WAWA/WeAreWideAwake is my Public Service to America as a muckracker who has journeyed seven times to Israel Palestine since June 2005.
WAWA is dedicated to confronting media and governments that shield the whole
truth.
We who Are Wide
Awake are compelled by the "fierce urgency of Now" [Rev MLK, Jr.] to raise
awareness and promote the human dialogue about many of the crucial issues of our
day: the state of our Union and in protection of democracy, what life is like
under military occupation in Palestine, the Christian EXODUS from the Holy Land,
and spirituality-from a Theologically Liberated Christian Anarchist
POV.
"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all...and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave...a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils." George Washington's Farewell Address - 1796
"My aim is to agitate & disturb people. I'm not selling bread, I'm selling yeast." Unamuno
"Imagine All the People Sharing All the World." John Lennon
"If enough Christians followed the gospel, they could bring any state to its knees." Father Philip Francis Berrigan
"You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won't back down." Tom Petty
"If I can't dance, it's not my revolution." Emma Goldman
"We have yet to begin to IMAGINE the power and potential of the Internet." Charlie Rose, 2005
Only in Solidarity do "We have it in our power to begin the world again" Tom Paine
"Never doubt that a few, thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
"You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free." John 8:32
DO SOMETHING!
Photo of George shown here and in web site banner courtesy of Debbie Hill, 2000.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that, among these, are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it. -July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence
September 27, 2012: Abbas, Bibi, and 'the jury' speak
September 27, 2012:Abbas, Bibi, and 'the jury' speak
For journalists covering today's speeches to the United Nations
General Assembly by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the IMEU offered the following QUOTES FOR PUBLICATION:
MUSTAFA BARGHOUTHI, leading figure in Palestinian civil
society, longtime advocate for the nonviolent Palestinian protest
movement, and one of the founders of the Palestinian National Initiative political party. Former independent candidate for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority:
'Netanyahu proved once again that he is a
professional liar. He could not deny the clear facts about Israel’s
apartheid regime described by President Abbas. Instead, Netanyahu’s
speech was condescending and typical of a colonialist. For his part,
Abbas’ speech was a clear admission of the failure of Oslo and the
negotiations approach. For years, we have been talking about Israeli
apartheid, and the need for Boycotts, Divestment, Sanctions, and popular
nonviolent resistance, to end it. Finally, this message has found its
way into the official Palestinian discourse.'
'Mahmoud Abbas’ comments on the Palestinian question reflected the
desperation of Palestinians under occupation and the need for
international solidarity and intervention on their behalf. While Abbas
rightly said Palestinians should not be expected to return to a process
that has continuously failed them, there is little indication that the
main reasons for the failure, Israeli intransigence and biased US
mediation, will change any time soon. He argued that the two-state
solution must be urgently saved but there is little urgency displayed on
the part of Israel or the United States to save it, while many others
believe it is well past the point of salvation. When, we should be
asking, will the world draw a red line on Israeli colonialism?
'Netanyahu, who spoke shortly after Abbas, focused on Iran to
distract attention from Israel’s occupation of Palestine. He put
forward, as usual, a Manichean worldview which is not conducive to
solving problems. Further, and perhaps most perplexingly, he urged “red
lines” to be drawn to alter Iran’s decision calculus while
simultaneously arguing that Iran is irrational and undeterrable. He
simply cannot have it both ways. This blatant contradiction is an insult
to the intelligence of listeners and was amplified by Netanyahu’s
patronizing classroom antics before an audience of diplomats, who will
find it increasingly difficult to take him seriously.'
