From Gaza with Love and Words Sharper Than a Two-Edged Sword

"While Israel is physically outside Gaza, it still completely controls our lives, all aspects of our lives: health, education, economy and freedom of movement.

"Life under occupation is degrading to human dignity. It has deprived us of our freedom, and only free people can make peace. It is most peculiar that we are forced to deal with the patterns of life under occupation as normal, well-established facts and when people lost hope and faith in the world or any future chances for change, and when the world turns its head away.

Congress is now on the verge of debating Senate Resolution 224 and "The Board of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), a coalition of Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches and church-related organizations, welcomes S. Res. 224, the Feinstein/Lugar resolution that supports efforts to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace...We take to heart the Psalmist's injunction to "seek peace, and pursue it" (Ps. 34:14b) and are encouraged by the prudent and judicious Congressional leadership shown by S. Res. 224.

"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is recognized as one of the most intractable conflicts in our troubled world today, but as S. Res. 224 notes, support for a two-state solution is broad and there is a critical need for robust diplomacy to pursue peace negotiations. Every day that the conflict goes on is another day that extremists in the region are strengthened, moderate Arab allies are weakened and Israelis and Palestinians live amidst fear and violence. Progress toward a permanent resolution to the conflict will bolster U.S. national security, vital interests and moral authority.

"The churches in the CMEP coalition have long sought peace in the Holy Land and reconciliation of the three Abrahamic faiths. We support active and high level U.S. engagement to achieve a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where Israel lives in peace and security alongside a viable Palestinian state.

"The current impasse is not sustainable. Now is indeed the time for all parties to redouble their efforts to achieve peace. We hope you will join with your colleagues in co-sponsoring S. Res. 224 today." www.cmep.org/Alerts/2007June14.htm

Is it too late for a viable two states?

Ali Abunimah, cofounder of the online publication The Electronic Intifada wrote:

"The one-state solution for Palestine-Israel is "gaining ground," a senior UN diplomat has admitted in a leaked confidential report. Recently retired UN special envoy Alvaro de Soto wrote "that the combination of [Palestinian Authority] institutional decline and Israeli settlement expansion is creating a growing conviction among Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, as well as some Jews on the far left in Israel that the two State solutiuon's best days are behind it."

 "...Contradicting peace process industry conventional wisdom and spin, which long held that Israel's 2005 settler pullout from Gaza was part of an effort to implement the "Road Map" peace plan, de Soto acknowledged that Israel was motivated entirely by concerns about the fact that Palestinians are once again on the verge of becoming the majority in Israeli-ruled territory (as they were prior to 1948).

"Israel is in a conundrum because further unilateral withdrawals are "off the table" while "the demographic clock continues to tick." De Soto predicts that "Should the PA pass into irrelevance or non-existence, and the settlements keep expanding, the one State solution will come out of the shadows and begin to enter the mainstream."
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article7025.shtml 

As of this writing, it appears that after five fierce days of fighting in Gaza, Hamas has vanquished Fatah and at least 90 people have been murdered.

Throughout history time and time again, things that seemed impossible and hopeless all of a sudden just changed.

http://www.wearewideawake.org/

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