My letters to USA Today, NYTimes & PBS Newshour RE Palestinian statehood

RE: Jimmy Carter: Statehood key to renew peace talks
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/12/04/palestine-israel-jimmy-carter-united-nations/1746767/

Dear Editor,

Jimmy Carter's heart is in the right place,  but I am not so sure about his advice concerning a reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.  The people of Palestine are being pushed into accepting Islamists and religious tyranny rather than real freedom for Palestine.

A fully secular two state solution to once and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict is the best way to build a just and lasting peace for both Israel and Palestine. Religion should be a private personal matter, not a state funded mandate.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

*****************
RE Raja Shehadeh's No Road Leads to Jerusalem
http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/after-the-un-vote-over-palestine-little-euphoria-in-the-west-bank/#more-8944

Dear Editor,

It is a huge tragedy that the Palestinians, the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land, are being prevented by Israel from being able to easily get to Jerusalem.  Citizenship and freedom to travel and find work, and be safe in your home, should not be based on a person's religion.

I very much hope the UN Bid helps Palestinians gain the momentum and support necessary to help end the Israel-Palestine conflict with a fully secular two state solution based on full respect for international law and basic human rights.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

******************
RE: How West Bank Construction Hampers Progress for a Two-State Solution
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/july-dec12/israel2_12-03.html

Dear PBS Newshour,

Good to see American Task Force on Palestine's Ghaith Al-Omari stepping up to help America understand Palestine.

GHAITH AL-OMARI:  "Public opinion over and over again believes that the two-state solution is doable, is preferable. They do not believe that it's realizable in the foreseeable future.

And this is where the risk lies. If the public starts losing faith in the realizability of a two-state solution, soon enough, they will abandon it. And if they abandon it, we end up in a crisis situation."

Doable and preferable is an important revelation and reminder as much of our news tends to focus on Islamists and cynics dedicated to continuing the conflict.

Some might say the situation already is a crisis situation as the plight of the Palestinians really is quite dire... but things can actually get substantially worse- especially if our Congress defunds Palestinian state building efforts and UNWRA. 

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

"...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."

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

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

Empowering Peace & Palestine

The Arab Peace Initiative

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

"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 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 Balfour Declaration of 1917

".... it being clearly understood that nothing
          shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
          rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..."

My letter to my Senators RE Aid for Palestine

The seal has a shield with 13 stars on top and 13 vertical stripes on the bottom, with a scroll inscribed with "E pluribus unum" floating across the top. An olive branch, symbolizing peace, graces the left side of the shield, while an oak branch, symbolizing strength, is on the right. A red liberty cap above the shield and crossed fasces below the shield represent freedom and authority, respectively. Blue beams of light emanate from the shield. Surrounding the seal is the legend "United States Senate". Several of the elements are derived from the Great Seal of the United States.

My letter to my Senators RE Aid for Palestine

Dear Toomey (etc)

I think Islamists have been doing huge harm to the people of the Middle East. But I don't think cutting funds from Palestine is the right approach to convincing people there to back away from HAMAS, religious extremism and scorn for negotiations to actually end the Israel-Palestine conflict.

S. Res. 185 (which passed unanimously in the Senate on June 28, 2011) might have had good intentions, but I think it was a very bad idea sending a very counterproductive message as it totally ignores Israel's ongoing violations of international law and the Palestinians' basic human rights. 

Palestine's bid for statehood is based on endorsing and empowering nonviolence and diplomacy.... and a two state solution to once and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict. 

Israel's continued investments in housing for Jews is creating bigotry and injustice all through out the Holy Land.  Religion should be a personal private choice, not a state funded mandate that grants some people freedom, jobs, housing, and respect while impoverishing, displacing, demonizing and disenfranchising indigenous "others" who have been deemed the "wrong religion".

