PEACE... Moving Beyond War

Well sports fans, it is time for another long look at shutting down this site. With the economic downturn, my own lousy financial state, and not being able to catch up on bills I have long delayed, I'm about whipped.

It is time for America to become great again, to not broker in fear and hate. It is time for all Americans to share in the pain, share in the process to make our nation truly great again. To share in the responsibility and the hard work ahead, to remake america yet again. And then for all to share in the rewards of this necessary rebuilding of our nation.

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With apologies and no financial gain, merely a forward from BBC Worldwide... from BBC request for comment...
-Mohammed Balousha, 16, student, Gaza City

I'm really optimistic this will work. And if it does, it will be great, it will be a small step to breaking the blockade.

It's really important for us Palestinians, especially in Gaza, to breathe at least - and to have a chance to travel.

For a year, we have not had enough food or trade, nothing but siege.

I really support stopping rockets being fired from Gaza, they cause us a lot of problems. They should stop forever.

I think the ceasefire is happening now because there is a real will from us Palestinians, and from Hamas, to just stop the blockade. And the Israelis want the rockets to stop.

The blockade wasn't just on Hamas, but also on a million-and-a-half people.

The problem is, we don't know what Hamas is thinking. I hope they are doing this in good faith.

If they are really planning to go down the diplomatic route, that's great. But if they still want more weapons, that's bad.

I've been an exchange student in the US and my host family have invited me to visit again in the past few months - I couldn't leave.

I plan to attend college in the US or the UK; so if the borders are open, I can travel.

My father really needs medical treatment on his foot. If the ceasefire holds, it means he can get what he needs in Jordan or Egypt.

Not recently, but I have corresponded with Israeli's and Palestinians through the internet about real peace in that region.
In writing, it is suggested to find a single character whose struggle represents a greater issue so that one can see how one is directly affected by great challenge and turmoil.
This story is just one of those moments. Here is a young man whose life is before him and he looks at both things that will help his family and could build his future.
These are his real words, not my preaching, or someone else's propaganda... thank you...

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25d 06m 08y
Is there a surprise the ceasefire between Gaza and Israel is cracking up. Yet, it is sad that this could not last more than a week. It is simple; each side contact the Egyptian foreign office, with a simple message; "We will stop if they stop".
Can this be so difficult. Gazan hardliners would hold their people hostage by continuing to fire mortars and rockets into Israel. This has not changed.
The truth be told, it does no good to ask people rhetorical questions about peace, if they know nothing but war. You present the Gazans a potential settlement that brings freedom, economic aid, a fair settlement over West Bank and Jerusalem, with the price being no right of return inside the Israeli green line.
Hamas talks of a vote; okay, put that to a vote in Gaza, or even all of Palestine. The question is bluntly stated; Does Gaza hate Israel or do they hate the war and the blockade and the overall occupation?
This is the problem; Is Israel willing to rescind almost all the settlement movement and will Palestinians live beside a finalized border beside Israel.
These parties have fought for centuries; some there seem to show no willingness to compromise.
And when shall the peaceful minds there prevail...
Let us see if the current administrations in Washington and Israel end without armed conflict with Iran. If any direct dialogue between Tehran and Washington would do any good, and not further harden each position [which is why the multi-national approach is important], of course there should be discussions.
Let us see if new governments in Israel and Washington may end the impasse with Iran. This is not to say Iran should receive a free pass for the next several months, sanctions should be continued and Iran be on notice that all options remain open... as has been done. There is no need for endless sabre-rattling and threats thrown back and forth.
The U.S. and Israel have not attacked Iran and the situation there has not escalated. Yet, Iran continues to develop the means to make nuclear weapons.
The current U.S. and Israeli's governments are approaching caretaker status the last months of their administrations and hopefully a multi-national approach can continue for the next few months...

