Free Palestinians

My letter to the NYTIMES RE "The Two-State Solution: What It Is and Why It Hasn’t Happened" oped- by Max Fisher & NYTimes Editorial "Is Israel Abandoning a Two-State Solution?

RE: "The Two-State Solution: What It Is and Why It Hasn’t Happened" oped- by Max Fisher & NYTimes Editorial "Is Israel Abandoning a Two-State Solution?" http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/world/middleeast/israel-palestinians-two-state-solution.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/opinion/is-israel-abandoning-a-two-state-solution.html?src=me
& a very good letter by IBRAHIM AHMED: "I encourage both parties to negotiate to end this conflict. It can be done." http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/opinion/the-rift-between-the-us-and-israel.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Dear Editor,

Your American letter writer, Ibrahim Ahmed, gets to the right to heart of the matter when he gracefully points out that  "Palestine and Israel should put their religious differences aside..."

Think it through and it becomes quite obvious that the popular argument that Israel needs to make peace with Palestine so that Israel can remain Jewish is a bad argument, as well as an extremely dangerous and cruel decades long status quo that has shaped and exasperated the angst of the Israelis and the very real plight and suffering of the men, women, and children of historic Palestine.

Think it through: Tax payers here and there should not be funding and fueling state sponsored bigotry, injustice and escalating religious conflict.

Golden Rule thinking based on full respect for international law and all Universal Human Rights can and should guide every conversation, every choice, and every negotiation on the way to a just and lasting peace: One state or two, religion needs be a personal, private matter.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES

CNN VIDEO: Palestinian leader Hanan Ashrawi reacts to the UNSC vote calling on Israel to stop building settlements.  https://www.facebook.com/umkahlil?fref=ts 

Growing Gardens for Palestine... #Christmas #Palestine #PalmTrees #Mary... Informative, inspiring and entertaining facebook posts today from my friend Mike 

Putting a Face on the Facts... An Easy to Understand Essay by Nancy Harb Almendras outlining a Global Controversy: The conflict between the state of Israel and the Palestinians.

Ibrahim's Estate

Jimmy Carter: America Must Recognize Palestine

Newsweek: Award-winning Palestinian teacher on how to help traumatized kids Baltimore's Susan Muaddi Darraj wins American Book Award for 'A Curious Land'

"We're a really diverse community, actually," Darraj says. "A lot of people think that all Palestinians are Muslims. But, the characters I write about are Palestinian Christians."  American Book Award winner Susan Muaddi Darraj among highlights of Baltimore Book Festival

Freda Hughes' art, created in 2008: Remember Palestine this Christmas

A mural by Norwegian artist, Per Krohg, depicts a phoenix rising from ashes, symbolizing the resurgence of peace, equality and freedom.

"This issue marks the eighteenth year of This Week in Palestine, and we are pleased to present you with another issue filled with articles that attest to Palestine’s cultural wealth. A high level of religious tolerance and the integration of various faiths are defining facets of Palestinian culture, historically and today. Such practice sets Palestine apart in a region where too many people have been immensely traumatized by acts of violence frequently caused by lack of tolerance, greed, and thirst for power and dominance. It is time to remember, in the Holy Land and elsewhere, that the central tenets and pillars of our religions are good will and kind deeds towards our fellow visitors on this planet." Tina Basem, This Week in Palestine editor's message Issue #224, December 2016

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

My letter to the NYTimes RE Palestine’s ‘Nuclear Option’ by Ali Jarbawi & The Community of Expulsion For Israel, a Time of Self-Scrutiny by Roger Cohen

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789 Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier - [1]

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) guarantees freedom of religion, as long as religious activities do not infringe on public order in ways detrimental to society. Includes "Eye of providence" symbol (eye in triangle)

RE: Palestine’s ‘Nuclear Option’ by Ali Jarbawi & The Community of Expulsion For Israel, a Time of Self-Scrutiny by Roger Cohen
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/opinion/palestines-nuclear-option.html?ref=opinion

Dear Editor,

Comparing two op-eds that might have been positioned as contrast (not balance), I thought Roger Cohen's op-ed "The Community of Expulsion For Israel, a Time of Self-Scrutiny" was compelling and beautiful- a sign of hope for Israel.  I thought Ali Jarbawi's op-ed "Palestine’s ‘Nuclear Option’" (and Abbas's most recent U.N. speech which Jarbawi praises as "one of his best ") was not so good. 