A fully secular two state solution to end the Israel-Palestine conflict is a worthy goal and the best way forward for everyone's sake--> so please focus in on empowering secular freedom and justice, full respect for international law, basic human rights and real democracy for all, regardless of supposed race or religion.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

************************

December 4, 2012

Dear Mrs. Annab,

Thank you for contacting me about the creation of a Palestinian state. I appreciate hearing from you.

As a strong supporter of Israel, I understand and value your input on the establishment of a Palestinian state. While open to the creation of a free, independent Palestinian state that peacefully coexists with Israel, I strongly oppose the Palestinian Authority's effort to achieve statehood unilaterally through a vote at the United Nations. A Palestinian state should only be created through negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.  To the extent necessary, the U.S. should also play a strong role in those negotiations. It is for these reasons that I cosponsored S. Res. 185, which passed unanimously in the Senate on June 28, 2011. As you may know, S. Res. 185 calls on the Obama administration to lead opposition to unilateral Palestinian statehood efforts and threatens a major change in U.S. relations with the Palestinian Authority if it includes an unreformed Hamas, including a suspension of aid.

Thank you again for your correspondence. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of assistance.

Sincerely,
 

Pat Toomey
U.S. Senator, Pennsylvania

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:s.res.185:
S.RES.185
Latest Title: A resolution reaffirming the commitment of the United States to a negotiated settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, reaffirming opposition to the inclusion of Hamas in a unity government unless it is willing to accept peace with Israel and renounce violence, and declaring that Palestinian efforts to gain recognition of a state outside direct negotiations demonstrates absence of a good faith commitment to peace negotiations, and will have implications for continued United States aid.
Sponsor: Sen Cardin, Benjamin L. [MD] (introduced 5/16/2011)      Cosponsors (90)
Related Bills: H.RES.268
Latest Major Action: 6/28/2011 Passed/agreed to in Senate. Status: Resolution agreed to in Senate without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent.

S.RES.185 -- Whereas the policy of the United States since 2002 has been to support a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; (Agreed to Senate - ATS)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c112:2:./temp/~c112joZphY::

The E1 emergency

http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=463385

The E1 emergency

Hussein Ibish, December 4, 2012

You can't say Israel and United States didn't warn each other, or that they didn't see this coming.
 
The Americans anticipated a potential Israeli overreaction to the Palestinian United Nations status upgrade to "nonmember observer state." And there was one measure they particularly wanted to prevent: new Israeli settlement construction in the hypersensitive E1 corridor near Jerusalem.
 
So a few days before the UN vote, Washington specifically warned Israel not to "retaliate" by building in E1. What was Israel's immediate reaction to the vote? Why, to announce at least 3,000 new settler housing units, including, of course, in E1. And to add, for good measure, that any commitments to the United States not to build there were "no longer relevant." 
 
Building in E1 is among the most damaging steps Israel could take to undermine a two-state solution. E1 threatens to almost cut the West Bank in half. It will completely split occupied East Jerusalem off from the rest of the territory.
 
All serious observers agree with Jerusalem expert Danny Seidemann, who explains, "E-1 is a binary settlement," because "a Palestinian state must be territorially contiguous, with a link to Jerusalem. That is why this is the decisive battle over the feasibility of 'two states for two peoples.'"
 
That is precisely why every American administration has opposed the project since it was first announced in 1999: It's among the few decisive actions either side could take that could finally lead people around the world, especially Israelis and Palestinians, to finally abandon any hope for a two-state solution.
 
More than the withholding of Palestinian tax revenues, which Israel has also decided to do, or even annexing territory (which wouldn't be recognized internationally anyway), building in E1 is among the most aggressive and harmful measures Israel could take in response to the Palestinians' symbolic UN upgrade. E1 construction is anything but symbolic. It transforms the strategic reality very dramatically away from a two-state solution.
  
The reason so many European states shifted their votes at the UN last week in the Palestinian direction is that they have become increasingly concerned the Israeli government isn't interested in a genuine two-state solution. Israel's E1 construction announcement can only serve to heighten these fears. So does the election of an annexationist slate of leaders of the ruling Likud party....READ MORE

UN tells Israel to let in nuclear inspectors

As nuclear peace talks are cancelled, overwhelming vote by general assembly calls for Israel to join nonproliferation treaty

• Associated Press
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 4 December 2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/04/un-tells-israel-nuclear-inspectors 

The UN general assembly has overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling on Israel to open its nuclear programme for inspection.