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The Egyptian negotiated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has supposedly begun. Any real break in the violence is a positive sign. Palestinian Authority, in hopes that it would have been receiving statehood, years ago formally recognized the right of Israel to exist.
Hamas said it will never recognize Israel, but would accept a truce that could last one hundred years. I have suggested that Hamas be willing to recognize Israel when Palestine achieves its statehood.
Neither Hamas nor Israel negotiated directly with the other. As best I know, this has not changed.
There was a report that Olmert has suggested that final talks about the status of Jerusalem be suspended, pending all other questions be settled. Again, this is just my understanding of events.
Many years ago, I suggested that final talks about "refugee right of return"; and Jerusalem be suspended in this same manner.
The thought being that hardliners on both sides would balk at allowing its own government to concede these points. The status quo is that Israel will not grant right of return to Palestinians within the pre-1967 borders, Palestine would not give up the claim. Israel claims all of Jerusalem and Palestine controls East Jerusalem. Israel has said it will not give up its claim to East Jerusalem and Palestine has said it will not leave east Jerusalem.
The defacto solution of letting things stand as they are, is still an option. Israel keeps its claim to East Jerusalem technically alive, as Palestine keeps its right of refugee claim technically alive, but neither government would act to change the current status quo.
Obviously, the questions loom, but if each government does not actively pursue the claims in question, it amounts to an action by inaction. Neither side concedes the issues, so neither is seen as 'losing' those arguments. Of course, allegedly temporary borders for Jerusalem and East Jerusalem would likely need to be agreed upon in some sort of fashion.
Some time later, I began to argue that it should become a quid pro quo trade off, Palestine withdraw refugee return claim and Israel concedes the part of Jerusalem that is considered Palestinian.
How long the ceasefire lasts is up to Hamas, other Palestinian organizations and the government of Israel. Israeli officials have said that it would stop if the attacks against Israel stopped. It took a third party [Egypt] to get the two parties to be willing to stop at the same time, a principle I wrote about some six years ago.
Hopefully the ceasefire will hold. Hopefully this will lead to further arrangements that enhance peace.

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Israel and Palestine
special by PJ Whitman

I am wearing my journalist-politico hat; hoping, dreaming, seeking peace between Israel and Palestine. It is time for Israel and Hamas to put together a package of prisoner exchanges to bring Shalit home and a sizable release of Palestinian prisoners.
Such an exchange would be a good faith gesture on both nations part.
Neither side should ask too much. If Shalit is returned home, Israeli's could see that Hamas is not heartless. If Israel sends a fair number of questionably detained Palestinians home, Israel would be seen as being willing to be a fair partner in peace. Yet, neither nation should be held up by the other to do the right thing.
This issue should be separate from final resolution talks.
I care not about hard-line groups in Israel, in Palestine, in Hezbollah, or in the United States. I would seek peace and resolution. It is not about one side winning over another. It is about finding resolution, compromise, and peace.
Hamas does not look for peace, it looks for victory. It is controlled and dominated by Hezbollah in Syria and Iran. It sprung from the Islamic brotherhood that assassinated Anwar Sadat.
Of course, a temporary ceasefire is a good thing. But not as a chance to re-arm, not as a chance to put off peace, not as a chance to fight harder another day.
If Hamas would quietly, even without direct acknowledgment, merely tolerate a Jewish state, there is an easier route toward peace.
It is not, in my opinion, the desire of the West to punish Gaza. There have been offers of vast amounts of economic aid to Palestine, including Gaza.
I have suggested a fair settlement that sets final borders between Israel and Palestine. I wrote before Sharon began to implement, unilateral disengagement between Israel and Palestine, if necessary.
It is about peace and a final settlement. Let other nations talk about such a plan, but the plan is between Israel and Palestine. It is about two nations finding peace side by side.
Israel receives a final border; Palestine receives a final border, and Israel maintains Jerusalem as Palestine maintains East Jerusalem.
Israel celebrates peace. Palestine becomes free, and those who would rather have war would be faced with showing to the rest of the world, their desire for more blood.
Let there be peace.
That is what this is about. Palestine relinquishes claims within Israel. Let Israel relinquish claims within Palestine. Neither side is asked to surrender, neither side gives up a fair settlement.
Tell me not about ancient claims; tell me about current peace and freedom. Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me.