Cohen is focused on character building and affirming the belief that Israel can be better than it has been.  Jarbawi is... well, he is obviously not interested in winning over an American audience- or in calling for Palestinians to support state building efforts and diplomacy.  He is more bothered by "the global preoccupation with confronting the Islamic State, which has reached the level of obsession" than by the massive damage that ISIL (Islamic State/Da'esh) is inflicting on the region as they murder any one who does not agree with them, as well as kidnap women and girls- young girls- to use as sex slaves. 

Jarbawi concludes his grumbling diatribe/righteous indignation by offering up horrible advice for his audience: "As it stands, the Authority performs a role that comforts Israel. Israel gets the Authority to keep it safe through “security cooperation,” while Israelis are absolved of responsibility for their occupation while avoiding its costs. Indeed, until Mr. Abbas takes a tangible step toward dissolving the Authority, the international community, especially Israel and America, will not take him seriously, and his demands will remain nothing but complaints."

Further disenfranchising Palestinians by voluntarily erasing the Palestinian Authority and rejecting security cooperation with Israel is a risky game that is most likely going to make the very real plight of the Palestinians much much worse...  Instead of asking Palestinians to give up, why not start demanding that HAMAS step down for Palestine's sake- dissolve the tyrannical grip Islamists have on Palestine, and actually convince Israel and America to take a fully secular two state peace seriously. 

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
"We see martyrs, children as young as 7, being portrayed as resistance fighters after being slaughtered by Israeli forces. Although we would like to convince ourselves that they have died for “the cause”, they have in fact died because of the cause." Mariam Barg

"There is a vicious circle of mutual self-reinforcement between state and society failure on the one hand and the rise of extremist non-state actors on the other." Ziad Asali: Confronting ISIL: The Day and Decade "After"

Hussein Ibish: US has a responsibility to rein in Israeli settlements

Tala Haikal: "It may not be possible to immediately free all the kidnapped girls and women due to the scope of the conflict with ISIS and the geographical dispersal of the captives in various locations. Some of these women and girls can be freed only once ISIS is destroyed."

STAY CONNECTED... 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

UN report spotlights 'staggering' Islamic State atrocities in Iraq... "The group, which is fighting in Iraq and Syria, has carried out a wide range of atrocities, including mass executions, abductions, rape and other forms of sexual and physical violence against women and children"

USA Today... Sweden PM says nation will recognize Palestinian state: "It doesn't change a thing on the ground," Ibish said. "It changes the number of countries that have recognized the Palestinian state. It changes the Western commitment to a two-state solution, (and) it does put more pressure on Israel to make concessions."

Vatican seeks Mideast Christians' right of return

Salam Fayyad: How To Fix the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process

Excellent letter in the Guardian by Chris Doyle: Trouble and shock in the West Bank

US sharply criticizes new Israeli housing project

Non-violent resistance is Palestine’s most powerful weapon

Tala Haikal: Empathy Is Essential to Humanity

Normalizing Intelligent Conversations, Diplomatic Support, and Hope for Palestine... ATFP Panel Briefing: Israeli-Palestinian War in a New Regional Landscape.

ATFP... American Task Force on Palestine

ATFP Calls for De-Escalation between Israel and the Palestinians

To honor a tragic history, we must work for peace : "The only way to honor our tragic histories is to create a future for our children free of man-made tragedy. This means making peace fully, completely and without reservation, between Israel and Palestine." Ziad Asali

International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People 2014

UNRWA photo and film archive for Palestine refugees

About UNWRA: ’The Long Journey of Palestine Refugee Women’ candidly portrays the lives and experiences of Palestine refugee women, this collection is a testament not only to their own strength and dignity, but also to the richness and resilience of their community.