The resolution, approved by a vote of 174 to six with six abstentions, calls on Israel to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) "without further delay" and open its nuclear facilities to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Those voting against were Israel, the US, Canada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau.

Resolutions adopted by the 193-member general assembly are not legally binding but they do reflect world opinion and carry moral and political weight. And the resolution adds to pressure on Israel as it faces criticism over plans to increase settlement in the West Bank, a move seen as retaliation for the assembly recognising Palestinian statehood.

Israel refuses to confirm or deny possessing nuclear bombs though it is widely believed to have them. It has refused to join the non-proliferation treaty along with three nuclear weapon states: India, Pakistan and North Korea.

Israel insists there must first be a Middle East peace agreement before the establishment of a proposed regional zone free of weapons of mass destruction. Its rivals in the region argue that Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal presents the greatest threat to peace in the region....READ MORE

Jimmy Carter in USA Today "The path to peace in the Middle East has always been difficult, but never impossible."

Palestinians in Ramallah hold pictures of President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday as they celebrate the U.N. recognition of their statehood. (Photo: Majdi Mohammed, AP)

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/12/04/palestine-israel-jimmy-carter-united-nations/1746767/

Jimmy Carter: Statehood key to renew peace talks

U.N. vote recognizing Palestine is an opportunity to relaunch negotiations despite Israeli actions.

In addition to rapidly confiscating Palestinian territory for new Israeli settlements, announcing permanent control of Palestinian air space and the Jordan River Valley, requiring acknowledgment by Palestinians of a Jewish state that marginalizes 20% of Israel's population, and blocking reconciliation among the major Palestinian factions, the Netanyahu government has announced the building of several thousand settlement units in an area that cuts the West Bank into two parts and permanently separates East Jerusalem from what would be left.

U.S. policies disregarded

Never before has an Israeli government so flagrantly disregarded clearly stated U.S. policies...READ MORE

[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]

The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) today urged the Obama administration to use all its good offices with Israel to ensure that settlement expansion reportedly being considered in the highly sensitive “E1 corridor" not take place.

Photo: Reuters/Baz Ratner

http://www.americantaskforce.org/in_media/pr/2012/12/03/1354510800

ATFP Asks US to Ensure No Israeli Building in E1

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Information: Ghaith al-Omari

December 3, 2012 - 12:00am 

Dec. 3, Washington, DC -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) today urged the Obama administration to use all its good offices with Israel to ensure that settlement expansion reportedly being considered in the highly sensitive “E1 corridor" not take place. Israeli officials reportedly authorized at least 3,000 new settlement housing units in and around the East Jerusalem area, including in E1, in retaliation for the Palestinian mission status upgrade at the United Nations last week. If completed, the plan settlement expansion would bisect the territory, cutting occupied East Jerusalem off almost entirely from the rest of the West Bank. It would therefore cast serious doubt on the viability of a two-state solution.

In the days leading up to the UN vote, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton specifically warned Israel not to respond by building in E1. The New York Times reported that Israel's announcement therefore came as a "rude shock" to the US government. Numerous European governments and the United States have expressed alarm at the proposed accelerated building project in the highly sensitive area. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said completion of the E1 project could be a "fatal blow" to the prospects for a two state solution.

ATFP President Ziad J. Asali said, "Building in the E1 area would be a devastating blow to prospects for a two-state solution that allows Israel to live side-by-side in peace, security and dignity with a Palestinian state. It would practically cut the West Bank in half, and would sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. This could make a viable peace agreement impossible to realize. It is therefore strongly in the American national interest that our government uses all of its best offices with Israel to ensure that no settlement expansion in E1 or elsewhere takes place. Since Israel initially approved the E1 project in 1999, these plans have been opposed by all American administrations, of both parties.”