DANIEL LEVY, Senior Fellow and Director for Middle East and North Africa at the European Council on Foreign Relations, non-resident Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, and former Israeli peace negotiator:
'For Palestinian Authority President Abbas it’s the last chance for
the two-state solution, again. For Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu it’s
the last chance to stop the Iranian nuclear juggernaut, again. Both
leaders have contributed to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict slipping
down the international agenda after having headlined at last year's
General Assembly. Netanyahu has done so intentionally, with his Iran war
drum-beat, and Abbas unintentionally, by remaining stuck in a set of
donor dependency relations, not least with the U.S. and Israel, and
failing to link the Palestinian struggle for freedom and rights with the
democratic momentum of the Arab awakenings. In an unusual departure,
both leaders made the point of stressing that their respective peoples
would not be thrown off the land. Abbas called for Palestine to be
recognised as a non-member observer state at
the UN. But even that wouldn’t change much, unless it marks a strategic
Palestinian switch to a diplomacy that is more assertive and independent
of the U.S. and more challenging to Israel – but Abbas’ speech
contained few signs of that despite his singling out of Israeli impunity
as undermining prospects for peace.
'Netanyahu appeared to go head to head with President Obama on not
one but two issues today. First, placing himself as a champion of a
clash of civilisations narrative in opposition to Obama’s search for
shared values and tolerance. The second issue is, of course, Iran, and
Netanyahu’s insistence on a different red line than the President, with a
kindergarten guide picture of a bomb in hand. But Netanyahu is about
much more than the Romney-Bibi 2012 ticket. Netanyahu’s speech attempted
to place himself in the driver’s seat in how the international
community navigates the Iran file, placing impossible conditions or
intentionally unreachable conditions on negotiations, while pushing for
further intensification of sanctions and escalation of a military
presence in the Gulf designed to produce an inevitability of military
conflict or regime change. And Netanyahu
guaranteed that the “will he or won’t he” attack Iran guessing game will
continue long into 2013.
'Many Israelis will though find their prime minister’s contrast of
the struggle between modernity and medievalism strange given the
composition of Netanyahu’s own coalition, a quarter of whose members
come from ultra-orthodox parties who are busy banishing women to the
backs of buses and banning the I-Phone and who presumably fit the
Netanyahu definition of medievalists.'
'The key question before Mahmoud Abbas was whether the Palestinian
leadership will finally begin to irrevocably disengage from the Oslo
process that has brought the Palestinians nothing but accelerated
occupation and colonization. This would entail a strategic campaign to
internationalize the question of Palestine at the United Nations. As
expected, Abbas played it safe. The Palestinians will do nothing to
upset relations with the United States this side of the American
presidential elections, and the "intensive consultations" he spoke of
regarding Palestinian membership in additional UN bodies are just that -
talks about as purposeful as twenty years of talks with Israel. The
decisive turn away from Oslo the Palestinian people so desperately need
and require apparently awaits a new and different Palestinian
leadership.
'Binyamin Netanyahu's address was pure caricature. Rarely has one man
managed to pack so many mindless clichés into such a banal speech. He
managed to draw a red line, but where exactly it lies is anyone's guess.
Nevertheless, the obsession with Iran has served Bibi and Israel well,
successfully relegating Israel's occupation and continued colonization
to the margins.'
'Abbas claimed that he is speaking on behalf of the
Palestinian people, but he failed to represent more than 70% of
Palestinians. He did not mention the struggle of Palestinian citizens of
Israel against apartheid and racial discrimination inside Israel, and
he failed to represent Palestinian refugees and their right to return
to the homes that they were expelled from, which is guaranteed by
international law. Stating only that the fate of refugees should be
"agreed upon" in negotiations is giving up this right, which no
politician has the right to do.
'Abbas also failed to represent the reality on the ground. The
two-state solution is dead. Negotiations have not led to any Palestinian
achievements. If Abbas wants more diplomacy and to please foreign
ears, he shouldn't do it at the expense of Palestinian rights. Abbas
was right about growing Palestinian anger, however this anger will not
be satisfied by half measures, but only with a just and lasting
solution. Unfortunately, the international community continues to urge
Palestinians to compromise, while failing to hold Israel accountable
for its grave and systematic human rights abuses and violations of
international law, which are at the root of the conflict.'