Walking Palestine & The Abraham Path... a creative space for stories that highlight the unique culture, heritage and hospitality of the region

It's time for Palestinians and Israelis to share a just peace... It's time for freedom from occupation... It's time for equal rights.... It's time for the healing of wounded souls..... World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel: "Let my people go!"... 21 - 27 September 2014 An initiative of the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF) of the World Council of Churches

Palestinian Refugees (1948-NOW) refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.

1948

Time and time again I have watched the cycle of incitement and spin sabotage support for Palestine

Clarifying why Arab and Muslim Americans should be smart rather than stupid

Live by the Golden Rule

• “Forgiving is not forgetting; it’s actually remembering - remembering and not using your right to hit back.”

An Anne Frank Moment ... a poem by Anne Selden Annab

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin?

America/Israel/Palestine 1776

America/Israel/Palestine 1948: 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.

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

Vatican seeks Mideast Christians' right of return

[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]

http://news.yahoo.com/vatican-seeks-mideast-christians-return-133603970.html

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is demanding that Christians and other religious minorities have the right to return to their homes in Iraq and Syria that have been emptied by Islamic militants.

Pope Francis summoned Vatican ambassadors from across the region for three days of meetings. At the conclusion Saturday, they reaffirmed that military force was justified to stop the Islamic State group and that Muslim and Christian religious leaders must denounce the "instrumentalization of religion to justify violence."

The ambassadors said the Iraqi and Syrian governments, backed by the international community, must eventually ensure that Christians and other minorities can return to their homelands in safety and freedom.

Noting the 2,000-year presence of Christians there, the ambassadors said: "One cannot resign oneself to conceiving the Middle East without Christians."

Vatican Urges Muslim Leaders To Condemn The Islamic State Formerly Known As ISIS

  [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]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/12/vatican-condemns-isis-muslim-leaders_n_5671497.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

The Huffington Post  | By Yasmine Hafiz

Posted: 08/12/2014 

The unspeakable crimes committed by the Islamic State, a self-identified Sunni militant group formerly known as ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham) or ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) get worse every day. Beheadings, stonings, live burials, and crucifixions are all tactics used by the extremists as they attempt to wipe out Iraq and Syria's minority religious groups, like the Yazidis and the Shiites.

As the Islamic State claims to be waging war in the name of Islam, with the end goal of restoring the Islamic Caliphate, it is up to Muslim leaders to denounce their actions and reject any sort of religious justification for the horrors they have wrought in Iraq and Syria.

Many have already done that. Iyad Ameen Madani, the Secretary General for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation called the actions of the Islamic State a "crime that cannot be tolerated" in July. Sunni and Shiite Muslim leaders from the UK made a video to condemn the Islamic State in July, and professors from the ancient and influential al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, have also publicly rejected the Caliphate. Most recently, the Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam, Egypt's top Muslim scholar, denounced the Islamic State as an "extremist and bloody group" on Tuesday.

The Vatican is encouraging more Muslim leaders to speak out against the Islamic State. A statement released Tuesday by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue said in part:

The dramatic plight of Christians, Yezidis and other religious communities and ethnic minorities in Iraq requires a clear and courageous stance on the part of religious leaders, especially Muslims, as well as those engaged in interreligious dialogue and all people of good will.

All must be unanimous in condemning unequivocally these crimes and in denouncing the use of religion to justify them. If not, what credibility will religions, their followers and their leaders have? What credibility can the interreligious dialogue that we have patiently pursued over recent years have?

Religious leaders are also called to exercise their influence with the authorities to end these crimes, to punish those who commit them and to reestablish the rule of law throughout the land, ensuring the return home of those who have been displaced. While recalling the need for an ethical management of human societies, these same religious leaders must not fail to stress that the support, funding and arming of terrorism is morally reprehensible.

In the statement, the Vatican noted that, "the majority of religious institutions and Muslim politicians" oppose the "Restoration of the Caliphate" proposed by the Islamic State.

As coexistence is the basis on which healthy relationships between religions are founded, the current atrocities perpetrated by ISIS against minority groups are a threat to interreligious dialogue, the statement implied. "No cause, and certainly no religion, can justify such barbarity," it said.

