My letter to the Guardian RE Lib Dem MP David Ward defends remarks about Israel (Ward faces intense criticism since accusing 'the Jews' of inflicting daily atrocities on Palestinians)

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

 RE: Lib Dem MP David Ward defends remarks about Israel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jan/25/lib-dem-david-ward-israel

Dear Sir,

Kudos to David Ward for speaking out honestly, compassionately and clearly about how tragic it is that "the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza."

Zionist propaganda, harassment campaigns and a war of words tend to obscure the conversation- silencing, distracting and/or destroying intelligent people who dare carefully explain and object to Israel's endless crimes against the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land. 

Making matters worse, extremists and Islamists worldwide gain respect and popularity because they know how to take advantage of the righteous indignation and the bigotry that Israeli policies inspire.

Hopefully that will change as more people (and more newspapers) find more reasons to be more fully honest about Israel and the very real plight of the Palestinians.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Looting books from Palestinian libraries: Dark stories

Arab League official urges Arab Israelis to go out and vote to thwart ‘racist’ Israeli plans

Palestinian passengers will be more tempted to read books after a new reading campaign is launched next week. A group of young writers are gathering books to put in mini-vans linking major cities in the West Bank, routes that can waste hours.

Diplomacy in action- for peace & Palestine

Palestinians set up new tented protest village northwest of Jerusalem

Museum displays Palestinian heritage in Tulkarm. - YouTube

PLO Delegation: Statement on Killing of Palestinian Youth

UN Chief Urges Israel to Rescind E1 Settlement

Israeli forces demolish 2 East Jerusalem homes

Aid agencies tread gingerly in Area C... Palestinian communities here, among the poorest and most vulnerable in oPt, desperately need access to water, electricity, sanitation and other basic infrastructure.

*******

The United States 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

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

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..."

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

"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

Empowering Peace & Palestine

"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."

 

The Arab Peace Initiative

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.

"I am saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza..."

David Ward: "Having visited Auschwitz twice – once with my family and once with local schools – I am saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza."

.... Asked if he accepted that he was accusing Jews, rather than the Israeli state, of inflicting persection on the Palestinians, he replied: "I'm accusing the Jews who did it, so if you're a Jew and you did not do it I'm not accusing you. I'm saying that those Jews who did that and continue to do it have not learned those lessons. If you are a Jew and you do not do those things and have never done those things then I am of course not criticising you."

David Ward accused "the Jews" of "inflicting atrocities on Palestinians … within a few years of liberation from the death camps". Photograph: Jacek Bednarczy/EPA

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jan/25/lib-dem-david-ward-israel

Lib Dem MP David Ward defends remarks about Israel

Ward has faced intense criticism since accusing 'the Jews' of inflicting daily atrocities on Palestinians

• Ben Quinn
• The Guardian, Friday 25 January 2013

A Liberal Democrat MP facing disciplinary action over comments about Israel's treatment of Palestinians that he made ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day has said he will defend his actions in front of his party's chief whip.

David Ward posted an item on his website about honouring those who were persecuted and killed during the Holocaust but also accusing "the Jews" of "inflicting atrocities on Palestinians … on a daily basis".

Despite coming in for intense criticism on social media and elsewhere, the MP stood by his comments and said later that he would set out his case if he faced disciplinary action. "I shall try to explain my position. No doubt the chief whip will explain why he feels what I have done is wrong," he added....READ MORE

Looting books from Palestinian libraries: Dark stories

The Economist

Jan 21st 2013, 19:12 by D.H. | RAMALLAH

[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.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/01/looting-books-palestinian-libraries

IN THE dark rooftop viewing space of the Khalil Al Sakakini Cultural Centre in Ramallah, the air was heavy with sighs. Occasionally the faint sound of a whimper could be heard. The screen flickered with images of Palestinians forced out of their homes in the 1948 war. On camera, refugees recounted their ordeals and lamented the loss of something precious: their books.

This was the Ramallah debut of "The Great Book Robbery", a 2012 documentary about the looting of some 70,000 books from private Palestinian libraries during the 1948 war. It vividly chronicles the large-scale cultural pillage and dispossession of Palestinian literary archives. Directed by Benny Brunner, a Dutch-Israeli immigrant and self-described former Zionist, the film left the 40 or so attendees in awe. Adding to the poignance, the audience was gathered in a centre named for a famous Palestinian poet and scholar whose own book collection had been looted.