‘Mr. Abbas's condemnation and diagnosis of Israel's injustices
against the entire Palestinian people were unprecedented in their
clarity and accuracy. Reminding the world of the horrors of uprooting
and ethnic cleansing that most Palestinians were subjected to during the
1948 Nakba, he dissected Israel's occupation, apartheid, racially
discriminatory laws, and even collusion with 'terrorist militias' of
fanatic Jewish settlers to tell the world that Israel's 'racist settler
colonialism must be condemned, punished and boycotted.' This is a
significant reflection of the growing clout and impact of the BDS
movement and the overwhelming support for it among Palestinians and
people of conscience around the world.”
‘Spending almost all of his speech explaining how Iran may soon
develop the capacity to manufacture a nuclear weapon, Netanyahu sounded
like a senile used-car salesman who failed to recognize the irony of it
all. The prime minister of Israel, a distinctly belligerent state that
cannot kick the fatal habit of starting devastating wars of aggression
every few years, that is fast becoming the world pariah, as South Africa
once was, that is armed with hundreds of nuclear weapons, and that
refuses to define its borders or to comply with UN resolutions, is
trying to scare the world about another country having the mere
potential of one day developing a deterrent. No wonder the Boycott,
Divestment, and Sanctions movement is growing at an amazing rate on his
watch.'
PHYLLIS BENNIS, writer, analyst, and director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies:
'Chairman Abbas’ speech aimed to reclaim his dwindling support among
Palestinians, while outlining Palestine’s intention to move for a new
“non-member” state status at the UN. While not granting full UN
membership, that would identify Palestine as a “state” in the UN family,
allowing it to join the International Criminal Court, enabling an ICC
investigation of potential Israeli war crimes on Palestinian
territory. Abbas’s call for the Security Council to set the terms of
reference for any renewed diplomatic process seemed to contradict his
longstanding willingness to allow U.S. control of the negotiating
process. In language clearly designed to win support from Palestinians,
many of whom remain dissatisfied with the current Palestinian
leadership, he spoke of Israeli “apartheid” and asserted the need to
continue
“peaceful popular resistance” against occupation. In a clear effort to
win support from Palestinian civil society, whose call for a global
campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions has fundamentally
challenged longstanding PLO/PA strategy, he spoke in a language of
rights, and identified Israel’s “settler colonialism” as something that
must be “condemned, punished and boycotted."'
'Reflecting the huge political gain that Prime Minister Netanyahu has
won from his year of escalating threats against Iran, his UN speech
barely touched the Palestinian question. As long as the claim, however
specious, that Israel faces an “existential danger” from Iran is on the
table, no one, certainly not the U.S., has been willing to exert any
real pressure on Israel regarding the occupation. Netanyahu’s speech
focused almost solely on Iran, comparing it to Nazi Germany and calling
for the world – especially the U.S. – to endorse his specific red lines
for using force against Iran. Ignoring the existing U.S. red line,
preventing Iran from obtaining a bomb, Netanyahu used a grade-school
level poster prop and insulting “this is a bomb; this is a fuse”
language. He set his red line as Iran’s ability to enrich uranium to
bomb grade, and
demanded that the U.S. join. While Iran has not enriched anywhere close
to that level, Netanyahu’s language reflected his longstanding red line
on Iran’s “capability,” a line that he again argued is almost here, and
on the need to attack Iranian facilities while they are “still visible
and still vulnerable."'
Christopher Hazou
Communications Manager, IMEU (202) 903-3271
www.imeu.net
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/theIMEU
Follow us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/theIMEU
Mahmoud
Abbas asks UN General Assembly to recognize Palestine as
'non-member state'
Full Transcript
September 27, 2012 "Information
Clearing House"
- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tells UN General
Assembly in New York: Prevent the occurence of a new Nakba in
the Holy Land.
Full Transcript
"I wish to
begin by extending congratulations to the President of the 67tu
session of the United Nations General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Vuk
Jeremic, wishing him all success. I express appreciation as well
to H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz A1-Nasser for his leadership of the
previous General Assembly session, and also to the United
Nations Secretary-General, H.E. Mr. Ban Ki- moon, for his
tireless efforts at the helm of this organization.