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The election choices have been made, and it is McCain versus Obama. John McCain is a true hero and a good man. Yet his age and his linkage to traditional republican economic values is a great concern.
With working people suffering from higher food, utility and energy costs, with health care costs continuing to spiral and corporations are trying harder to send those costs back to working people: McCain looks more like a Herbert Hoover than even a George W. Bush.
Recent Obama comments about Iran show that he is not naïve to the potential threat of Iran, yet he seems not to understand that one of the [perhaps] few successes of the Bush administration is that the U.S. has not gone to war with Iran. While Iran is a great threat, the U.S. is not set to fight conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran.
And, it is in the U.S. best interest to work with Moscow to allow Iran nuclear electric energy, but not the ability to develop nuclear weapons by themselves. That is the goal of the I.A.E.A., the western coalition, the United Nations, and the United States.
I was saddened to hear that Senator Obama called for a united Jewish Jerusalem that seems to preclude East Jerusalem from becoming the Palestinian capital. In my opinion, as long as Jerusalem is debated, there is likely to be conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Currently, Jerusalem is divided between an Israeli sector and East Jerusalem; which is considered Palestinian. I cannot believe that peace is obtainable between Israel and Palestine if Israel attempts to uproot over 200,000 Palestinians from East Jerusalem.
Thus, I have argued for East Jerusalem to remain Palestinian, and the sector controlled by Israel be Israeli.
Jews, Christians, and Moslem's have fought over Jerusalem for nearly a thousand years: Does anyone really believe that any settlement that does not contain the current division of Jerusalem and East Jerusalem has much chance of acceptance in both Israel and Palestine?
For permanent borders, to ask Palestine to concede a claim of refugee return back within Israeli borders, most of the world asks Israel to withdraw from the settlement movement and allow East Jerusalem to remain under Palestinian control.
Should these agreements be accepted on both sides between Israel and Palestine; that leaves no place for radical Arabs to oppose Israel other than for purely bigoted reasons.
Palestine becomes free and Israel becomes much safer. Many Arab nations would recognize Israel and nations such as Iran would be left in the cold. Hamas would be left to choose freedom, or continued conflict with Israel that leaves Palestine poor and the Palestinian people to live still longer under occupation.
I do not oppose Israel. I want Israel strong and free. But, I also want Palestine free. The one concession asked of Palestine is the waiving of refugee right of return. Palestine is slated to receive up 1.4 billion dollars of aid and its freedom. Israel receives her permanent borders; If a better deal, or even another deal emerges that brings peace, of course I would be happy to see it come to be.

