature and at other times she is there simply wearing her traditional dress; she could be as lofty as an empress in a legend or as transparent as a mistress. For him she is a symbol of the earth, the revolution, or freedom; she is a representation of fertility and the land.
Born in 1933 and living in his home village until 1948, Abdul Hai now enters his Amman studio in the morning and leaves behind his reality to return to those fifteen early years, trying to assemble his memories and arrange them in artistic masterpieces together with the joys and delights of Palestinian cultural heritage. Abdul Hai creates folkloric portraits and documents traditional songs, sayings, and poems that relate to various occasions and situations. His works represent traditional dresses from various areas of Palestine; a collection of relatively small art pieces shows one to three figures modelling costumes from the various areas of Palestine. He often inscribes sayings on love, romance, affection, and sorrow on these works.
A detailed illustration of village weddings is a living witness to all the celebrations that accompany the occasion, starting with the visit of the groom’s family to the bride’s house, the bride’s henna, the bride’s arrival on a camel (al-zafeh), the arrival of the bride at the bridegroom’s house, and the dancing and dabkeh that accompany the celebration. His works display a spontaneous yet sophisticated illustration of embroidered traditional dresses, headdresses, veils, and jewellery, as well as rugs, carpets, and scenes of the village in the background.
Other special celebrations, feasts, and activities of the Palestinian village are documented in the works of Abdul Hai; the Festival of the Tree - Spring Festival, Sham Al Nasim documents a traditional festival that is no longer celebrated in Palestine. Fasting Ramadan is another work of art that represents the holy month of Ramadan: men are gathered around a low table holding their beads and waiting for the sunset prayer. In a distance, boys and girls are standing on the roofs, observing and waiting for al-mu’athen at the mosque to call for prayer, after which they would run to their houses to break their fast. The popular poet, the women’s return from the vineyards and fig groves, and the celebrations that accompany circumcision are also documented in his works.
Not only did Abdul Hai celebrate the Palestinian village and the Palestinian diaspora and struggle, he was also involved in, devoted to, and influenced by the turbulence that afflicted Palestine. After the assassination of his colleague and friend of eight years, the artist Naji Al-Ali, in London in 1987, Abdul Hai dedicated his time to produce a collection of works on the artist, leaving behind all his other works and insisting on keeping alive the memories of a great friend.
Gold Dust is a film produced in 1986 by Mohammad Mawas that tells the story of Abdul Hai Musallam. The title refers to the ability of the artist to transform cheap raw materials into pieces of art that tell the story of Palestine. Today, Abdul Hai Musallam still lives in Amman and continues to dream of gathering into a museum his 1,200 bas-relief works that document Palestine, its cultural heritage, its traditions, and its folklore.
George Al Ama and Nada Atrash are part of the Research and Training Unit at the Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation (CCHP). George and Nada can be reached at info@cchp.ps.
“The Visit of the Groom’s Family to the Bride’s House” 2007. Photo courtesy of Dar Al-Anda Gallery, Amman Jordan.
“The traditional Dance”. Photo courtesy of Dar Al-Anda Gallery, Amman Jordan.
“The Bridal Trousseau” 1991. George Al Ama collection.
“The Festival of the Tree” or “Sham el Nasim”. Photo courtesy of Dar Al-Anda Gallery, Amman.Thursday, September 29, 2011
The World Council of Churches and member churches around the world sees opportunity for peace in Palestine's UN application
WCC sees opportunity for peace in Palestine's UN application
The WCC has urged strong positive action by the United Nations on behalf of Palestine. While the WCC has advocated justice for Palestinians and Israelis for decades, the United Nations Security Council’s consideration of full membership for Palestine was hailed by the WCC and regional churches as an opportunity for peace.The World Council of Churches and member churches around the world have pursued peace with justice for both the Palestinian and Israeli peoples for decades. Like much of the international community, we are now watching to see if peace and justice will be served in how the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly process the application of Palestine to become a full member state of the UN.
This request must be considered in the light of numerous resolutions passed at the UN Security Council and General Assembly, supporting a two-state solution. They are the basis for a peace not yet established in a conflict which is also constantly influencing other conflicts in the world. It is now a unique opportunity for the UN to take important decisions to fulfil its role and mandate according to the UN Charter, to make peace with justice prevail between Israelis and Palestinians, and with their neighbours.
Yesterday’s announcement in Israel of plans to build 1,100 more housing units on occupied territory is a stark reminder of why sober deliberation, genuine courage and responsible action by the United Nations are necessary. The United Nations is the voice of the international community in this dispute, a voice that has been raised many times to lay out the basis for an equitable peace between two states.
Negotiations should not be seen as an alternative to the UN acceptance of the Palestinian application for membership. Different initiatives to build stability in the region should go hand in hand.
In the people’s movements across the Arab world peoples are standing up for their freedom and dignity in order to establish democratic states with the rule of law. Now it is appropriate that the United Nations actively supports the establishment of a democratic Palestinian State.
Together with the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, we “feel the need to intensify the prayers and diplomatic efforts for peace between Palestinians and Israelis, and see that this is the most appropriate time for such an opportunity”.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
The Palestinian Statehood Bid - What Comes Next?
"It is evident that the status quo is untenable, the conflict has no military solution, and a negotiated agreement is the only alternative to continued conflict. The Israeli occupation must end and, in turn, Israel must become an accepted member of the community of nations in the Middle East. No Israeli, we hope, wants to occupy another people and no Palestinian, we believe, wants to be occupied. The few benefits the Israelis accrue from occupation (e.g., arable land, settlements, water resources) can be better secured through long-term arrangements with friendly neighboring countries, including a State of Palestine. Real "strategic depth" doesn't come from belligerent occupation. It comes from an end of conflict." Saliba Sarsar and Hussein Ibish, Ph.D.
The U.S. was the largest single donor to the Palestinian Authority last year...
... providing $740 million directly and through organizations including UN aid agencies, according to the State Department.
Bloomberg (Analysis)
UN Showdown Ushers in Critical Period for U.S. Middle East Peace Efforts
"It’s significant that the Quartet statement recognized “the achievements of the Palestinian Authority in preparing institutions for statehood” and promised an international donors’ conference to give them “full and sustained support,” said Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, a Washington group that advocates a two-state solution"
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