'Separate and Unequal' is Unacceptable to Palestinians

"Israeli moderates and American officials will one day look back at this time period and wonder why Israeli leaders did not seize the moment, freeze settlement activity, and strike a deal with the Palestinian people. Hubris and a zealot’s certainty are likely causes of the Israeli leadership’s inability to see with clear eyes what should be done." 

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/240717-separate-and-unequal-is-unaccetable-to-palestinians

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

'Separate and Unequal' is Unacceptable to Palestinians

By Mustafa Barghouthi, member, Palestinian Parliament
July 27, 2012

When presidential candidate Mitt Romney arrives in Israel Saturday and travels to occupied East Jerusalem to see the holy sites there he will be entering a city I am no longer allowed to visit – privately or as a medical doctor or as a presidential candidate. He somehow possesses more rights to the city than I do despite the fact that I was born in Jerusalem and worked as a medical doctor in Makassed hospital for several years. During my presidential campaign I was arrested and deported four times for entering the city to meet Palestinian voters....READ MORE

Palestinians are people, too - The Hill's Congress Blog

By Mustafa Barghouthi - 06/03/11 04:19 PM ET

Every June 5 for the past 44 years of my life has brought back memories of being a 13-year-old facing life under Israeli occupation. Forty-four years ago I saw Israelis for the first time. It took my generation a very long and difficult time to come to terms with accepting the need for peace and compromise with our occupier. That compromise was the two-state solution. Our goal was to end occupation and achieve freedom, dignity, and self-determination... READ MORE

Palestinians are people, too - The Hill's Congress Blog

My letter to IHT 10-15-2010 RE Smothered by Settlements By Mustafa Barghouthi

RE: Smothered by Settlements By Mustafa Barghouthi
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/opinion/15iht-edbarghouti.html?ref=global

Dear Sir,

Mustafa Barghouthi is wise to point out that "We have reached, and probably surpassed, that critical point at which any more settlements mean the death of the two-state solution....The Israeli establishment knows this better than anybody. They also know that their hard-line positions on issues like Jerusalem and borders mean transforming the idea of Palestinian statehood into something much less: isolated clusters of land in a system of segregation."

However, I would not have injected the idea "and probably surpassed" as if a tipping point will make the removal of Israel's illegal settlements and an end to the Israel/Palestine conflict impossible. Both Zionist zealots and Islamist factions are quite eager to dismiss, discredit and dismantle the Palestinian Authority. Neither need more proof that their one state thrust is a winning formula. Creating a fully secular two state solution really is the best way to disarm religious zealots and hate mongers on both sides.

I understand the temptation to scorn and doubt American efforts for Palestine. However I very much believe that the State-building strategy of the United States and the donor community do not need to be tested: Despite much Zionist pressure to eliminate UNWRA, the US is and has been the largest single state donor to UNRWA, (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees) providing food, shelter, medical care, and education for many of the original refugees from 1948. The United States has also provided a welcoming home and real freedom to many Palestinians pushed into forced exile and/or voluntarily moving away from the conflict.

Furthermore please note that the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP), established in 2003 to provide an independent voice for Palestinian-Americans and their supporters in order to promote peace and Palestine, recently announced that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the keynote speaker at its Fifth Annual Gala. One of my favorite poets Naomi Shihab Nye will be honored with an award for Excellence in the Arts. ATFP's Gala also has an Artists Corner pointing out that "these talented individuals have spoken volumes, celebrating Arab and Arab-American culture with vibrancy" My favorite artist there is Helen Zughaib... "Hopefulness, healing and spirituality, are all themes that are woven into her work."

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

Growing Gardens for Palestine

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