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Iran claims its nuclear program is peaceful. It is time to ask again if Iran is serious in this claim. I have always believed that it was ridiculous for Bush to meet with the current Iranian president because of the absurd and blatantly anti-Semantic statements of the president of Iran.
The west has offered a plan which Russia provides and removes nuclear materials with Iran, that allows Iran to produce nuclear energy and does not allow Iran to keep nuclear materials which would make it easier to produce nuclear weapons.
Even before such a plan was announced, I suggested a plan of multi-national negotiations between the west and Iran about the intent of the Iranian nuclear program.
I think it is not coincidence that the previous Iran weapons program in the early 2000's, was at the same time that an element of the Pakistan nuclear program may have been providing nuclear abilities to other nations at this same time.
If Iran is sincere about only a peaceful application of energy, in my opinion, it would accept an arrangement with Russia that both Iran and the west could accept.
With the anti-Israeli rhetoric of the Iranian president, it is difficult for the west and for Israel to take the word of the Iranian government that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
It still comes back to Iranian support of Hezbollah and its activities to de-stabilize virtually all of the Middle-East, which [in my opinion] causes the west to distrust Iran.
The strange mutual interest between Iran and the west is that both Iran and the west shares a mutual distrust of Al Quaida. The government of Iran understands [even as did Saddam Hussein] that Al Quaida has its own agenda beyond any national interest of any Mid-East government. It holds its own agenda and would happily destabilize any Mid-East government it could internally circumvent;
A peaceful Hezbollah, that did not threaten peace in places like Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria, would be less of a concern to the west. The concept is that if Hezbollah would merely live and let live with other nations, it would be likely be accepted.
For Iran to pretend that Hezbollah is totally of its own activities, defies what the west knows of Hezbollah. Israel would not be concerned about Iran if it would quietly accept the right of Israel to exist. That is the difference between Israel and Iran. Israel, in my opinion, does not worry about the opinion of Arab nations, only if such Arab nations would threaten Israel. Even if such Arab nations do not embrace Israel, that if nations such as Iran, or organizations such as Hezbollah or Hamas, would merely [without announcement] allow Israel to live in peace, there would be peace.
If Israel and Al Fatah made a real peace, that all other Arab groups allowed Israel and Palestine have peace, there would be peace.
The plan I proposed is that; Israel leave all but 90 to 95% of the West Bank; allow East Jerusalem be the capital of Palestine, and develop a commission to protect holy sites in Jerusalem. The only concession by Palestine is that it waives its alleged claim of right of return for refugees within Israel.
At last count, that Palestine could receive up to 1.5 billion dollars in economic aid to rebuild its nation and develop its economy with peace with Israel. And, there would likely be a plan to compensate Palestine refugees uprooted at the establishment of Israel some sixty years ago.
I do not speak officially for the U.S. government, yet, I have written and researched these details, and if Israel would trade land for peace, end its settlement activities, and accept peace with those who would make peace with Israel, I hope and believe this is possible.
Israel is being asked to give so very much, and those such as Hamas, if it chooses not to even comment, but would accept Palestinian freedom on terms such as these; Israel receives fair borders and agreements to establish its complete security; Palestine becomes a free nation.
I ask: What more could Israel offer? These are not merely notions I would offer, should I be the one leading negotiations, but of things I have written about before, in detail.
I may be a fool, but as a fool, I be also a dreamer. I dream of peace between Israel and Palestine.
For I know that with peace between Israel and Palestine, the Mid-East and the world would be a more peaceful place...
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It has come to my attention that the Myanmar regime has presented difficulty to allow French efforts to bring aid to the suffering people of that nation...
The western alliance have beliefs on how that nation is to be governed. But,these nations would rather people in turmoil be helped, IMO, than see yet another catastrophe of human suffering.
Commitments have been given that there would not be interference in the governing of affected nations in matters such as these.
That aid, if allowed would be given with few or no special conditions.
I am a single citizen, but I understand this:
I understand that should the Myanmar government not allow aid to come forth; it will be targeted and sanctioned as a totally repressive regime that will hold no regard among all other nations of the world.
It will be seen as a nation that would rather see hundreds of thousands suffer so that a handful of generals retain power.
The matter is that is all other nations of the world would rather see legitimate humanitarian aid enter Mylanmar
than question the legitimate or not legitimate rule of the military rule of the Myanmar government.
This is not to say that any government accepts the military rule of Myanmar, but rather to say that virtually all nations would willingly help relieve the suffering of the Myanmar people.
This is what people who have means and the ability to aid other nations should do.
It is of few or limited conditions, as I understand. This would be a one time arrangement. If I understand the U.N. and U.S. commitment; this would be international aid for the sake of aid, and totally without extra conditions.
This offer, if accepted by all other; is to directly aid the suffering people pf Myanmar.
I write this based on beliefs as I understand those from my work, and not from official sanction of the US government. Yet, if these conditions and terms be arranged; I believe that they would be accepted.