Also, from
the outset, I wish to affirm our appreciation to all Member
States that, in their statements to this Assembly, have stressed
the urgency for progress towards the realization of a just peace
in our region that allows for the fulfillment by the Palestinian
people of their inalienable national rights. Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Developments over the past year have confirmed what we have
persistently drawn attention to and warned of: the catastrophic
danger of the racist Israeli settlement of our country,
Palestine.
During the
past months, attacks by terrorist militias of Israeli settlers
have become a daily reality, with at least 535 attacks
perpetrated since the beginning of this year. We are facing
relentless waves of attacks against our people, our mosques,
churches and monasteries, and our homes and schools; they are
unleashing their venom against our trees, fields, crops and
properties, and our people have become fixed targets for acts of
killing and abuse with the complete collusion of the occupying
forces and the Israeli Government.
The
escalation of settler attacks should not surprise anyone, for it
is the inherent byproduct of the continuation of occupation and
a government policy that deliberately fosters the settlements
and settlers and deems their satisfaction to be an absolute
priority. And, it is the inherent byproduct of the racist
climate fueled by a culture of incitement in the Israeli
curriculum and extremist declarations, which are rife with
hatred and are rooted in a series of discriminatory laws created
and enacted over the years against the Palestinian people, as
well as by the security apparatus and courts, which provide
excuse after excuse for the settlers' crimes and for their
accelerated release should one of them happen to be arrested,
and by official and military commissions of inquiry, which
fabricate justifications for soldiers who have committed what
are clearly considered to be war crimes and perpetrated acts of
murder, torture and abuse of peaceful civilians.
Over the
past year, since the convening of the General Assembly's
previous session, Israel, the occupying Power, has persisted
with its settlement campaign, focusing on Jerusalem and its
environs. It is a campaign clearly and deliberately aimed at
altering the City's historic character and the glorious image of
the Holy City etched in the minds of humankind. It is a campaign
of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people via the
demolition of their homes and prevention of their construction;
the revocation of residency rights; the denial of basic
services, especially with regard to construction of school; the
closure of institutions; and the impoverishment of Jerusalem's
community via a siege of walls and checkpoints that are choking
the City and preventing millions of Palestinians from freely
accessing its mosques, churches, schools, hospitals and markets.
The
occupying Power has also continued its construction and
expansion of settlements in different areas throughout the West
Bank and continued its suffocating blockade as well as raids and
attacks against our people in the Gaza Strip, who to this day
continue to suffer from the disastrous impact of the destructive
war of aggression committed against them years ago. Nearly five
thousand Palestinians also remain captive as prisoners and
detainees in Israel's jails. We call on the international
community to compel the Government of Israel to respect the
Geneva Conventions, to lift the blockade of Gaza and to
investigate the conditions of detention of Palestinian prisoners
and detainees, stressing the need for their release; they are
soldiers in their people's struggle for freedom, independence
and peace.
At the
same time, the occupying Power continues to tighten the siege
and impose severe restrictions on movement, preventing the
Palestinian National Authority (PNA) from implementing vital
infrastructure projects and providing services to its citizens,
who are also being prevented from cultivating their land and
deprived of water for irrigation. It is also obstructing the
establishment of agricultural, industrial, tourism and housing
projects by the private sector in vast areas of the Occupied
Palestinian Authority, which are classified as areas subject to
the absolute control of the occupation, which encompasses
approximately 60% of the West Bank. The occupying Power
continues to deliberately demolish what the PNA is building,
projects funded by donor brethren and friends, and destroying
PNA projects involving the building of roads, simple homes for
its citizens and agricultural facilities. In fact, over the past
12 months,
the Israeli occupying forces demolished 510 Palestinian
structures in these areas and displaced 770 Palestinians from
their homes. These illegal measures have caused great damage to
our economy and impeded our development programs and private
sector activity, compounding the socio-economic difficulties
being endured by our people under occupation, a fact confirmed
by international institutions.
Israel's
overall policy is ultimately leading to the weakening of the
Palestinian National Authority, undermining its ability to carry
out its functions and to implement its obligations, which
threatens to undermine ks very existence and threatens its
collapse.
