RE Israel: Seized rockets would put Jerusalem in Gaza's range
(+video) Today Israel presented to the media the Iranian-supplied
weapons from an intercepted ship last week. The discovery bolsters
its case that Iran cannot be trusted.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/2014/0310/Israel-Seized-rockets-would-put-Jerusalem-in-Gaza-s-range-video
Dear Editor,
Israel's eagerness to use this large shipment of very big, very
bulky, very lethal mortar shells and rockets as a PR boost for AIPAC
is certainly not surprising... and at least your news report did
mention skepticism, and bring up the rather obvious question about
"how the M-302 rockets would have been smuggled into Gaza, given
Egypt's
recent crackdown on the smuggling tunnels."
Seems to me American newspapers need to learn to be much more wary
about the motives as well as the accuracy of Israeli reports. Look
at a map: Sudan, the port where the ship was headed has many roads
that lead to many places. Africa has multiple conflict zones. What
about Sudan's port security- are cargoes searched on arrival? And
what about arms smuggling in general. According to Wikipedia "
The total value of the global arms market is estimated around $60
billion a year, with around $8 billion attributed to pistols,
rifles, machine guns, and bullets.
[3]
The total illegal arms trade is harder to estimate, but the illicit
small arms
market has been estimated at 10-20% of the total global arms
trade.
[4]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_trafficking
How many families could be fed, libraries built, schools funded,
jobs created with the money wasted worldwide on weaponry- and war.
Peace starts with a story- how it is told and who it convinces to
care.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES
Visualizing Palestine: 20
Years of Talks Keeping Palestine Occupied
Arab
League, Abbas reject recognizing Israel as 'Jewish state'
Palestine
Refugees in Syria: An Andy Warner Comic
A UN Committee Expresses Concern over Recent Developments in
Occupied Jerusalem... The committee said that Israel also
continues to construct settlements in East Jerusalem, in
violation of international law and in defiance of the
international community's repeated calls for ending such illegal
acts.
Israeli
Settlers Brutally Assault Three Young Palestinians near
Ramallah
Plea
to the Pope... Ash Wednesday Letter To Pope Francis: Speak Out
Against Targeting of Palestinian Children
Official:
Israel refused to let Palestinian refugees in Syria return
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu never tires of inventing new
hoops through which he insists Palestinians jump. As he
acknowledged a few weeks back, it's all part of a cynical game
that he plays in an effort to kill the chances for peace....
The
Palestinian national soccer team, a source of pride for many,
has been under attack by the Israeli state.
Hanan
Ashrawi: "Today, 20 years after Baruch Goldstein cut down so
many innocent lives in a burst of hateful rage, the poisonous
anti-Arab racism that turned him into a mass murderer is alive
and well in Israel."
Palestinian Refugees (1948-NOW) refused
their right to return... and their right to live in peace free
from religious bigotry and injustice.
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 Office
of International Religious Freedom
( http://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/
)
Refugees and the Right of Return
We call for a just solution to our refugee issue in accordance with
UN General Assembly Resolution 194. Our position on refugees is also
included and supported in the Arab Peace Initiative (API),
which calls for “a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem
to be agreed upon in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution
194.” A just solution to the refugee issue must address two aspects:
the right of return and reparations.
Refugees, Borders & Jerusalem
"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
More than sixty years ago, back in 1949, the
Application of Israel for admission to membership in the
United Nations (A/818) clearly pointed out that Israel was
directly contravening "the previous recommendations of
the United Nations in at least three important respects:
in its attitude on the problem of Arab refugees, on the
delimitation of its territorial boundaries, and on the
question of Jerusalem." http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/85255e950050831085255e95004fa9c3/1db943e43c280a26052565fa004d8174?OpenDocument
Thousands
of Palestinians trapped in Syria camp 'slowly dying'
Just
because it isn't happening here doesn't mean it isn't
happening...
What
message do we send?
A
World Not Ours: Filmed over more than 20 years by multiple
generations of the same family, A World Not Ours is more than
just a family portrait; it is an attempt to record what is being
forgotten, and mark what should not be erased from collective
memory.
A
day at the Aida Camp Normal life can never be normal when it is
lived under brutal military occupation, writes Kholoud Al-Ajarma
from the Aida Refugee Camp in the Occupied West Bank
History
writing that aims at damage control
Ralph M Coury: "...The
fact is that the “heresy” of which Shavit speaks was a main
current in Zionist speculations from the outset. The new
settlers, Theodor Herzl (the founder of the Zionist movement)
writes in his diary in 1895, should “gently” expropriate the
natives’ property and “try to spirit the penniless population
across the border by procuring employment for it in the
transit countries, while denying it any employment in our own
country. The property-owners will come over to our side. But
the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must
be carried out discreetly and circumspectly. Let the owners of
immovable property believe that they are cheating us, selling
us things for more than they are worth. But we are not going
to sell them anything back.” (The Complete Diaries, NY, 1960,
vol 1, P88.) "
It’s
important for people to know how far the Palestinians have come
to put an end to the conflict with Israel.
The
Palestinian Refugee's Right of Return: No issue is more
emblematic of the 20th century Palestinian experience than the
plight of the approximately seven million Palestinian refugees.
Reflections
By An ARAB JEW by Ella Habiba Shohat "
When my grandmother first
encountered Israeli society in the '50s, she was convinced
that the people who looked, spoke and ate so differently--the
European Jews--were actually European Christians. Jewishness
for her generation was inextricably associated with Middle
Easterness. My grandmother, who still lives in Israel and
still communicates largely in Arabic, had to be taught to
speak of "us" as Jews and "them" as Arabs. For Middle
Easterners, the operating distinction had always been
"Muslim," "Jew," and "Christian," not Arab versus Jew. The
assumption was that "Arabness" referred to a common shared
culture and language, albeit with religious differences."
UNITED NATIONS: Give Peace a Chance...
The year 2014 has been proclaimed the International Year of
Solidarity with the Palestinian People... “The objective
of the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian
People is to promote solidarity with the Palestinian people as a
central theme, contributing to international awareness of (a) core
themes regarding the question of Palestine, as prioritized by the
Committee, (b) obstacles to the ongoing peace process, particularly
those requiring urgent action such as settlements, Jerusalem, the
blockade of Gaza and the humanitarian situation in the occupied
Palestinian territory and; (c) mobilization of global action towards
the achievement of a comprehensive, just and lasting solution of the
question of Palestine in accordance with international law and the
relevant resolutions of the United Nations.”
History
of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by
the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, was the result of the
experience of the Second World War. With the end of that war, and
the creation of the United Nations, the international community
vowed never again to allow atrocities like those of that conflict
happen again. World leaders decided to complement the UN Charter
with a road map to guarantee the rights of every individual
everywhere. The document they considered, and which would later
become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was taken up at
the first session of the General Assembly in 1946. "
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/history.shtml
U.N.
Resolution 194 from 1948 Resolves that the refugees
wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their
neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable
date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those
choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which,
under principles of international law or in equity, should be made
good by the Governments or authorities responsible;
Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a
military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or
provide security for the parties, the council:
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.
- 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.