“Farewell, my books! How much midnight oil did I burn with you…” Al Sakakini wrote these words shortly after Jewish soldiers swept through Jerusalem’s affluent Arab neighbourhoods of Qatamon, Musrara and Baq’a, “collecting” 30,000 books, newspapers and documents. The haul included works of immeasurable historical or religious significance, such as hand-written copies of the Koran and Hadith, emblazoned with gold leaf. Some 40,000 other books were seized from abandoned homes in urban centres such as Nazareth, Jaffa and Haifa. In writing, Al Sakakini wonders if his treasured possessions were looted or burnt. “Were you transferred, with due respect, to a private or public library?” he asks, or “did you find your way to the grocer, your pages wrapping onions?”...READ MORE

My letter to the NYTimes RE U.S. Inaction, Mideast Cataclysm? by Israel's Bernard Avishai and Palestine's Sam Bahour

2013 inauguration: Waiting, watching, bearing witness PHOTOS

RE: U.S. Inaction, Mideast Cataclysm?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/opinion/us-inaction-mideast-cataclysm.html?ref=global&_r=0

Dear Editor, 

Following the news and opinion regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict one gets used to an avalanche of the same old excuses and rants and distractions that tempt many novices away from taking efforts for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East seriously. 

Thus, I was surprised and quite impressed by the clear headed thinking and excellent analysis in the timely op-ed "U.S. Inaction, Mideast Cataclysm?" ( written by Israel's Bernard Avishai and Palestine's Sam Bahour).

In my opinion, Obama would be wise to listen carefully to his own inspiring inauguration speech, and apply that exact same logic and hopefulness to our foreign policy and our expectations for both Israel and Palestine because indeed: " We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity." President Barack Obama

A fully secular two state solution firmly based on international law and full respect for universal basic human rights, including but not limited to the Palestinian refugees' legal, moral and natural right of return, really is the best way forward- for everyone's sake.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Arab League official urges Arab Israelis to go out and vote to thwart ‘racist’ Israeli plans

Palestinian passengers will be more tempted to read books after a new reading campaign is launched next week. A group of young writers are gathering books to put in mini-vans linking major cities in the West Bank, routes that can waste hours.

Diplomacy in action- for peace & Palestine

Palestinians set up new tented protest village northwest of Jerusalem

Museum displays Palestinian heritage in Tulkarm. - YouTube

PLO Delegation: Statement on Killing of Palestinian Youth

UN Chief Urges Israel to Rescind E1 Settlement

Israeli forces demolish 2 East Jerusalem homes

Aid agencies tread gingerly in Area C... Palestinian communities here, among the poorest and most vulnerable in oPt, desperately need access to water, electricity, sanitation and other basic infrastructure.

*******

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

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

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..."

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

"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

Empowering Peace & Palestine

"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."

 

The Arab Peace Initiative

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.

NYTimes: U.S. Inaction, Mideast Cataclysm? ...by Bernard Avishai and Sam Bahour

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/opinion/us-inaction-mideast-cataclysm.html?ref=global&_r=0

Published: January 21, 2013 

ISRAELIS go to the polls today in an election that will likely give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a third term; like the current one, Israel's next governing coaltion will probably be heavily reliant on right-wingers and religious parties.  

Even so, Mr. Obama’s second term could offer a pivotal opportunity to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. In his first term, he backed away from the process, figuring that America could mediate only if the parties themselves wanted to make peace — and that new talks were unlikely to be productive. 

This is a mistake. The greatest enemy to a two-state solution is the sheer pessimism on both sides. Unless President Obama uses his new mandate to show leadership, the region will have no place for moderates — or for America either....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]

 

Arab League official urges Arab Israelis to go out and vote to thwart ‘racist’ Israeli plans

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/arab-league-official-urges-arab-israelis-to-go-out-and-vote-to-thwart-racist-israeli-plans/2013/01/22/c6ee1dea-6481-11e2-889b-f23c246aa446_story.html
 

CAIRO — A senior Arab League official has called on Israel’s Arab minority to go out and vote in the Jewish state’s parliamentary election, arguing that doing so will foil “racist” plans to force them to leave their homes.

Mohammed Sobeih, who is the pan-Arab organization’s assistant secretary general, claims that Tuesday’s election will be dominated by the extremist right that he says speaks openly of forcing Arab Israelis to pack up and leave.

His call is unusual for the Cairo-based league, which rarely addresses itself to Arab citizens of Israel. Himself a Palestinian, Sobeih said his Monday call was motivated by fears that underrepresentation of Arabs — about 20 percent of the Israel’s population — would allow parliament to adopt “racist” legislation but still look democratic to the world.

[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]

Palestinian passengers will be more tempted to read books after a new reading campaign is launched next week. A group of young writers are gathering books to put in mini-vans linking major cities in the West Bank, routes that can waste hours.

 http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=36916
Library on the Move Written by Diana Atallah
Published Monday, January 14, 2013

Get In the Taxi, Pick Up a Book

Ramallah - Palestinian passengers will be more tempted to read books after a new reading campaign is launched next week. A group of young writers are gathering books to put in mini-vans linking major cities in the West Bank, routes that can waste hours.