Focus, focus, focus.
If Israel and Palestine work out a fair deal, what else matters?
Eye on the Prize! So France or Egypt talks to Hamas, so what.
If Olmert and Abbas present the world a deal they can accept as having the upsides out weigh the downside for both parties, the matter becomes, do extremists choose hatred over peace? Does some there choose endless conflict and poverty and occupation for Palestine over freedom, the end of occupation and hundreds of millions of dollars in economic development aid, so that some can still want to destroy Israel?
This matter has gone for decades. And Palestine at this moment is no closer to freedom and Israel is no closer to permanent and secure borders than they were at the close of the Clinton administration.
I have said before that: whether or not one believed the sincerity of Yasir Arafat, hardliners held up any final settlement between Israel and Palestine. And I believe that Arafat would have accepted a deal that delivered to Palestine a recognition of their homeland: that offered all of Gaza, East Jerusalem, and nearly all of the West Bank as the free and recognized state of Palestine.
If given these circumstances; along with economic and development aid to Palestine: Arafat would have completed such a deal with Israel if possible.
This is not a sell out of Palestine. This would be a final agreement that would mean a real freedom for Palestine and final borders between Israel and Palestine. The only challenge to this would be if Arab extremists would refuse such as reasonable deal and continue the cold and hot war with Israel with the only goal being the destruction of Israel.
I have suggested that Hamas withhold recognition of Israel until Palestine is free. That when Palestine is free, and the negotiated amount of East Jerusalem and the West Bank is liberated; that then Hamas would accept and recognize the rights of Israel.
This means no surrender by extreme Islamic groups in Palestine. This ties freedom and independence of Palestine to a sincere recognition of Israel.
When, in my asking, though I have no office to claim such a request; if Israel is willing to relinquish nearly all its settlements in the West Bank and allow East Jerusalem to remain in Palestinian control; that Palestine forego its claim of refugees to return within the final borders of the state of Israel
While Israel is asked to give greatly; to its leaving of Gaza; so withdrawing claims toward East Jerusalem, and leaving over 90% of the West Bank: Palestine would forego the right of refugee return. This does not rule out that refugees would also be compensated for homes lost when Israel became a free nation.
I have written many things and have proposed many suggestions that I would hope that would resolve this ongoing conflict. These suggestions meet the goals and hopes of the Bush Road Map plan.
I suggested back in 2002 or 2003 that Israel consider a unilateral disengagement from Palestine. These suggestions appeared in many of the initiatives of Ariel Sharon. I suggested that Israel offer a fair and complete deal to Palestine and that deal give Palestine control of East Jerusalem, Gaza, and nearly all of the West Bank, if Palestine would forego its claim of right of return into Israel.
I suggested that a commission be created to protect and honour all religious sites in the Jerusalem area of all three major religions affected: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
Would this approach not be a fair ending of this conflict?
I am not a Christian, or Jew, or Moslem. I believe that the highest power is of all these faiths. For if that highest power is an all-loving power; would she or he sanction one people above another? That is my personal belief. And I believe that is why I do not place the rights of any people above the rights of another people.
And yet, I believe that my thoughts and suggestions are as hopeful and valid and as important as any others.
I accept that this plan asks much of all in question. I know that the parties in question have suffered greatly. Yet, I know that only with great sacrifice and with asking much of all of this the rest of the world, including the direct counter-parts; that it would take much of each party to accept this type of settlement.
And still I write and hope and dream that such a settlement will take place. I grew up watching great persons killed for their beliefs. Dr. King, Bobby Kennedy, Rabin, Ghandi, John Kennedy, John Lennon, Arafat, Harari [of Lebanon], and others: When I wrote somewhere of my beliefs; I was reminded that persons of my beliefs had suffered a certain fate.
As I write about circumstances in the contemporary world as I do: Do you think that I would not be aware of this? Though little has occurred that has passed my notice, I am a student of history. No more shall I say;
It is time. And in any final deal between Israel and Palestine, should it happen, the Israeli held be Hezbollah should be released, as well as countless Palestinians held by Israel.

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Oh my; I know of personal sadness from many events that did happen within too close together some nine months ago, and bringing back within my own past a series of tragedies and events that still I shall carry to my final days.
I am who I am and that be both a simple and complex man. I am not a young man, though sometimes I feel old and yet again I am still very young;
I miss my son and even sometimes the blessed mother of my son, and that be a personal matter that no more shall at this time be said.
Though I had of no need to be reminded of how persons and families might be touched by their own losses; whether of death by natural cause or of war or of great calamities of nature; it is still of human loss of the most personal nature.
I have focused my writing efforts on peace between Israel and Palestine for several years. I have no delusions that these attempts have mattered much, though I have soldiered on during these endeavors for I believe it be a right thing to do;
At the time of the tsunami of 2004, I heard a good man say that the United States should offer great amounts of aid without many conditions and without seeking credit for our generosity. I suggested that our nation follow this idea. Whether anyone heard this thought from me, I do not know and it is not important why this direction was taken.
For whatever reasons, this was the course that was chosen by our government. History has shown that this course of action was the right one.
I would say that we should prepare great relief for the people of Myanmar following their recent disaster. As many as 100,000 people died from the disaster that struck that nation.
It should be readied for delivery. Even if delayed or withheld by the military leaders of that nation. It should be given without other conditions as long as the people affected do eventually receive that aid.
If the military government delays delivery, but does deliver such aid: each government giving aid should inform the Myanmar government through back channels that no one is being fooled.
The aid should come forward, but those leaders should be embarrassed for themselves that aid would be delayed by them for personal advantage.
If it be clear that food and humanitarian aid will not reach the people affected in Myanmar, then these materials should be re-directed to other nations where humanitarian aid is of great need. Obviously, this be not a perfect process, yet what can persons with the proper intent, try to do?