Dr. Asali concluded, "In order to preserve both the practical viability and the political credibility of a two-state solution, it is imperative that Israel not go forward with this proposed settlement expansion. At a time when the Palestinians and Israel are drifting further apart, it is more urgent than ever for the United States to reverse this trend and revive a credible political process. Only the United States can play the leadership role in bringing the parties back together and starting to restore trust and cooperation."

U.S. State Department condemns Israeli Settlements

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/12/201411.htm

Recent Israeli Announcements on Settlements

Press Statement

Mark C. Toner
Deputy Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

December 3, 2012

The United States opposes all unilateral actions, including West Bank settlement activity and housing construction in East Jerusalem, as they complicate efforts to resume direct, bilateral negotiations, and risk prejudging the outcome of those negotiations. This includes building in the E-1 area as this area is particularly sensitive and construction there would be especially damaging to efforts to achieve a two-state solution. ‪ ‪

We have made clear to the Israeli Government that such action is contrary to U.S. policy. The United States and the international community expect all parties to play a constructive role in efforts to achieve peace. ‪We urge the parties to cease unilateral actions and take concrete steps to return to direct negotiations so all the issues can be discussed and the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security can be realized.

[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]

Both Britain and France have summoned Israel's ambassadors to protest plans to expand construction in East Jerusalem, while some say more serious action like economic reprisals are possible.

Goats graze near the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim near Jerusalem December 1, 2012. Israel announced on Friday it was authorizing 3,000 new settler homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Baz Ratner/REUTERS

Terrorism & Security

Has Israel's settlement expansion crossed a 'red line'?

By Arthur Bright, Staff writer / December 3, 2012 

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2012/1203/Has-Israel-s-settlement-expansion-crossed-a-red-line

[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]

Israel's plan to move forward with controversial settlements in eastern Jerusalem – which it took in apparent retaliation for the Palestinian Authority's recent, successful pursuit of recognition as a United Nations nonmember observer state – is prompting an angry response, and likely "real action," from Europe.

Haaretz reports that Britain, France, and Sweden have all summoned Israel's respective ambassadors to their countries to condemn the Israeli plan to build 3,000 new settlement units in the "E1" bloc, a region in eastern Jerusalem, while Germany and Russia both called upon Israel to rethink its plans. And more serious action may be coming, including substantial economic reprisals, Haaretz adds.

“This time it won’t just be a condemnation, there will be real action taken against Israel,” a senior European diplomat said.

Sky News confirmed that the British government was considering severe actions over the matter, quoting sources in the Foreign Office on Monday as saying: "All options are on the table," adding that there was an "appetite for action" within the bureau, and that officials may consider "revisiting" or even suspending EU trade agreements with Israel, based on human rights clauses. ...

[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s decision Friday to move ahead on planning in E1 and to build 3,000 housing units in the settlement blocs and in East Jerusalem, has apparently shocked the foreign ministries and the leaders in London and Paris. Not only do Britain and France view construction in E1 as a “red line,” they are reportedly angry because they view Israel as having responded ungratefully to the support the two countries gave it during the recent Gaza operation....READ MORE

Say "No" to Palestinian Aid Cuts!

Palestinian Aid on the Chopping Block

Say No to Reducing Aid to Palestinians

The Senate is currently considering three amendments to a defense spending bill that would reduce or eliminate funding for the Palestinian Authority including funding for hospitals, schools, water, and electricity. This comes in the wake of UN action on Thursday to upgrade the PA's status in the General Assembly.

The funding in question includes $370 million for budget support for the Palestinian Authority. This funding is essential to humanitarian programs such as the Augusta Victoria Hospital (a project of Lutheran World Federation) in East Jerusalem. In addtion, $70 million would be cut in aid for security programs that have been essential to enabling the PA to police the West Bank and cooperate with Israel to reduce terrror attacks.

