By Kevin Stoda
One really needs maps and photos to understand what is being negotiated between Israel and Palestine this coming month. As many churches and Islamic groups are praying for peace. Here are a set of maps provided by the Jerusalem-based PASSIA (The Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs). These are historical maps:
http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/MAPS/0_pal_facts_MAPS.htm
PASSIA also provides a more up-to-date set of maps showing how obscene the dividing up of Palestinian land has continued under the Israeli regimes since the 1967 War.
http://www.passia.org/images/pal_facts_MAPS/WallWeb/index.htm
Those maps are from 2006 or 2007 and show the divisions of major townships in the West Bank.
Recently, xenophobic anti-Palestinian e-mails have been floating around the web by uninformed or misinformed right wing groups in the U.S. and Israel. They have claimed that Jerusalem will be divided or given up.
First of all, Israel and Jerusalem are already divided and have been for some time. Just look at these maps of Jerusalem.
http://www.passia.org/jerusalem/maps/0_M_A_P_S.htm
The objective of peace negotiations is too allow more peaceful passages and multicultural ownership of Jerusalem without barbed wire or apartheid fences.
Second of all, many Palestinians are Christians and some are Jews. Therefore, all Christians and Muslims need to pray for people of all faiths.
The only way for peace to take place is if everyone is willing to give & take in activities & actions ensuring peace.
It will take Israel giving up a Zionist governmental dream and moving into the age of Democracy, where people who have lived in the land for generations have the right to choose their own government.
It will take people of whatever faith or nationality to give up on hateful and depressing dreams as memories. A future needs to be built—NOW!
Moreover, the continuing impoverishment of the Palestinians has had an adverse affect on Israel and wages everywhere in the Middle East.
Check out the links on housing demolitions, barrier checks, ignoring of human rights that make the region politically, socially, economically, and spiritually unstable. See PASSIA’s other links and downloads:
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