Plea to the Pope... Ash Wednesday Letter To Pope Francis: Speak Out Against Targeting of Palestinian Children

We ask your Holiness to publicly call upon the government of Israel to 

end its mistreatment of Palestinian children;

to respect the rights of refugees to return under international law, recognized 

by the Vatican;

to end the prolonged military occupation of the West Bank including East 

Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip;

and to end the punitive and illegal siege and blockade of Gaza. Of the 1.8 million 

people living in Gaza, 51% are under 18 years old and 43% are under 15 years old.

We also ask your Holiness to publicly call upon all nations to address policies 

toward Israel that have allowed the abuses of occupation and colonization to fester 

for so many decades, and to call upon those nations to demand justice, accountability 

and the implementation of international law.

As we pray, we examine our own lives for how individually and collectively we can 

best contribute to ending the suffering of children in Palestine and of all children 

of the world. 

 *****

Ash Wednesday Letter To Pope Francis: Speak Out Against Targeting of Palestinian Children

 Thursday, 06 March 2014 07:10

In anticipation of the Pope’s May visit to the Holy Land, an Open Letter signed by over 200 bishops, clerics, members of religious orders and theologians from several faith traditions, was delivered today to Pope Francis. The letter asks the Pope to speak out against the Israeli army’s program of kidnapping, detention, and systematic abuse of Palestinian children and to call for an end to the occupation and colonization of Palestine. The letter, whose signers include over 20 bishops, cites a recent UNICEF report that documents nighttime arrests, blindfolding and shackling of children between 12 and 18 years of age. Based on over 400 sworn testimonies, UNICEF concluded that the “ill-treatment of children who come into contact with the system appears to be widespread, systematic, and institutionalized throughout the process.” “With this letter, we are raising the profile of the well-documented systematic mistreatment of Palestinian children,” said Rev. Don Wagner.  “The Israeli government is purposefully going after children, who are clearly vulnerable, to deeply scare and traumatize them.” Wagner is the National Program Director of Friends of Sabeel-North America (FOSNA.org), which initiated the letter. FOSNA supports the work of Sabeel, a Jerusalem-based peace and justice organization founded by Palestinian Christians. The letter notes that similar concerns about the mistreatment of Palestinian children have been raised by Save the Children, the United Nations Commission Against Torture, Military Court Watch, Defense of Children International, and B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization. “The enthusiastic response to our request for signers to the letter indicates the urgency of these concerns,” Wagner said. “Now that the letter has been delivered, we would like to invite people worldwide to join this appeal to Pope Francis and raise this issue with their media, human rights organizations, and governments until this targeting of children and the occupation are ended.” The petition to support the letter is hosted at www.endtheoccupation.org/Letter2Pope Wagner said that FOSNA initiated the letter in the hope that Pope Francis would speak out for the people of Palestine as he has boldly spoken for the poor and oppressed elsewhere. “During his upcoming May visit, we want the Pope to publicly call upon the Israeli government to end its intentional mistreatment of Palestinian children,” Wagner said, “as well as to end its prolonged military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip and its punitive and illegal blockade of Gaza, where 51 percent of the 1.8 million residents are under the age of 18.” The letter is the first step, Wagner said, in a larger campaign to educate and mobilize faith and other communities in an effort to end the abuse of Palestinian children and the occupation that oppresses them and their families.

My letter PUBLISHED in CSM: US hypocrisy on Israel

 [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]

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Readers-Respond/2013/1216/Readers-Write-Democrats-didn-t-lose-to-personality-US-hypocrisy-on-Israel

US hypocrisy on Israel

Thank you for Katrina Lantos Swett's Nov. 18 commentary, "JFK was right about religious freedom's promise." True religious freedom would indeed curb sectarian strife and extremism. And yes, American diplomats and forward thinkers should be advocating for such freedom worldwide. But how will countries in the Middle East be able to hear, much less understand, that message when so many American religious, political, and business leaders praise and protect Israel as "The Jewish State" while turning a blind eye to its persecution of Palestinians and other Arabs?

