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Friday, August 24, 2012

My letter to the NYTimes RE Room for Debate: Has Support for Israel Hurt U.S. Credibility?

Song and Pictures from Palestine

RE: Room for Debate: Has Support for Israel Hurt U.S. Credibility?
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/08/23/has-support-for-israel-hurt-us-credibility/?ref=global

Dear Editor

Religious and political support for a Jews-preferred Israel makes a mockery of American ideals of real democracy with full and equal rights for all.

Tax payers (here and there) should not be coerced into building or excusing or ignoring apartheid walls and policies and arguments and campaigns that exasperate the very real plight of the Palestinians.

Modern nation states that define themselves by religion rather than by the rule of fair and just laws are a dangerous investment in institutionalized bigotry and injustice.  Tax payers (here and there) should not be forced to subsidize and protect Jews-preferred projects and infrastructures and PR extravaganzas.

A fully secular two state solution to once and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict in line with international law and fully respecting universal basic human rights is a much better investment than more bombs and bellicose ignorance inspiring even more religious extremism and refugee crises all through out the Middle East.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Hanan Ashrawi: Israeli incitement creating culture of impunity

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: "As a result, stability is conflated with peace and it is used to justify maintaining the status quo in the pretext of maintaining “peace”."


The Palestinian Authority thanks South Africa for the decision to label settlement products as "Occupied Palestinian Territory" rather than "Israel."

Jerusalem is an international city, not Israel's possession

Account of ‘a Lynch’ in Jerusalem on Facebook

Guardian News: Jewish settler attacks on Palestinians listed as 'terrorist incidents' by US

Time Magazine Video: How Palestinian Bloggers Cover Protests in Their Own Villages

We Palestinian are locked in a fierce struggle for our independence....to make the matter straight and simple this is not a clash of religions...


Israel, Iran and the Nuclear Challenge... Since Israel has nuclear weapons, other countries in the region want them, too.

Violent attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property, mosques and farmland had increased by 150% over the past year.

'Separate and Unequal' is Unacceptable to Palestinians

"If you have to modify it, it isn't really a democracy."




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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 countries

Refugees and the Right of Return: "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."

"It is in Israel's vital interest to come to a complete resolution of the conflict between it and the Palestinian people sooner rather than later, relieving the weight of this tragic conflict from both of our peoples' shoulders. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to the world." Maen Rashid Areikat: The Time for a Palestinian State Is Now

"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

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



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