Absent this funding, conditions could quickly deteriorate and further complicate the Obama Administration's efforts to bring the two parties together. For the sake of peace, these cuts can't happen. These cuts will harm innocent Palestinian civilians. Tell your senator to say no to aid cuts! Click here to take action now!

 Tell your senator to say no to aid cuts!
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5575/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=12236

Formed in 1984, Churches for Middle East Peace is a coalition of 24 national Church denominations and organizations, including Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. It works to encourage U.S. government policies that actively promote a just, lasting and comprehensive resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ensuring security, human rights and religious freedom for all people of the region.

Ultimately Armed Struggle ... a poem

Etched into the dappled sandstone of the Bamiyan mountains  are the faint remains of the once colossal Buddha statues that silently watched over the Bamiyan Valley for 1500 years

   Ultimately Armed Struggle

What theme song does one play
for those silenced
by Islamists.

What poster can be printed
what rally cry may one say
what symbols can express

the absolute menace of Islamists
not Muslims- Islamists.
Religion harnessed to harass:

Islamist liars use the arts
to draw people into a world
where art is scorned.

They usurp charity given
for widows and children
to build bombs and war

They use cell phones
to pull fragile communities
into the stone age

They quote Chomsky to create
neighborhoods where only the Qur'an
can be read.

Unity is a weapon to steal freedom
from the very people they claim
to be freeing.

Apologists abound in every sphere
luring the naive and the gullible
into empowering Islamists

as Islamist bombs
and Islamist manipulations
demolish Palestine...

Ultimately armed struggle helps
build Israeli roads
and settlements.

In northern Mali, music silenced as Islamists drive out artists

Arby and Toure perform at the WOMAD Festival in Wiltshire, England. In a telephone interview, one of the Islamists’ top commanders declared that his fighters would continue to target musicians. “We are not only against the musicians in Mali. We are in a struggle against all the musicians of the world,” said Oumar Ould Hamaha, the military leader of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, one of three extremist groups controlling the north. July 30, 2011 C. Brandon / Redferns

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-northern-mali-music-silenced-as-islamists-drive-out-artists/2012/11/30/110ea016-300c-11e2-af17-67abba0676e2_story.html?hpid=z1

By Sudarsan Raghavan, Published: November 30

BAMAKO, Mali — Khaira Arby, one of Africa’s most celebrated musicians, has performed all over the world, but there is one place she cannot visit: her native city of Timbuktu, a place steeped in history and culture but now ruled by religious extremists.

One day, they broke into Arby’s house and destroyed her instruments. Her voice was a threat to Islam, they said, even though one of her most popular songs praised Allah... READ MORE

Culture in the Cross Hairs

Djenné, Mali, a Unesco World Heritage site (Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)

[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.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/opinion/global/cultural-sites-must-be-protected.html?ref=global

By IRINA BOKOVA
Published: December 2, 2012

On July 7, in the wake of the destruction of the sacred shrines in Timbuktu — a Unesco World Heritage site — the spokesman of Ansar Dine, one of the Islamist groups controlling northern Mali, declared to the press that “there is no world heritage. It does not exist. Infidels must not get involved in our business.”

This statement captures the challenge we face. For the spokesmen of Ansar Dine, culture is narrowly defined. It is exclusive and static. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization stands for a different vision. Culture has universal meaning. When cultural heritage is attacked anywhere in the world, like the Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo and World Heritage sites damaged by severe bombing in Syria, each of us is shocked; this is a loss to all humanity. 

Some cultural sites have an outstanding universal value — they belong to all and must be protected by all. Let’s be clear. We are not just talking about stones and building. This is about values, identities and belonging. Destroying culture hurts societies for the long term. It deprives them of collective memory banks as well as precious social and economic assets. 

Warlords know this. They target culture because it strikes to the heart and because it has powerful media value in an increasingly connected world. We saw this in the wars in the former Yugoslavia, where libraries were often burned first. In Timbuktu, extremists are attacking the symbols of a tolerant and erudite Islam to impose their own narrow, fraudulent vision...READ MORE