Calls for US support of religious freedom will be sanctimonious hypocrisy as long as we fail to insist on real democracy and a fully secular end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in line with international law and human rights.

Anne Selden Annab
Mechanicsburg, Pa.

My letters to CSM & NYTimes RE JFK's call for religious freedom can transform places & Keep the Iraqi Jews’ Legacy Safe — in America

NEWS: The United States and Israel lost their UNESCO voting rights Friday after suspending funding to the organisation for its recognition of Palestine, a source from the UN agency November 8, 2013

RE: JFK's call for religious freedom can transform places... by Katrina Lantos Swett, vice-chairwoman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2013/1107/JFK-s-call-for-religious-freedom-can-transform-places-like-Pakistan

Dear Editor,

What an inspiring and uplifting op-ed!  However I can not help but wonder about the elephant in the living room:

True religious freedom would indeed curb sectarian strife and extremism.... and yes American diplomats and forward thinkers should be advocating such freedom worldwide. But how will any countries in the Middle East be able to hear that message, much less understand that message when so many  American newspapers, politicians, businessmen and religious leaders praise and protect Israel as "The Jewish State"?

We can eloquently call on people everywhere "to raise their sights, heal yesterday’s wounds, right today’s wrongs, and aspire to greater things", but our words will be sanctimonious hypocrisy as long as we are arming Israel's "Jewishness" and forcing tax payers to fund Israel's religious scholars and schemes.

Are our current efforts to help end the pernicious Israel-Palestine conflict with a negotiated settlement generating regional respect for real democracy and a fully secular end to that conflict in line with international law and firmly respecting universal basic human rights, or are our efforts being perceived as yet another way to empower Israel's "Jewishness" and the ongoing persecution, impoverishment and forced displacement of Palestinians?

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

*********
RE Keep the Iraqi Jews’ Legacy Safe — in America by Cynthia Kaplan Shamash, a dentist in Flushing, Queens & a member of the board of the World Organization of Jews From Iraq.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/opinion/keep-the-iraqi-jews-legacy-safe-in-america.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0&ref=international

Dear Editor,

Regarding the trove of Hebrew material rescued from Saddam Hussein's flooded basement in 2003, flown here to be saved... Cynthia Kaplan Shamash's impassioned plea to Keep the Iraqi Jews’ Legacy Safe — in America wisely points out "To suggest that they go to Israel, where many Iraqi Jews live now, might invite venom from Iraq."

She is absolutely right about that. Israel in insisting on being "Jewish" and in a misguided quest to make that a demographic reality, has cruelly persecuted and displaced the native non-Jewish Palestinians and played a large part in instigating and perpetuating sectarian strife and religious extremism all through out the region.

A part- just a part, and that part's actual relevance shrinks as time goes by:  The Buddhas destroyed in 2001 by religious bigots in Afghanistan.... the museums in Egypt looted just last year... the historic mosques destroyed in Iraq and Syria and Timbuktu by Islamists... the calls by Zionist ideologues to destroy the Dome of the Rock in order to build the third temple.... Obviously cultural treasures are easy targets for religious tyrants and harbingers of hate who are thriving on conflict and despair all through out the Middle East.

I very much hope for everyone's sake that negotiations for an actual end to the Israel-Palestine conflict with a fully secular, fully sovereign two state solution based on firm respect for universal human rights takes hold soon, and helps steer everyone in the region towards a more peaceful, compassionate, prosperous and productive future.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
'It is where religious freedom is most dishonored or repressed that the forces of violent religious extremism are likely to thrive.' Katrina Lantos Swett, vice chairwoman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom: JFK's call for religious freedom can transform places like Pakistan.

Palestinian Refugees (1948-NOW) refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.

Palestinians northeast of the separation wall near Jerusalem face an uncertain future after Israeli authorities issued demolition orders last week which could displace thousands of people

Israel levels Catholic Church property in E. Jerusalem amid ‘massive demolition’ plan

Looking for Palestine: Growing Up Confused in an Arab-American Family By Edward Said's daughter Najla Said

This Week in Palestine: In Palestine we have no physical control over our borders, and therefore have no say in how anyone could be treated at any given moment in time. But what we do have control of is the Palestine we write about, describe, and photograph in the folds of this issue’s pages.