All of
this is taking place in the context of an Israeli political
discourse that does not hesitate to brandish aggressive,
extremist positions, which in many aspects and its practical
application on the ground is inciting religious conflict. This
is something we firmly reject based on our principles and
convictions and our understanding what it means to fuel such
fires in this very sensitive area full of explosive flashpoints
and how it can fuel the action of extremists from various
quarters, especially those trying to use tolerant, monotheistic
religions as an ideological justification for their terrorism.
Mr.
President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
We, on our
part, and as proof our seriousness and our sincere intention to
create an opening in this impasse, conducted exploratory talks
with the Israeli Government at the beginning of this year upon
the initiative of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. We have also
encouraged the expressed desires of several countries to
contribute to efforts to break the cycle of deadlock and have
also ourselves undertaken initiatives to create favorable
conditions for the resumption of negotiations. Unfortunately,
however, the result of all these initiatives has been very
negative.
Mr.
President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
There can
only be one understanding of the Israeli Government's actions in
our homeland and of the positions it has presented to us
regarding the substance of a permanent status agreement to end
the conflict and achieve peace. That one understanding leads to
one conclusion: that the Israeli Government rejects the
two-State solution.
The
two-State solution, i.e. the State of Palestine coexisting
alongside the State of Israel, represents the spirit and essence
of the historic compromise embodied in the Oslo Declaration of
Principles, the agreement signed 19 years ago between the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Government of
Israel under the auspices of the United States of America on the
White House Lawn, a compromise by which the Palestinian people
accepted to establish their State on only 22% of the territory
of historic Palestine for the sake of making peace.
The recent
years have actually witnessed the systematic acceleration and
intensification of Israeli measures aimed at emptying the Oslo
Accords of their meaning, while simultaneously building facts on
the ground in the Occupied Palestinian Territory that are making
the implementation of the Accords extremely difficult if not
completely impossible.
Mr.
President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Israel
aims to continue its occupation of East Jerusalem, to de facto
annex large areas of the rest of the Occupied Palestinian
Territory and to continue occupying a large portion of the
Territory under different pretexts. It refuses to engage in any
serious discussion of the issue of the Palestine refugees. It
wants to continue its occupation of Palestinian water basins and
its control over the most fertile agricultural areas in our land
as well as over our air, skies and borders.
The final
map and borders that can be drawn in accordance with Israel's
official positions reveal to us the following: small Palestinian
enclaves surrounded by large Israeli settlement blocs and walls,
checkpoints and vast security zones and roads devoted to the
settlers. Thus, the enclaves would remain subject to the full
dominance of military, colonial occupation, only packaged under
new names, such as the unilateral plan for a so-called State
with provisional borders.
Mr.
President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Israel
refuses to end the occupation and refuses to allow the
Palestinian people to attain their rights and freedom and
rejects the independence of the State of Palestine.
Israel is
promising the Palestinian people a new catastrophe, a new Nakba.
Mr.
President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I speak on
behalf of an angry people, a people that feels that, at the same
time that they continue with their calls for their right to
freedom and their adoption of a culture of peace and adherence
to the principles and rules of international law and resolutions
of international legitimacy, rewards continue to be illogically
bestowed upon Israel, whose Government pursues a policy of war,
occupation and settlement colonization. And Israel continues to
be permitted to evade accountability and punishment and some
continue to obstruct the undertaking of decisive positions
regarding its violations of international law and covenants.
This, in fact, represents a license for the occupation to
continue its policy of dispossession and ethnic cleansing and
encourages it to entrench its system of apartheid against the
Palestinian people.
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Despite
our real feelings of anger, we, in the name of the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO), the sole legitimate
representative of the Palestinian people, reaffirm, without
hesitation, that we as committed to peace and international
legitimacy and its covenants and its resolutions as we are
adherent to our inalienable national rights and aspirations, and
we reaffirm that we are committed to non-violence and reject
terrorism in all its forms, particularly State terrorism.
Despite
our feelings of disappointment and loss of hope, we continue to
sincerely extend our hands to the Israeli people to make peace.
