We truly are at the crossroads in the Middle East; and choices made within the next few weeks will reverberate for decades.
Last July, while I was in Jerusalem and President Bush announced that the United States would host a Conference for Arab- Israeli-Palestinian peace this fall; the talk on the street ranged from cynicism to pessimism. Every Israeli and Palestinian I questioned agreed that the occupation is at the root of the conflict in the Holy Land . The hurdle has been and remains politicians who are out of touch with the public they were elected to serve.
On September 26, 22007 during a telephone conference hosted by Churches for Middle East Peace, Ambassador [Ret.] Philip C. Wilcox, Jr., Founder and President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, affirmed that, "There is an urgent need for an international movement, the global community; a third party that is empathetic and compassionate to both sides to emerge, for the leaders have failed at peace and security.
"Neither Israeli nor Palestinian governments reflect the majority of their people. In Israel the government is influenced by the IDF, Security Forces and the right wing settlers. Palestine is a broken entity and that will breed more extremists, it must be healed and the reunification of Hamas and Fatah is essential. There is a moderate pragmatic and progressive wing in Hamas and they need to be engaged and recognized as legitimate partners.
"Public opinion polls in both Israel and Palestine show that the majorities of both people want two states, a shared Jerusalem , withdrawal of the 400,000 settlers, a resolution to the refugee crisis. Successful peace negotiations requires that all of these issues be addressed and something new is needed…Olmert only wants general principals addressed and is unwilling to confront the right wing and end the occupation.
"The Geneva Accord lays out a framework that both Israeli and Palestinian experts –not government officials- agreed upon that can lead to a contiguous viable Palestinian state."
In 2003, The Geneva Accord, a fifty-five page document was released in Switzerland by well respected Israeli and Palestinians- not one a government employee- who were able to compromise on a foundation; the skeleton of an agreement that would work if the political will to implement it could be raised and common sense prevails.
On August 10th a delegation of prominent Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders representing heads of 25 national organizations in the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace (NILI) presented specific recommendations to the State Department for what the United States needs to do to maximize chances that this November's meeting/ "conference for peace" will be successful. The religious leaders fear if the conference fails, that people's hopes will once again be dashed, chances for a "two-state" solution will be diminished, forces in the region favoring violence and extremism will grow stronger, and it will be only a matter of time until there is a new Israeli-Palestinian or Arab-Israeli war.
The NILI propose 3 Steps for a Successful Arab-Israeli-Palestinian Peace Conference:
1) Conference invitees should include all Israel's neighbors, as well as Israel and the Palestinian Authority; and all issues to resolve the conflict should be on the agenda. Israel and all of its neighbors, i.e. the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria , as well as Saudi Arabia, should be invited to the conference; and all the issues needing to be resolved to end the conflict, including Israeli-Palestinian final status issues, should be on the agenda.
2) Pre-meeting steps on the ground and agreement on principles for peace are essential. As part of preparation for the conference, the U.S. needs to press harder for concrete steps by Israel and the Palestinian Authority to improve conditions on the ground, including agreement on a ceasefire and on principles to resolve the final status issues, i.e., borders and security, settlements, refugees and Jerusalem.
3) The split between the West Bank and Gaza is inconsistent with a durable peace. The split in Palestinian governance could thwart success of the conference. As Secretary of State Rice said July 18, "There is one Palestinian people, there should be one Palestinian state." The United States should quietly support efforts to form a united Palestinian government that can represent Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and is committed to reject violence and negotiate a two-state peace agreement with Israel .
Retired Rev. Roy Hayes-Priest-at-Large In Cyberspace (Episcopal) wrote "Mideast Peace = Peace of Jerusalem = World Peace ......All Abu Mazin has to do is wait for the appropriate time ... when all the cameras are rolling ... and acknowledge that justice has always been at the heart of the Jewish faith. Abu Mazin can quote the Hebrew prophets to substantiate that claim (Amos, Micah and others). He can quote the Law of Moses: "Thou shalt not steal (thy neighbors' land, olive trees, etc.) " and "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbors (the Palestinians)."
"History is in the making. Abu Mazin has the opportunity to make the distinction between Judaism and Zionism ... on the world's stage ... and call for Israel 's Zionist government to reflect Judaism's highest values: "Do unto others....", etc.