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Has there been a breakthrough of peace between Israel and Palestine? A third party, Egypt, has a commitment for a ceasefire from factions in Gaza.
Israel should, in my opinion, cautiously accept a de facto ceasefire in Gaza. This does appear a new offer.
And an Israeli spokesperson said if attacks stopped and new weapons were not smuggled in, Israel would be inclined to honour such a ceasefire.
I have asked before, what would Israel do if hostilities stopped in Palestine? What if Palestine asked for a fair peace peaceably?
It is time for peace to have a chance...

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Former President Jimmy Carter should be lauded for his trip to the Middle East, in so far as his being a fair-minded senior statesman seeking a true peace between Israel and Palestine. Unfortunately, this mission has not been an immediate success. He is as close to a fair broker between the two parties as any person, organisation, or government, might be.
What his mission has accomplished is putting Hamas on the record yet again that it would never formally recognize Israel and would insist on the right of Palestinian refugees to return within even the pre-1967 borders of Israel. This clearly establishes that Hamas would rather leave Palestine impoverished and occupied in its quest to reclaim all of that region, than live in peace with Israel as a neighbour.
Obviously, I do not speak for the government of Israel, yet I do know that Israel will not accept such right of refugee return within Israel. To allow right of refugee return would likely destroy Israel, in my opinion.
If Hamas would accept or even tolerate a formal settlement with Israel that was accepted by the Palestinian people, even without its formal and official recognition of Israel, Hamas could be a player in the peace process.
Hamas would rather hold the Palestinian people hostage in its quest for the destruction of Israel.
If I was a person of status in the peace process, I could not ask Israel to sign an accord that did not include wording that ended the right of Palestinian refugee return within Israel. Yet, I would still ask Israel to withdraw from at least 95% of the West Bank and (as Palestine is asked to waive a claim of refugee right of return) ask Israel to waive its claim to all of Jerusalem to allow East Jerusalem to remain Palestinian.
At the time of the establishment of the Israeli state, thousands of Palestinians left of their own accord, while others were forced out of Israel. This occurred sixty years ago. The establishment of Israel resulted in numerous wars fought against it by several Arab nations, some of whom are now friendly with Israel.
It has been established that the international community opposes the Israeli settlement movement and that most of that same international community, opposes the terrorism against Israel. But with that opposition to terrorism against Israel, most of the international community believes that Israel has been too harsh in its treatment of Palestinians during the occupation.
Of course; Palestine does not want occupation and Israel does not want terrorist attacks.
This strikes back directly to my unilateral disengagement plan which I posted on websites in the Middle East (while Sharon led Israel) that discussed hope of a peaceful settlement between Israel and Palestine. Would the Palestinian people give up a chance at complete liberation, the leaving of Israel of all but 5% of the West Bank to continue occupation and fight for a concept of refugee return that is three generations old?
What Israel would gain is stable and permanent borders, peace agreements with all its neighbours except Syria and Lebanon, the end of the claim of refugee right of return, and an avenue toward a comprehensive peace settlement with nearly all the Arab world. With a fair and final settlement between Israel and Palestine, what reason would Arab nations have to oppose Israel other than simply bigotry?
I have spoken in behalf of humanitarian food and medical aid to Gaza during the blockade of Gaza. And would wish for economic aid to Gaza and Palestine, but not when Hamas controls Gaza and refuses to accept Israel's right to exist, under any circumstance. I have suggested that Hamas be willing to recognize Israel if or when Palestine becomes totally free, so that Hamas not have to concede directly to Israel, but rather the desire of the Palestinian people to be free.
Even with all this, Israel has not stepped forward to say it leave the West Bank, or at least 90 to 95 percent of the West Bank, as it had previously offered. Thus: Israel is asking Palestine to waive virtually all of its leverage in negotiations even before serious negotiations would begin.
Of course, dialogue between Olmert and Abbas is always positive and should continue. When it is said that both sides must make difficult choices, in my opinion, the reference is directly about the settlement movement, about Jerusalem, and about the claim of refugee right of return within Israel.
Offers of compensation to refugees have been mentioned; hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars in aid to Palestine have been mentioned. Hamas said that it could not be bought off while trying to smuggle millions of dollars into Gaza, allegedly with the help of Iran.
The question should be: Would the Palestinian people rather be free within a fair settlement, rather than continue a seemingly endless cold and hot war with Israel? And: will Israel offer such a fair settlement that could be accepted by the Palestinian people?