We realize that ultimately the two peoples must live and
coexist, each in their respective State, in the Holy Land.
Further, we realize that progress towards making peace is
through negotiations between the PLO and Israel.
Despite
all the complexities of the prevailing reality and all the
frustrations that abound, we say before the international
community: there is still a chance - maybe the last - to save
the two-State solution and to salvage peace.
However,
this urgent task must be pursued via a new approach. Whoever
rushes to advise us to repeat an experience that has proven to
be fruitless - negotiations with the Israeli Government without
clear terms of reference - must understand that this will result
in reproduction of failure and again provide a cover for
entrenchment of the occupation and will finish off an
already-dying peace process. And, whoever who advises us to
wait, must realize that the festering situation in our country
and our region has its own timing and can neither withstand
further procrastination and delay nor its placement at the
bottom of the global agenda.
The
approach required for saving the chance for peace must first and
foremost be predicated on the understanding that racial settler
colonization must be condemned, punished and boycotted in order
for it to be completely halted. This approach also requires
reaffirmation of and adherence to the terms of reference and
foundations of the solution to the conflict, which have been
endorsed by all of you.
The core
components of a just solution to the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict do not require effort to discover, but rather what is
needed is the will to implement them. And marathon negotiations
are not required to determine them, but rather what is needed is
the sincere intention reach peace. And those components are by
no means a mysterious puzzle or intractable riddle, but rather
are the clearest and most logical in the world. This includes
the realization of the independence of the State of Palestine,
with East Jerusalem as its capital, over the entire territory
occupied by Israel since 1967, and the realization of a just,
agreed solution to the Palestine refugee issue in accordance
with resolution 194 (III), as prescribed in the Arab Peace
Initiative.
Indeed,
the fundamental components of the solution to the conflict exist
in the documents and resolutions of the United Nations and in
the resolutions of regional organizations, starting from the
League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC),
the Non- Aligned Movement (NAM) and the African Union (AU), as
well as in the statements of the European Union (EU) and the
international Quartet.
The
international community, embodied in the United Nations, is
required now more than ever to uphold its responsibilities. The
Security Council is called upon to urgently adopt a resolution
comprising the basis and foundations for a solution to the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict that would serve as a binding
reference and guide for all if the vision of two-States, Israel
and Palestine, is to survive and if peace is to prevail in the
land of peace, the birthplace of Jesus (peace be upon him), and
ascension of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and the
final resting place of Abraham (peace be upon him), the land of
the three monotheistic religions.
Mr.
President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The
independence and freedom of the State of Palestine is above all
and ultimately a sacred right of the Palestinian people and an
entitlement that must be realized for it has been long overdue
for too many decades.
At the
same time, the Palestinian National Authority has affirmed,
through implementation of its State institution-building
program, the ability to create an advanced model for an
effective, modem State through the development of the
performance of its institutions, public finance management
through the adoption of transparency, accountability and rules
of good governance. These achievements have been considered by
the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund to constitute an impressive
undertaking and success story, one that was again commended in
the latest report just a few days ago, confirming full
Palestinian readiness for the transition to an independent
State, while at the same time stressing that the Israeli
occupation remains the only obstacle to the realization of the
State of Palestine.
Mr.
President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
When, a
year ago during the previous session of the General Assembly, we
submitted our application for consideration by the Security
Council to allow the State of Palestine to assume its rightful
place among the nations of the world as a full member in the
United Nations, a major and hostile uproar was raised by some
against this political, diplomatic, peaceful step aimed at
saving the peace process by asserting its basis and foundation.
However, our endeavor was aborted, despite the fact that the
overwhelming majority of the countries of the world supported,
and continues to support, our application.
Yet, last
autumn, when the countries of the world had the opportunity to
declare their stance without any restrictions or "veto", they
voted, despite enormous pressures, in strong support of the
acceptance of Palestine as a Member State of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). A
year has passed and Palestine, the homeland of Mahmoud Darwish
and Edward Said, is playing its role in UNESCO with high
responsibility and professionalism, and is committed to
international conventions, cooperating with all Member States in
order to advance the objectives of the organization, and
providing a model of what its positive, constructive
contribution in international organizations would be.