"The International Community will be watching on television. (Osama Bin Laden will be watching, too.) If Abu Mazin will choose his words carefully enough, (i.e., with care, i.e., as in "love thy neighbor"), he will thereby demonstrate that Palestinians are the civilized ones in the conflict with Israel 's current regime. Righteous Jews and survivors of the Nazi Holocaust will resonate and call for justice for the Palestinians. I believe this will happen…because I honestly believe the collective Jewish soul deplores "man's inhumanity to man".
"Once Abu Mazin has declared public support for Judaism's highest values, Prime Minister Haniyeh (cooperative efforts, etc.) will be in a position to call for a hudna (which is a ceasefire and much, much more... a hudna is Islamic Jurisprudence) ... whether Olmert agrees to it or not. Abu Mazin will be in a position to insist that the next step in the peace process is for Israel to acknowledge that Hamas, also, has "the right to exist". Hamas will respond in kind. (I'm sure of it.) Saudi Arabia , Egypt and Jordan will be quick to repeat their support for a unity government in Palestine . Tony Blair and the Quartet will at last be in a position to support a unity government in Palestine . Iran 's President Ahmadinejad will be pacified. The whole world will be watching all this, of course. The Patriarchs and the Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem will find themselves in a position to weigh in, in a meaningful way, and make a public declaration regarding the future status of Jerusalem :
Producer of "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu" Author of "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
She has been to Israel Palestine five times since June 2005.
She is currently working on "The Boom Boom Benny Story"
Israel must be forced to abide by the law like everyone else
The United States does not require Israel to abide by International Law, United Nations Resolutions, and allows Israel to treat the Palestine People inhumanly.
Israel also has unregulated non-conventional weapons yet gets Billions in yearly aid (Over 3 Billion this year). The United States invades and threatens other countries in the Middle East with lesser or no violations and claims other countries in the Middle East are not allowed Nuclear Bombs.
The United States secretly provided Israel with Cluster Bombs which were used to kill women and children in Lebanon. They have used United States provided Caterpillars to kill an American Citizen.
Why does the United States support this Terrorist State in the Middle East, but condemns others?
There will be no peace in the Middle East until the United States Enforces the Laws equally on all people.
by
Anton Grambihler (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 283 comments)
on Wednesday, October 3, 2007 at 3:27:06 AM
I received the following email this AM and wonder what you think of it.
I certainly do NOT want to 'wipe out' Israel; only that
"The State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel: it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion it will guarantee freedom of religion [and] conscience and will be faithful to the Charter of the United Nations."
But 'Sherlock' has made some good points:
What is wrong when President Ahmadinejad
would like to wipe off Israel from the Map ??
Why not ?? because :
1. Israel is a dirty expansionist state and an illegally occupying power,
2. Israel has disregarded all the UN resolutions except the first one
which allowed it to exist on only 22% of what it has now.
3. Israel is a racist state practising apartheid as an integral part of its constitution.
4. Israel is inhabited by imported-impostors exclusively, who claim to be
what they are surely not.
5. Israel is an artificial state-nation falsely claiming a historical-mystical -legitimacy
6.Israel has , since its foundation , done nothing but military aggressions towards its neighbours and discrimination and oppression to the population it occupies.
7.Israel is the first recipient of International- aid and it receives alone
more than the rest of the whole world all together.... . while being the fifth exporter of weapons, worldwide and the first trader in Diamonds and the first trader in Pornography.
8.Because Israel is the biggest reason for Anti-Semitism ,nowadays.
9. Because Israel is a compensation for the Holocaust , when the Palestinians
have had nothing to do with it.....and yet the Palestinians are paying for it.
For each Israeli-citizen there is one Palestinian- refugee, being punished.
Sherlock Hommos PhD.
03.10.07
I think number 7 is wrong:
Israel is 3rd largest exporter of military weapons and does receive more USA dollars than any other state or nation in the world, but I never heard of Israel receiving International aid or that they were into the diamond and porno trades.
I think that it was an OPED writer that stated the correct translation of what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said is: "What he said was "the zionist regime in Jerusalem will fade from history just as the communist bolsheviks did in the USSR. Look it up!" The News Media apparently does not like the correct translation. I have seen in other places that the News Media is using an incorrect translation, but have only seen what is suppose to be the correct translation this once.
The United States complains about Israel Arms deals with China which appears to include selling American made Equipment (which was given to Israel) to China. Yet, the Billions of United States taxpayer dollars continue to flow to Israel.
My current opinion is: When the Nazis Terrorists continued to violate International Law after Land was taken from Czechoslovakia and given to them; Germany was forced to accept unconditional surrender. Nothing less must be accepted from Israel.
