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Saturday, August 24, 2013

My letter to the Baltimore Sun RE "PBS airs anti-Israel films"

Nominated for an Oscar®, 5 Broken Cameras is a deeply personal first-hand account of life and nonviolent resistance in Bil’in, a West Bank village where Israel is building a security fence. Palestinian Emad Burnat, who bought his first camera in 2005 to record the birth of his youngest son, shot the film and Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi co-directed. The filmmakers follow one family’s evolution over five years, witnessing a child’s growth from a newborn baby into a young boy who observes the world unfolding around him. The film is a Palestinian-Israeli-French co-production. PBS Premiere: August 26, 2013
Check local listings
 
RE "PBS airs anti-Israel films"
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bs-ed-pbs-israel-letter-20130821,0,4354129.story

Dear Editor,

For generations now, PBS has been providing Americans with a diverse lineup of fascinating and informative and highly relevant shows... Kudos to PBS POV for airing two revealing films that shed at least a little light on the very real plight of the Palestinians. 

If the acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Ra'anan Alexandrowicz's flim "The Law in These Parts" and "5 Broken Cameras" filmed by Palestinian Emad Burnat and co-directed by Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi, are anti-Israel then so be it.

An individual watching PBS is always free to change the channel, or turn off the TV- however Palestinian men, women and children are not so free or easily able to escape from Israel's entrenched institutionalized bigotry, occupation and anti-Palestine campaigns.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab


NOTES
**********
The Law in These Parts

Synopsis

In The Law in These Parts, acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Ra'anan Alexandrowicz has pulled off a tour-de-force examination of the system of military administration used by Israel since the Six Day War of 1967 — featuring the system's leading creators. In a series of thoughtful and candid interviews, Israeli judges, prosecutors and legal advisers, who helped devise the occupation's legal framework, paint a complex picture of the Middle East conflict and the balance among political interests, security and human rights that has come with it. Winner, World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary, 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

5 Broken Cameras

Synopsis

Nominated for an Oscar®, 5 Broken Cameras is a deeply personal first-hand account of life and nonviolent resistance in Bil’in, a West Bank village where Israel is building a security fence. Palestinian Emad Burnat, who bought his first camera in 2005 to record the birth of his youngest son, shot the film and Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi co-directed. The filmmakers follow one family’s evolution over five years, witnessing a child’s growth from a newborn baby into a young boy who observes the world unfolding around him. The film is a Palestinian-Israeli-French co-production.


******

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


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


"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
Live by the Golden Rule
Words to Honor: The United Nations 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.

".... it being clearly understood that nothing
          shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
          rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine....
"In 1949, the international community accepted Israel's UN membership upon two conditions: That they respect resolutions 181 (two states) and 194 (refugee rights). Neither has been honored. In fact, 65 years later, Israel has not even acknowledged what it did in 1948." Saeb Erekat


11 December 1948 UN Resolution 194:"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"

Friday, August 23, 2013

Palestine's Abbas: "Once we have the borders of our state, we will not seek to expand it. The right of return is a separate issue"

"Referring to historic Palestinian cities in what is now Israel, he added: "People say that after signing a peace agreement we will still demand Haifa, Acre and Safed. That is not true."

The president's comments referred to the issue of borders, not the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their pre-1948 homes, said an official. "Once we have the borders of our state, we will not seek to expand it. The right of return is a separate issue," he said.

However, the remarks may inflame the Palestinian public, which is already sceptical about the peace process and for whom the right of return is a visceral and deeply emotional issue. Israel insists it will never allow Palestinians to return en masse to their former homes.

Abbas caused uproar last year when he told an Israeli television interviewer that he should have the right to visit his birthplace of Safed, from which his family was forced to flee in 1948, but accepted that he would not return to live there. He later clarified that he was making a personal statement, not waiving the right of return for almost five million Palestinian refugees and their descendants."


 [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] 
Mahmoud Abbas: 'People say that after signing a peace agreement we will still demand Haifa, Acre and Safed. That is not true.' Photograph: Khaled Elfiqi/EPA

Peace with Israel would end Palestinian land claims, says Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinian president makes apparent move to reassure Israelis after expressing frustration at talks' lack of progress
The Palestinians would abandon historic claims to land that is now in the state of Israel in the event of a far-reaching peace deal, President Mahmoud Abbas has said in his first comments since negotiations began two weeks ago, stressing that a "just" agreement would mean "the end of the conflict".

He also indicated rising impatience at the glacial pace of negotiations, telling a group of leftwing Israeli parliamentarians that the Palestinians wanted to accelerate the talks. No progress had been made...READ MORE

Briefing reporters at Israel's illegal Gilo settlement, Ashrawi dismissed suggestions that large settlements would become part of Israel in a peace deal.

Ashrawi: PLO position based on 1967 borders
 [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.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=622963 

Published Wednesday 21/08/2013 (updated) 22/08/2013

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The PLO position in negotiations is based on international recognition of 1967 borders, senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi said Tuesday.

Briefing reporters at the illegal Gilo settlement, Ashrawi dismissed suggestions that large settlements would become part of Israel in a peace deal.

Gilo and other settlements are designed to prevent a contiguous, viable Palestinian state, Ashrawi said, "So all those statements saying that ‘everyone knows that the major settlements will stay with Israel’ are simply not true.

"Such statements are designed to deliberately mislead by misrepresenting our negotiation’s positions. Our position is based on an international recognition of the 1967 border as the border of the State of Palestine, including East Jerusalem.

Israel announced that 942 new settler homes had been approved in Gilo on Aug. 13, a day before negotiations resumed in Jerusalem. The last round of direct talks collapsed over Israel's refusal to extend a partial freeze on settlement building.