Support for Mideast peace ...

Dr Zogby: Focus on Palestinians’ Rights

NYTimes News October 30, 2013: 1,500 Units to Be Added in Settlement, Israel Says

At ATFP Gala, White House Reaffirms Commitment to Palestinian State, Opposition to Settlements and Settler Violence

Why Are Israelis Tone Deaf to Incitement Against Palestinians?

Ancient stone villages in the occupied West Bank have become trapped in rural poverty, while investors and donors shy away from a zone of seemingly endless conflict... Israel's restrictions affect much of Palestinian economic life. It controls every access point, which enables it to oversee all imports and exports, creating bureaucratic hurdles that Palestinians say stifle or kill entrepreneurship.

The Israelis also impose strict limits on water supply, which affects industry and agriculture. Israel has not allowed Palestinians access to 3G mobile technology, citing security concerns, rendering many smartphone apps largely useless....READ MORE

***

"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

"Legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Paine: "Of all of the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny of religion is the worst."

"In every country and in every age, the priest [rabbi/imam/...etc...] has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own"
Thomas Jefferson

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

Why Muslims should love secularism: Though secularism is widely misunderstood as anti-religious and iconoclastic, all it means is the neutrality of the state on religious affairs ...  "Muslims must recognize secularism as the only real path to religious freedom, rather than confusing it with an attack against religion." Hussein Ibish

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 1

• 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.

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

Live by the Golden Rule

Dear President Obama... Let Freedom Ring

194

Globalizing Martin Luther King, Jr.

"So let us put the narrative of injustice away and find the joy, if it’s the last thing we ever do. " Tala Abu Rahmeh, Palestinian poet and writer

This Week in Palestine Artist of the Month: Yazan Khalili

A quest to preserve Palestinian heritage in the digital stacks: Sami Batrawi's struggle to open an online Palestinian Library of Congress is part of a broader effort to recover lost Palestinian intellectual heritage.

Pomegranates in season along the path!

The Arab Peace Initiative

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.

Jordan's King Abdullah II explains that extremism has "grown fat" off of the longstanding conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

We Need to Talk... Ziad Asali has proven that Palestinian-Americans can work within the system as first-class American citizens and Washington has paid attention: The status quo is clear: occupation. Asali's mission is to change that status quo.

Freedom for Palestine - OneWorld

Why Muslims should love secularism: Though secularism is widely misunderstood as anti-religious and iconoclastic, all it means is the neutrality of the state on religious affairs

   "Muslims must recognize secularism as the only real path to religious freedom, rather than confusing it with an attack against religion."Hussein Ibish

[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]

http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/10/26/why-muslims-should-love-secularism/

Hussein Ibish

By Hussein Ibish,

  Daily News Egypt  /   October 26, 2013
Now

Muslims should love secularism. But very few of them do, largely because they misunderstand what it stands for and would mean for them.

Secularism as an English term – in contrast to the French concept of laïcité – simply means the neutrality of the state on matters of faith. This bears almost no resemblance to the way in which most Arabs understand the term, whether translated as ‘almaniyya, ilmanniyya, or even dunyawiyya.

Secularism has become strongly associated in the Arab and broader Muslim worlds with atheism, iconoclasm, and anti-religious attitudes and policies. And in the process, one of the most important pillars of building tolerant, inclusive, and genuinely free Muslim-majority societies has been grotesquely misrepresented and stigmatised.

The first of these experiences was the overtly anti-religious attitude of the government of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which was presented as “modernisation” and “secularism.”

The second is the objectionable and noxious French concept of laïcité, which also tends to be more anti-religious than neutral. This association has been particularly exacerbated by “secular” laïcité laws in France and elsewhere that oppressively prevent Muslim women from covering their hair in public spaces such as schools.

The third, and perhaps most damning of all, has been the misappropriation, abuse, and discrediting of “secularism” by regimes that placed Arab nationalism at the center of their authoritarian ideology. Socialist, communist, and fascist Arab regimes oppressed, abused, and waged wars against their own peoples and each other in the name of, among other things, “secularism.”

