RE: In Israel, religious schools get a boost
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/mideastemail/la-fg-yeshiva18-2008aug18,0,258760.story

Dear Editor,

Israel's subsidized and spoiled religious fanatics are the front line soldiers in Apartheid Israel's blatantly racist war on the Palestinians- the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land. This crime and crisis becomes our problem because American taxpayers are being forced to invest in the institutionalized bigotry and injustice that is Israel today with every penny and every loan guarantee (plus every American charity) that funds, empowers and protects Zionism.

While religious schools for Jews get yet another boost by the powers that be in modern man made Israel, Palestinian Christians and Muslims- Palestinian men, women and children on both sides of that monstrous Israeli made Apartheid wall are cruelly impoverished and systemically harmed by The Israel Industry in many ways: "Israel routinely locks up Palestinians based on secret charges. All sorts of outrageous claims can be leveled based on information that Israeli officials garner coercively. Could the secret evidence against me have been extracted through the torture of some young Palestinian? Was I even the one denounced, or someone with a similar name? Was my “crime” sharing a classroom or a lunchtime conversation with someone Israel believes poses a danger? I have no way of knowing, and thus no way of defending myself." Blocking a Gazan's path to San Diego By Fidaa Abed http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080815/news_mz1e15abed.html

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

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RE: Editorial- Perils of an Israeli Transition
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/18/opinion/18mon1.html?ref=opinion

Dear Editor,

History is unlikely to be kind to Israel: Olmert is only one of many Israeli leaders and spin meisters who have been propagating manipulative and dangerous misinformation in order to muck up any and all peace processes so that racist Israel's generously subsidized immigrant bigots can continue on with their genocidal quest to ethnically cleanse the "Holy Land" by cruelly displacing, destroying and insulting the native non-Jewish people of that land- the Palestinians.

One state or two or twenty seven, Palestinian refugees have a legal and a natural right to return to original homes and lands. UN Resolution 194 from 1948 made that quite clear 60 years ago.

In 1948, the international community felt a deep sense of responsibility for the mass dispossession, ethnic cleansing and the Zionist transfer policy that began then. United Nations Mediator Count Folke Bernadotte, who was later assassinated by a Zionist terrorist hit squad, stated: "It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes, while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine" (UN Doc Al 648, 1948). This remains true today as any Jew, regardless of national origin, can gain automatic citizenship while Palestinian Arabs are denied their right to return to their own homeland. The Right To Return, a Basic Right Still Denied

The principles of elemental justice demand that first and foremost, all the world must FULLY respect, honor, and help implement the Palestinian refugees very real right to return. True return- not more economic apartheid, forced transfer and prison camps of despair.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

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RE: Blocking a Gazan's path to San Diego
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080815/news_mz1e15abed.html

Dear Editor,

Regarding " Blocking a Gazan's path to San Diego" : Much as I appreciated being able to read a compelling first hand account about the economic/educational/etc blockade imposed by Israel on the people of historic Palestine, shouldn't the headline be "Blocking a PALESTINIAN's path to San Diego"?

Noticing how well Fidaa Abed understands American dreams and ideals, I do hope that Abed continues to speak out, educating America about the ongoing persecution and plight of ALL Palestinians as racist Israel continues to cruelly play many a nefarious game including using secret evidence and pressure tactics to deny Palestinian men, women and children freedom, justice- and equality here there and everywhere.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES 8-14-2008

NOTES 8-18-2008

Recent News & Opinion:

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PALESTINE REMEMBERED

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Palestinian Heritage Foundation

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Nonviolent Resistance

FACTSHEET: The Right To Return, a Basic Right Still Denied

FREEDOM & RETURN: A Rights Based Solution to building a just and lasting peace in the Middle East ... Not just the return (al-awda) of the refugees, but also a return to the rule of law and respect for human rights: For more than five decades Palestinian refugees and internally displaced have struggled for a solution to their plight based on UN resolutions and international law, including the right to voluntarily return to their homes and lands of origin from which they were displaced/expelled during wars in 1948 and 1967 and due to other Israeli policies of forced eviction, deportation, etc....