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There are times when a more simple approach is necessary; and then times when greater complexity comes to play. Currently between Israel and Palestine, there is a secondary dynamic at play, the conflict between Al fatah and Hamas.
The Palestinian Authority is comprised of largely Al fatah, the party of Arafat. Hamas won the previous Palestinian election, according to experts, because of alleged internal corruption within Al fatah.
As is often the case, national governments are seen internationally to focus on international affairs. Hamas may have lost sight of its domestic agenda of reform and focused on its conflict with Israel rather than the domestic needs of the Palestinian people.
I have argued in the past that Arafat sought the freedom of the Palestinian people and could not deliver the opposition [Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Palestinian Hezbollah] to bring the agreements to finality.
And yes, Arafat was no saint, yet I believe he sought to be the freedom giver to Palestine, a very great incentive, indeed.
Yet, even with the fairest deals to be brought forward, the Islamic extremists would not recognize Israel.
In a strange way, the Israeli disengagement from Gaza may be beneficial in separating the extremists who would rather fight Israel from those who would make peace with Israel and bring freedom to Palestine.
This is all with a certain amount of speculation on my part.
Since Israel cannot easily, or at all, negotiate with parties who refuse to recognize its right to exist, it cannot easily negotiate terms or arrangements with Hamas.
But it can discuss all of Palestine with Abbas, the chosen representative of the Palestinian Authority.
This structure is ongoing as Olmert and Abbas do meet to discuss the matters between Israel and Palestine.
I believe that Abbas would make a fair deal with Israel. But Abbas cannot finalize any arrangement without great international support. In a uniquely democratic manner, he likely could not deliver such an agreement without the majority of the Palestinian people behind such an agreement.
So, Abbas is in the middle between international efforts to bring peace to his nation and the efforts of extremists to seek a guerrilla-style victory over Israel. And then there is the majority of Palestinian people who would more than likely accept what is seen as a fair settlement with Israel.
Hamas and other extreme elements would be even further in isolation. With a fair deal with Israel and international commitments to help build the Palestinian economy, where do the extreme elements go?
And I refer back to my own;'Israeli Disengagement' suggestion: Palestine gives up the "Right of Refugee Return" claim within Israel proper; Israel leaves 95% of the West Bank; and allows East Jerusalem to stay Palestinian. The original suggestion within this framework suggested that if such terms not be achieved in negotiation: Israel implement them unilaterally, saying to Palestine: "Here is your freedom, no better terms will be offered, we will provide assistance if asked and terms negotiated. You are free, the only way you would lose your new found freedom is if unnecessary attacks continue and Israel would be forced to defend itself".
The international community has opposed the Israeli settlement movement. The occupation continues. The cycle of violence continues.
Would the Palestinian people oppose freedom if Israel gave up claims to virtually all of the West Bank and to East Jerusalem, in return for Israel and Palestine receiving final and secure borders?
And what is left for the extreme element in Palestine to do but join in being free or continuing alone its conflict with Israel?
Of course there would be matters of a peace-keeping force during any transitional period, and the Arab matter of dealing with Palestinian refugees still in other Arab nations. If a settlement in principle can be achieved between Israel and the P.A., these matters should be able to be resolved.