None of them were properly secular, of course, but they certainly were anti-Islamist. And that has set up the present-day dichotomy in contemporary Arab politics in which not only Islamists, but also many ordinary Muslims, instinctively mistrust secular politics.

The Syrian dictatorship is a perfect case in point. In the name of “secularism,” among other things, it is waging a brutal war of repression. But for various reasons, high among them Western and Arab government negligence, the opposition has become increasingly Islamist. The consequence has been increasing numbers of religious minorities, particularly Christians, reluctantly siding with the dictatorship, while growing numbers of Sunni Muslims are siding with various Islamist groups. Faux-secularism and Islamism mutually provoke and promote sectarianism.

What devout Muslims need to understand is that real secularism alone offers them something most of them seem to badly want: freedom. If there really is no compulsion in religion, only a secular society can provide that. Only in a secular system can Muslims be free to practice Islam exactly as they see fit. Any “Islamic” polity will of necessity be imposing a particular version or interpretation of Islam, which is an extremely heterodox set of traditions.

The claim that secularism is really just Christianity in disguise is manifestly false. The language is European, inherited from the Enlightenment. But both Western chauvinists and anti-Western demagogues badly misread the fact that although the specific language of modern human rights and freedoms is, for historical reasons, currently packaged in Western terms, this hardly means that they lack non-Western cognates, origins, or bases.

Since at least the 10th century, most Muslim societies have distinguished between political and religious authority, and it’s absurd to claim that religious freedom originates only or even mainly as a concept from the Protestant Reformation. There are deep roots in both traditional and modern interpretations of Islam that lend themselves to political secularism.

The Islamist project of trying to obliterate traditional heterogeneity within Islam and establish religiously-oriented states is misguided and totally inappropriate. In many Muslim-majority states, there remains a vast range of diversity of doctrine and practice that must be accommodated for even the Muslims to be free in religion. This is to say nothing of Christians, Jews, atheists, agnostics, and others who also have a right to freedom of both religion and conscience.

What would be the spiritual virtue of religious dogma that is imposed by the state? It would produce, at best, a false religiosity in many, practice without belief, and mere pretense. Religious leaders generally don’t care what people really believe (because they can never really know that) and instead concentrate on what people can and cannot do. But when such authority is asserted by the state, it demeans and abuses the very concept of faith by mandating the pretense of belief by force of law.

Secularism offers Muslims religious freedom, religious authenticity, and religious meaning. Imposing or privileging religion through state power invalidates all three. Muslims must recognise secularism as the only real path to religious freedom, rather than confusing it with an attack against religion.

Some Muslims can claim to have come by their suspicions about secularism honestly, through a series of unfortunate historical contingencies. But that doesn’t change the fact that, for all their fears, they should not only want, but in reality need, genuinely secular societies.

Hussein Ibish is a Senior Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine.

The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) provides an independent voice for Palestinian-Americans and their supporters and advances human rights and peace.

  ATFP categorically and unequivocally condemns all violence against civilians, no matter the cause and who the victims or perpetrators may be.

My letter to the Guardian RE Jerusalem elections: the ballot and the boycott

West Bank: Mapping an Occupation

RE: Jerusalem elections: the ballot and the boycott
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/21/jersualem-elections-ballot-boycott-editorial

Dear Sir,

It is a tragic shame that through the years Palestinians have been convinced to disengage, disenfranchise, and further impoverish themselves by boycotting elections and existing political infrastructures which have a significant impact on day to day life.

The reality that is Israel has many engaged and empowered loyal Jewish citizens and supporters and will most certainly not disappear, but like anything will change with changing times- hopefully for the better.

Meanwhile, for now at least, an independent and free as well as secure and economically viable Palestinian state has yet to become fully sovereign with firm internationally recognized borders.

Palestinians should have voting rights in both Israel and Palestine, just as America's dual citizens are able to help influence their country of birth as well their newly adopted homeland: "The Supreme Court of the United States has stated that dual citizenship is a "status long recognized in the law" and that "a person may have and exercise rights of nationality in two countries and be subject to the responsibilities of both." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_nationality_law

Furthermore, there is an obvious legal precedent already set: American citizens living in Israel may cast deciding votes in American elections.