It would be interesting to have Rob Kall's opinion on items 4 and 5. I think that 4 is mostly true. I think that 5 is true. Before the Zionist take over of Palestine, I believe that the Jews and Palestine people got along fairly well.
What really puzzles me is why the Jews in the United States speak out against the wrongs of other countries, but turn a blind eye to the crimes of Israel. In my opinion, this will end up with the Jews in the United States being treated like the Jews in Europe when the Nazis were in control. Just wait until the United States is Bankrupt or is hit with another depression and all our money and resources have been moved to China or used for fighting wars in the Middle East because that is what the Zionists that control the United States and Israel want.
by
Anton Grambihler (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 283 comments)
on Wednesday, October 3, 2007 at 3:16:44 PM
"At the cross roads in the Middle East etc"/ Eileen Fleming.
In my opinion the Israelis will never sign a Peace treaty with the Palestinians except perhaps when it is TOO LATE for Israel to sign one. From the times of their founding fathers right down to 2007, they do not know or not yet have agreed to or to declare what they really WANT. Look at the map of Israel as provided to them by the British at the time of Partition and then match it with the one immediately after their flag was raised in Tel Aviv. They grabbed more territory. Again, because they wanted to grab yet more territory they attacked Fallujah (not the one in Iraq) to provoke the Egyptians to attack them. The latter did not but this did not suite the Israeli long term plans. So they worked on the British and the French to attack Egypt in 1956 after the Suez Canal was 'nationalised' by Nasser, which nationalisation had nothing to do with Israel, at least on the surface but it had all to do with Sinai which the Israelis wanted to grab AND they did so by joining in the invasion with the British and the French. Unfortunately for Israel the US stepped in and Israel could not grab the Sinai, at least not in that year. Israel did not stop ther or thene. With the help of their supporters in the US and Europe they initiated and built upon the DEMONIZING of Nasser and his Arab Nationalism, citing the Algerian Freedom Struggle and the War in Yemen. Unfortunately for the Egyptians and the Arabs and solely to their inexperience in real politik of the Cold War they got sucked into the 6 Day War which was not a pre-emptive war as claimed by the Israelis and their supporters in the West. How come? If the Egyptians were seriously contemplating a war on Israel, they would not have been caught as sitting ducks in Sinai and in Egypt proper. Their military high command were no where in their command posts but were attending an Operette in Cairo and most were off active combat duty. This 1967 War got them the Sinai, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. But again all this was not enough for them to say, "Okay, let us negotiate Peace now from a position of strength". No, they did not because they still had more grabbing on their minds. Then came the bloody unprovoked Invasion of Lebanon and the massacres of Sabra, Chatila, Qana and the carpet bombing of Lebanon of last year right up to the most recent air strike in North Syria. More grabs in Southern Labanon and Syria are in the offing, leading to Greater Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates. Why shouldn't they grab? After all they have the means to do it, thanks to the Neo-Cons, the Israeli Lobbies and the likes of Rupert Murdoch and the likes of Rothschilds in USA and the ex-European Colonial States. Since Israel has no Constitution and no declared boundaries for the State forced upon the Middle East in 1948, they can always include any and all land grabs within the Greater Israel planned by the founding fathers of Israel as long ago as the late Nighteenth Century. Till such times, Israel can just keep shifting the GOAL POST.Costs for Israel? Minimal. USA pays for most and provides the means and the Israelis are MASTERS of MANIPULATION.
For the Palestinians, the Lebanese, the Syrians, the Egyptians and the Jordanians, NOT THEIR GOVERNMENTS, they believe only in a single formula : WHAT HAS BEEN TAKEN BY FORCE CAN ONLY BE RECOVERED BY FORCE. This formula did work well with them during the Crusades.One hundred plus years? So what! It is time tried and shall work again; NOW or 10 years from now or even 100 hundred years from now. So, it has been written and so shall be done.
by
syed mahdi (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 125 comments)
on Thursday, October 4, 2007 at 4:20:59 PM
Being a Christian, my target and mission is to challenge and provoke my own.
I hope that moderate and progressive Jews and Muslims do the same with their sisters and brothers.
Although I don't agree with everything Rabbi Lerner believes [such as the right of return] I am grateful for how much he has done seeking justice for Palestinians.
Rabbi L will be one of the 2 commentators on Bill Moyer's program this week talking about the heretical theology and neo-con political ideology of Christian Zionism.
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