If Israel continues to expand settlements, the PLO "will have no other option but to seek recourse to international law and international agencies," Ashrawi said.

"In the last meeting of the PLO Executive Committee we decided that if the international community does not stop Israel from pursuing such a policy, we’ll have to go to international judicial venues in order to put an end to such Israeli measures that are designed to destroy the chances of peace, and this is perfectly within our rights." 

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

My letter to the Economist RE New Israeli towns: Looking south... Israeli planners want to switch development to new frontiers

tile backsplash
RE  New Israeli towns: Looking south... Israeli planners want to switch development to new frontiers
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21583670-israeli-planners-want-switch-development-new-frontiers-looking-south

 
Sir-


New (and old) Israeli towns and investments should be inclusive, with respect for returning Palestinian refugees woven into any and all state sponsored plans.  


A two state solution to actually end the Israel-Palestine conflict must be based on building a better way forward for both Israelis and Palestinians. Some will be visitors, some will be citizens, but all must be free to live and work and vacation in peace wherever they are, with the rule of fair and just laws creating a safer saner environment for ALL men, women and children, regardless of supposed race or religion.


Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab


Notes

Live by the Golden Rule
Words to Honor: The United Nations 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.

"In 1949, the international community accepted Israel's UN membership upon two conditions: That they respect resolutions 181 (two states) and 194 (refugee rights). Neither has been honored. In fact, 65 years later, Israel has not even acknowledged what it did in 1948." Saeb Erekat

"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

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

".... 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 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

11 December 1948 UN Resolution 194:"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"


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

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Archaeologists race to save Gaza's ancient ruins ... The Jebaliyah mosaic pavement is part of what once was a Byzantine church located on the road from Gaza to Jerusalem.

In this Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2013 photo, a man looks at a mosaic at St. Hilarion’s monastery ... Jebaliyah, is located just 100 meters (yards) from a refugee camp of the same name, the largest of eight camps in Gaza.
Here, Humbert is trying to shield a Byzantine mosaic pavement dating back to the sixth century. But the concrete shelter that would protect it from the weather will cost $75,000 and the archaeologist is still looking for funding.
ST. HILARION, Gaza Strip (AP) — The ruins of this ancient complex sit on dunes by the sea, a world away from Gaza City's noise and bustle. Up in the sky, birds compete for space with children's kites flying from a nearby farm.

St. Hilarion's monastery, a reminder of the time in late antiquity when Christianity was the dominant faith in what is now the Gaza Strip, is one of many archaeological treasures scattered across this coastal territory.

"Archaeology in Gaza is everywhere," says French archaeologist Jean-Baptiste Humbert, who excavated in the territory from 1995 to 2005. He says it was once a "very rich oasis, with gardens, cities and you have settlements, dwellings, fortresses, cities everywhere, everywhere."

The strip of land on the Mediterranean, sandwiched by Israel and Egypt, is now largely isolated, but once was a thriving crossroads between Africa, the Levant and Asia.

Archaeologists race to save Gaza's ancient ruins

 [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]  

A picture taken on November 28, 2010 shows a mosaic belonging to the archeological site of the Saint Hilarion Monastery one of the largest Christian monasteries in the Middle East, in Tel Umm al-Amr close to Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. A haven of peace in a sea of concrete that is the Gaza Strip, the crumbling remains of the Holy Land’s oldest monastery are in danger of disappearing for lack of funds to preserve them. AFP PHOTO/MOHAMMED ABED.
BBC News The mosaic found at St Hilarion monastery is covered in sand when it is not being worked on to protect it from damage.
ruins of Hilarion monastery [photo: Abeer Jamal]



TELL UMM EL-'AMR (SAINT HILARION MONASTERY)
Mosaic pavement in the choir of the early church, 2010 

Monday, August 19, 2013

My letter PUBLISHED CSM August 19, 2013... Strengthening reasonable voices on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a good idea – but only if those voices respect universal human rights. A fully secular two-state solution is the best way forward.

 [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/Letters-to-the-Editor/2013/0819/Readers-Write-US-must-preserve-not-develop-Arctic-Way-forward-for-Israelis-Palestinians

Way forward for Israelis, Palestinians

Regarding Nadine Epstein's July 22 commentary, "Israelis, Palestinians need help for two-state solution": The one-state situation is what already is and has been for decades, with Israel easily able to find more excuses (and ways) to usurp more Palestinian land, liberty, and life. Making a cruel situation even worse, Islamists have been thriving on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ensuring that Israel too often perceives Palestinians as terrorist threats rather than as real people.

Noticing and hopefully strengthening reasonable voices, as Ms. Epstein suggests is needed, is a good idea – but only if those reasonable voices firmly respect universal basic human rights. The goal must be a just and lasting peace. A fully secular two-state solution is the best way forward.

Anne Selden Annab
Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Segregationists ... a poem by Anne Selden Annab

Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem are seen in the background as tourists walk atop a wall surrounding Jerusalem's Old City August 2013. Photo Credit CSM: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters... Palestinians insist that a peace agreement include a 'right of return' to the villages they fled in 1948, but Israelis say there is no room for any of them in Israel.

      Segregationists

The slave owner could not
would not see his sin...
like Israel.

The slave owner had religious texts
and popular support...
like Israel.

The slave owner had wealth
and power...
like Israel.

To friends the slave owner appeared admirable
trustworthy- intelligent- civilized- successful...
like Israel.

Abolitionists were despised
ridiculed- harassed... & ignored.

So far most Israelis can not
will not comprehend
the central part they play
inciting religious bigotry
and escalating refugee crises...

So far most Israelis can not
will not understand
how Islamists copy Israeli tactics...

So far... but hope is in our history
knowing compassion
and creativity-
and human connection.

Knowing that all refugees
retain the universal right to return
no matter what the Segregationists say.