Wiam Karyouti, a sales employee and a young writer, first thought of the campaign when a passenger next to him asked him if he had another book for him to read. “I usually read in the taxi and carry books with me. I handed him a novel and he gave it back to me at the end of the ride saying he would go buy it,” Karyouti told The Media Line.

The incident triggered Karyouti to think of ways to encourage reading and use the spare taxi time only to find that taxi drivers welcomed the initiative of putting books in their orange-painted service cars, which take up to seven passengers.

Karyouti and his colleagues at a young writers club called “Bastet Ibda" (Creativity Peddlers) volunteered to make their idea come true and advertised for the campaign through their Facebook pages.

Since their announcement on December 26, they have received 600 books donated by NGOs, publishing houses, intellectuals and individuals who came to the collecting points in different West Bank cities.

After the collecting ends this week, seven or eight will be available in a cloth bag near each driver in 311 taxis for passengers to read. “The topics range from religion, science history and arts, to novels and children books, because we think that parents might travel with their kids,” Karyouti added.

“We still need another 600 books, but we won’t distribute all of them at once. We plan to periodically renew new books in taxis," Karyouti explained. 

Intellectuals and young writers agree that reading is not very popular among Palestinians and think the education system and lack of government support has a role in pushing people away from reading. 

“I see the same groups of people in book readings,” says Karyouti, who hopes that when he publishes his first poetry book, he will rely on friends to encourage their connections to read it.

Abd El Salam Khaddash, the Reading Campaigns Manager at Tamer Community Education Institute, told The Media Line the Palestinian curriculum doesn’t make students thirsty for knowledge and learning.

Khaddash added that the curriculum depends on memorizing books by heart, and doesn’t encourage creative thinking.

Tamer championed reading campaigns for the past 20 years focusing on a different topic each year. Last year, their “Father: read for me” campaign events included distributing children books in the dentists’ waiting rooms.

Although Ramallah’s public library, not far from the city center, has more than 40,000 books in different topics and languages, it only served around 7,000 visitors of the city’s 30,000 inhabitants during 2012. Around 300,000 people live within the borders of the governorate of Ramallah and Al Bireh and neighboring villages.

“A few visitors come for the sake of reading, but we have housewives, workers and retired people who come to read for fun. Students visit because they are required to study and read for their research papers,” library supervisor Ruba Husseini told The Media Line.

In 2012, around 1,000 books were loaned to the library’s subscribers who pay a yearly fee that doesn’t exceed $10. Using the library is free of charge unless photocopying is needed.

Khaddash thinks that reading has become less of a priority these days. “I was a student in the eighties and people were eager to know what would happen next with their lives, especially politically,” he said.

Tamer works with 75 libraries in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and around 50 public schools libraries to encourage reading. “We think that the librarians can play a part in encouraging learning and education but their salaries are too low and some work as volunteers,” Khaddash said.

He added that there is a problem with both libraries. Some community libraries are the first facilities to be affected when the local municipalities face financial difficulties. Also, the absence of specific reading classes in many schools or using this class for exams studying makes school libraries less useful to students.

Hala Kaileh, the manager of a libraries enhancement project in the Ramallah Municipality, told The Media Line that the municipality is working to develop reading in the Palestinian society. The municipality set up a new children's library to help make reading a habit for children. “Content of books is important but the library looking good is important to attract visitors, and we’re working on developing the children's library and including a film room as well,” Kaileh said.

Karyouti is not worried if people decide to borrow or keep the books they read in the taxis for themselves. “If I win a reader, I wouldn’t mind losing a book,” he cheerfully told The Media Line.

Khaddash told The Media Line he is optimistic. “I interview hundreds of people for jobs, and I care less for their university marks. Now parents care more for their children to be educated rather than being at the top of their class,” he said.

Khaddash added that it’s not important that readers increase by a thousand, but rather to broaden the idea into the importance of education and reading in life.

Diplomacy in action- for peace & Palestine

letter I just sent my elected leaders via congress.org

Dear President Obama,

As your second term is to begin soon, people are hoping your second inaugural address will help steer this nation in more positive and productive directions.

Personally I hope that you will clearly and firmly voice support for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, for I am quite convinced that ending the Israel-Palestine conflict will have positive ramifications world wide. 

While your wife is shopping for an enchanting inauguration ball gown to wear to help visually convey the dignity of your office as well as reflect her own personal beauty, Palestinians are also using fabric to reflect the dignity of Palestine's struggle for peace and justice.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces tore down the tented village Bab al-Shams (Gate of the Sun), set up to protest Israel's plans to build the "E1" settlement on Palestinian land.

But the story continues- as it has for over sixty years- as another tent village for Palestine has appeared, northwest of Jerusalem, a tent village named al-Karamah (Dignity).