"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Recent Anthologies & reports that help explain the Palestinian perspective:

UNRWA & Partners Commemorate 1948 Introduction: I Come from There and Remember | Overview | Testimonies

Raise public awareness and support for a just solution to Palestinian residency and refugee issues:

http://www.badil.org/Publications/badil-nakba-60-info-packet/index.html
(it takes a while to load- so please be patient)

Nakba issue of al-Majdal, issue 36/7, is available at:
www.badil.org/al-majdal/2008/winter-spring/majdal36-37.pdf

The untold stories from The Institute For Middle East Understanding

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has collected and organized relevant information on various issues related to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the consequences of the occupation policy for Palestinian civilians' daily lives. The purpose is to give interested readers, journalists, students, NGOs and solidarity groups a place where they can find all the relevant information needed - such as statistics, legal references, fact sheets, reports, newspaper articles etc. - to get an adequate picture and understanding of the continuing human rights violations committed against civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. More theme packages will be added periodically.

To commemorate Al Nakba, the Institute for Palestine Studies has compiled articles from past issues of its flagship Journal of Palestine Studies....1948 : SIXTY YEARS ON

Come Together For Palestine!
Sixth Annual International Al-Awda Convention on The 60th Year of Al-Nakba and Struggle to Return (Anaheim, California)....

Educational Materials

August 14 , 2008
Palestine Picnic Day! - This Sunday August 17, Irvine California

August 14, 2008
Sixth Annual Al-Awda Convention DVD'S Now Available For Immediate Shipment

August 8, 2008
Palestine Library Progress Report

August 5, 2008
Sign Up to Al-Awda's New National and International Announcement List

Al-Awda 2008
Fifth Issue of UNTIL RETURN Now Available Online!

WHEREAS recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world....Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

Exile, Exclusion and Isolation: the Palestine Refugee Experience Op Ed by Karen AbuZayd, Commissioner-General United Nations Relief and Works Agency To Mark World Refugee Day: 20th June 2008

"The horrors of the Second World War gave impetus to a quest for universal peace, justice and human dignity, with the United Nations at the fore. It is a disturbing commentary on our quest that as we commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Palestinians mark six decades of what they refer to as the Nakba, or catastrophe, with many languishing in conditions of exile, exclusion and isolation. This is a testament to our collective failure to give meaning to human dignity for Palestinians and to achieve a lasting, just peace in the Middle East. We who serve Palestine refugees believe that there is time to make amends.
Exile: for sixty years, Palestine refugees have been in exile from their ancestral lands. Nowhere is this more starkly visible than in the West Bank, where the illegal barrier, hundreds of checkpoints and physical obstructions daily reinforce the exile. And in Gaza, the policies of closure and indiscriminate punishment devastate lives, causing mass despair, threatening to destroy hopes for peace.
Exclusion: Palestine refugees also face exclusion from the justice afforded by international law, the aim of which is to offer the protection, security and dignity taken for granted in a world where respect for human rights and the rule of law have become guiding principles of global governance. Embodied in the canons of international law are clear prohibitions against systematic attacks against civilian populations, against deliberately depriving civilians of food, against the intentional destruction of civilian infrastructure and against the transfer of an occupying power’s population onto the land it occupies. The violations of these and other provisions serve to underscore among Palestinians a sense of exclusion from the protection of the international system...." Exile, Exclusion and Isolation: the Palestine Refugee Experience, Op Ed by Karen AbuZayd, Commissioner-General United Nations Relief and Works Agency To Mark World Refugee Day: 20th June 2008 http://www.un.org/unrwa/news/statements/2008/WRD_20jun08.html

2008 is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 60th anniversary. It's time for a global conversation about human rights and the values that unite us as one human family. But it can also be a time when each of us chooses to take human rights into our daily lives, by joining a powerful people network.

I wish to take responsibility for upholding the goals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in my daily life and in my community. I will do my best to speak out to protect the freedom and rights of others in my community.

I affirm the following principle: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”

I believe Every Human Has Rights.