Mr.
President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
In order
to enhance the chances for peace, we will continue our efforts
to obtain full membership for Palestine at the United Nations.
And, for the same purpose, we have begun intensive consultations
with various regional organizations and Member States aimed at
having the General Assembly adopt a resolution considering the
State of Palestine as a non-Member State of the United Nations
during this session. We are confident that the vast majority of
the countries of the world support our endeavor aimed at
salvaging the chances for a just peace.
In our
endeavor, we do not seek to delegitimize an existing State -
that is Israel; but rather to assert the State that must be
realized - that is Palestine.
Mr.
President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
More than
64 years have passed since A1-Nakba and a large portion of those
who were its direct victims and witnessed its horrors have died
with their memories preserved in their minds and hearts about
their beautiful world that was devastated, their warm homes that
were demolished, and their peaceful villages that were erased
from existence, and about their renaissance that was undermined,
and their loved ones, dear men, women and children, who were
killed in wars, massacres, attacks, raids and incursions, and
about their beautiful country that was a beacon of coexistence,
tolerance, progress and a crossroads of civilization. They died
in the camps of displacement and refuge to which they were
expelled following their uprooting fi'om their homeland as they
awaited the moment in which thcy would resume their suspended
lives and complete their journey that was interrupted and repair
their shattered dreams. They died while they clung to their
legitimate human right to justice and freedom and to redress for
the historic unprecedented injustice inflicted upon them.
At
present, 77% of the Palestinian people are under the age of 35
years. Although they did not experience the horrors of A1-Nakba,
they know very well the details of its horrendous facts from the
accounts told to them by their parents and grandparents who
endured it. And, they are suffering its ongoing effects until
today and every day as a result of the practices of the
occupation and the settlers on a land that is diminishing and a
horizon before them that is blocked against their simple,
ordinary dreams. They see their homeland and, their present and
future vulnerable to continued usurpation and they say firmly:
we will not allow a new Nakba to happen.
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
I say to
you that the brave Palestinian people will not allow themselves
to be the victim of a new Nakba. My people will continue their
epic steadfastness and eternal survival in their beloved land,
every inch of which carries the evidence and landmarks affirming
their roots and unique connection throughout ancient history.
There is no homeland for us except Palestine, and there is no
land for us but Palestine. Our people will continue to build the
institutions of their State and will continue to strive to
achieve national reconciliation to restore the unity of our
nation, people and institutions via resorting to the ballot
boxes, which will confirm our people's pluralistic democratic
choice. Our people are also determined to continue peaceful
popular resistance, consistent with international humanitarian
law, against the occupation and the settlements and for the sake
of freedom, independence and peace.
Mr.
President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Prevent
the occurrence of a new Nakba in the Holy Land. Support the
realization of a free, independent State of Palestine now. Let
peace be victorious before it is too late."
"HOPE has two children.The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it."-St. Augustine
"He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust." - Aquinas
Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
" In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."-Mother Teresa
“You cannot talk like sane men around a peace table while the atomic bomb itself is ticking beneath it. Do not treat the atomic bomb as a weapon of offense; do not treat it as an instrument of the police. Treat the bomb for what it is: the visible insanity of a civilization that has ceased...to obey the laws of life.”- Lewis Mumford, 1946
The age of warrior kings and of warrior presidents has passed. The nuclear age calls for a different kind of leadership....a leadership of intellect, judgment, tolerance and rationality, a leadership committed to human values, to world peace, and to the improvement of the human condition. The attributes upon which we must draw are the human attributes of compassion and common sense, of intellect and creative imagination, and of empathy and understanding between cultures." - William Fulbright
“Any nation that year after year continues to raise the Defense budget while cutting social programs to the neediest is a nation approaching spiritual death.” - Rev. MLK
Establishment of Israel
"On the day of the termination of the British mandate and on the strength of the United Nations General Assembly declare 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." - May 14, 1948. The Declaration of the Establishment of Israel