A fully secular two state solution to once and for ALL end the Israel-Palestine conflict must be based on full respect for international law and basic human rights, including but not limited to the Palestinian refugees right to return to original homes and lands as promised by the international community in 1948 when Israel achieved statehood.

DIPLOMACY IN ACTION The United States Office of International Religious Freedom has the mission of promoting religious freedom as a core objective of U.S. foreign policy:"Promote freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries" http://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/

I think it is obvious that people should not have their homes destroyed and their land usurped and their freedom curbed and their ability to work sabotaged and their basic human rights denied because they have  been deemed the "wrong religion" by Israel....  American tax payers should not be forced to help fund Israel's investments in Jewish 'housing', in both Israel proper as well as in the illegally occupied territories.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
American homemaker & poet

Palestinians set up new tented protest village northwest of Jerusalem

Palestinian activists on Friday established a new tented protest village
northwest of Jerusalem. (MaanImages/HO)

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=557212

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian activists on Friday established a new tented protest village northwest of Jerusalem, the second such initiative against Israeli settlement building in as many weeks.

Activists set up three tents and a small building in the area near Beit Iksa, naming the village al-Karamah (Dignity).

Locals said around 400 Palestinians performed Friday prayers in the open area.

Saed Yakrina, an activist from nearby village Beit Liza, said the camp was "a message to Israel and all democratic societies that we are human, and we want peace."

Activists from across the political spectrum, mainly from nearby villages, have gathered and will sleep in the tents overnight, he told Ma'an.

Beit Iksa, surrounded by Israeli settlements, is set to be entirely encircled by Israel's separation wall, cutting it off from Jerusalem.

Israeli authorities ordered the confiscation of 500 dunams of the village's land three weeks ago, and do not permit any new building in the town, Yakrina said, noting that Israeli settlements were still expanding.

"We are looking for a life without checkpoints, walls and settlements," he said.

Israeli forces immediately shut down the military checkpoint at the entrance to Beit Iksa to prevent more activists and supporters from accessing the protest site, witnesses said.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces tore down the tented village Bab al-Shams, set up to protest Israel's plans to build the "E1" settlement on the land, severing the West Bank from Jerusalem.

Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouthi on Friday said Bab al-Shams and al-Karama were a new dimension in the Palestinian struggle and that more protest villages would be established.

"The spirit of popular resistance which Bab al-Shams disseminated is being strengthened today in other areas including Izbat al-Tabib and Beit Iksa," the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative said in a statement.

A rally was held in Izbat al-Tabib in the Qalqiliya district of the northern West Bank on Friday to protest Israeli plans to demolish a school in the village.

The rally showed that popular resistance against Israel's occupation is spreading, Barghouthi said.

Museum displays Palestinian heritage in Tulkarm. - YouTube

PLO Delegation: Statement on Killing of Palestinian Youth

http://plodelegation.us/2013/01/statement-on-killing-of-palestinian-youth/

Statement on Killing of Palestinian Youth

January 15, 2013 ·

The General Delegation of the PLO to the US condemns in the strongest terms the killing of 17 years-old Samir Ahmad Abdul-Rahim of Budrus village.

It has become habit for the Israeli government to escalate violence against innocent Palestinians to sustain a perpetual status quo that denies Palestinian rights, defiantly violating previous agreements, international law, and human rights.

Particularly appalling is that in spite of Palestinian commitment to nonviolent struggle, especially in the case of Budrus village, Israeli harassment and violations remain unabated.

The murder of Abdul-Rahim comes only five days following that of 22 years-old Anwar al-Mamlouk of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, clearly highlighting an Israeli pattern of provocation determined to undermine Palestinian rights to self-determination and independence.

The General Delegation of the PLO to the US urges the United States to unequivocally condemn Israeli violations against innocent Palestinians.

Learn more about the birthplace of Jesus Christ, click here. PLO Delegation

UN Chief Urges Israel to Rescind E1 Settlement

Israeli border policemen guard the Bab al-Shams (Gate of the Sun) 'outpost' after evicting Palestinian protesters from the site on January 13, 2013 in the controversial West Bank area known as E1 situated between Jerusalem and the Israeli West Bank settlement of of Maaleh Adumim. (Uriel Sinai, Getty Images)

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is reiterating his call for Israel to rescind its settlement plans in the strategic E1 area of the West Bank.

U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey says the U.N. chief is following "with concern" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pledge Sunday to move ahead with construction of a new Jewish settlement in the E1 area.

The new settlement would deepen East Jerusalem's separation from the West Bank, areas won by Israel in war that the Palestinians want for their state.

Ban noted that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, del Buey said Monday.

Ban said Palestinian demonstrations, which Israel broke up on Sunday, were largely nonviolent, and he stressed the right to peaceful protest should be fully respected, del Buey said.