If all Palestinians ( including those in Israel, those in the occupied territories, as well as those in forced exile- the Palestinian refugees) made a strategic decision to seek full voting rights within "the reality that is Israel" there would still be the matter of who to vote for, and a large complex system of existing institutions and infrastructures. 

The Israel vote will not not usher in a one state end to the conflict, nor will it magically transform the Palestinian struggle from a nationalist one into a civil rights one, for the Palestinians have already been very much engaged in a civil rights struggle all along. 

Palestinian statehood is a separate but equally important issue.  Fact is a fully secular two state solution to once and for ALL end the Israel-Palestine conflict will be liberating for Jewish Israelis as well as Palestinians because as things are Israel's tax payer funded official "Jewishness" cannot help but head towards Jewish sectarian strife and civil war.

"Secularism offers Muslims (& Christians & Jews) religious freedom, religious authenticity, and religious meaning. Imposing or privileging religion through state power invalidates all three. Muslims (& Christians & Jews) must recognize secularism as the only real path to religious freedom, rather than confusing it with an attack against religion." Hussein Ibish Why Muslims (& Christians & Jews) should love secularism (I added in the (& Christians & Jews)  for Ibish's point really is a universal truth.)

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
*From Wikipedia: "Based on the U.S. Department of State regulation on dual citizenship (7 FAM 1162), the Supreme Court of the United States has stated that dual citizenship is a "status long recognized in the law" and that "a person may have and exercise rights of nationality in two countries and be subject to the responsibilities of both. The mere fact he asserts the rights of one citizenship does not without more mean that he renounces the other", (Kawakita v. U.S., 343 U.S. 717) (1952). In Schneider v. Rusk 377 U.S. 163 (1964), the US Supreme Court ruled that a naturalized U.S. citizen has the right to return to his native country and to resume his former citizenship, and also to remain a U.S. citizen even if he never returns to the United States." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_nationality_law

Saudi Arabia's challenge to the United Nations... If a wealthy and pivotal country like Saudi Arabia declines to wield greater power at the UN, what might become of the hope to create a stable and useful “international community”?

The paling mythologies of the “axis of evil” and “axis of resistance”

A new report says Israeli settlement construction on the Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank has increased by about 70 percent.

Hanan Ashrawi on Oslo, Academia, and Women in Politics

CSM: Israel increases rate of home demolitions as peace talks chug along- Human rights activists say home demolitions show that protection for Palestinian human rights is missing from the peace process.

What 20 years of the "Peace Process" has meant for Palestinians... September 1993- September 2013

Attack on Jerusalem graves unnerves Christians

Israel-as-a

Jerusalem life: 'Are you aware? Women should not be strolling outdoors'

"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

"Legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Paine: "Of all of the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny of religion is the worst."

"In every country and in every age, the priest [rabbi/imam/...etc...] has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own"
Thomas Jefferson

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

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 1

• 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.

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

Live by the Golden Rule

Dear President Obama... Let Freedom Ring

194

Globalizing Martin Luther King, Jr.

"So let us put the narrative of injustice away and find the joy, if it’s the last thing we ever do. " Tala Abu Rahmeh, Palestinian poet and writer

This Week in Palestine Artist of the Month: Yazan Khalili

A quest to preserve Palestinian heritage in the digital stacks: Sami Batrawi's struggle to open an online Palestinian Library of Congress is part of a broader effort to recover lost Palestinian intellectual heritage.

Pomegranates in season along the path!

New Video Previewing ATFP's 10th Anniversary Gala

ATFP Galas: Palestine's Washington Showcase... "One of the most crucial aspects of ATFP's mission has been to change the image of Palestine and Palestinians in Washington, moving beyond the traditional binary stereotypes of menacing terrorists or wretched refugees. There is an all-American story to be told about Palestinian immigrants to the United States, and a need to celebrate their contributions to our country and to the world."

The Arab Peace Initiative

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.