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Oh Israel, it be time to end the occupation of Palestine and to let their people go. For it be time to end the fight between Moslem and Jew. And it be time for a brethren of history of Christian and Jew and Moslem to begin.
I be a simple student of history and political discourse and still I see only two courses this conflict could continue to travel. One is of conflict and wars of warm and hot and cold continuity.
The other course is peace, which may be filled with doubt and difficulty and questionings upon each side; is the course of an immediate peace which may become a lasting peace.
And I say again, it be time to raise the question directly, yet within private diplomatic channels to Israel, to the Palestinian Authority and to Hamas: Would you accept a settlement that returns ninety-five percent of the West Bank to Palestine? Would you accept East Jerusalem remaining Palestinian as it is basically is now? Would Palestine be willing to end claims of Refugee Right of Return within the borders of Israel?
Would responsible Arab leaders accept such an agreement to recognize the state of Israel?
I am but one humble man who has studied the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbours. And I do remember each war in my lifetime between Israel and its neighbours. And I do remember each peace agreement between Israel and its neighbours.
I have filed from the web copies of the documents signed by the parties involved, to have a little standing as a scholar of the conflicts between Israel and its neighbours.
I knew a woman who had been a friend of Jihan Saddat and was very, very hurt upon the assassination of Anwar Saddat.
I have corresponded with citizens of Israel through the Jerusalem Post and Ha'aretz and, much earlier, in the late 1970s attended classes with Arab students in the United States. I contacted the Jerusalem Post when I was certain that the Israeli astronaut was likely to have been killed during the landing disaster of the American space shuttle.
I have written a plan called Unilateral Disengagement, which called for Israel to leave nearly all of the occupied territories of Palestine and unilaterally declare Palestine free. This plan explained that Israel should provide such aid as might be requested by Palestine to establish its new nation. I had seen or heard of no such plan before that time.
A few weeks after I posted this plan on three different websites specific to peace in the Middle East; former Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced his version of unilateral disengagement and set about the end of occupation of Gaza.
What I have discussed here would meet with the Bush Roadmap, would coincide with previous Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements and would end the debate about West Bank, the status of Jerusalem, and the question of the Right of Return of Refugees within Israel.
Of course, any question resolved by negotiations between Israel and Palestine is a matter for their own nations to resolve. I have suggested a commission of Israeli and Palestinian membership to resolve matters in the Jerusalem region to address religious matter that dealt with concerns of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
As I have told this story before, a Jewish gentleman wrote to me, to paraphrase: "I commend you for your efforts, but we have heard it all before. 'From your mouth to God's ear'".
After many and many years, I now appreciate those words greatly.
Though not a practicing Christian and Catholic, I am a great fan of Pope John Paul II. I do not dwell on his beliefs in Catholic doctrine, yet I follow his beliefs that war is an instrument of man and not of the highest power. I believe that we are all God's children and that each one of us is special in the eyes of that highest power.
I could find the words of the song Exodus in my own library or in a simple web search. I merely traveled past once a German concentration that slaughtered thousands upon thousands of Jews. As a matter of seeing history, I saw the films of American soldiers entering those concentration camps to finds the bones of Jewish victims and those so barely alive at the end of World War II.
And so, I be not naïve to these things.
And I have been lectured by Jewish people and by Arabs to not be naïve about my opinions and beliefs.
Still I would ask for peace between Israel and Palestine. Still, I would ask each side to say what each needs for peace. Still I would ask when each would give to your children a new beginning.
As the Jewish man who had once written me, suggested, that I be naïve; I would say again, let me be a little naïve to dream and hope for your peace. Let me dream and hope for a chance at even a greater peace.
That persons of all faiths, of all race and colour, find a way to live together. Perhaps not always in perfect harmony, but to meet together and discuss solutions to the problems that exist to find together, ways to live in our world together beyond the conflicts we together face.

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Former President Jimmy Carter should be lauded for his trip to the Middle East, in so far as his being a fair-minded senior statesman seeking a true peace between Israel and Palestine. Unfortunately, this mission has not been an immediate success. He is as close to a fair broker between the two parties as any person, organisation, or government, might be.
What his mission has accomplished is putting Hamas on the record yet again that it would never formally recognize Israel and would insist on the right of Palestinian refugees to return within even the pre-1967 borders of Israel. This clearly establishes that Hamas would rather leave Palestine impoverished and occupied in its quest to reclaim all of that region, than live in peace with Israel as a neighbour.
Obviously, I do not speak for the government of Israel, yet I do know that Israel will not accept such right of refugee return within Israel. To allow right of refugee return would likely destroy Israel, in my opinion.
If Hamas would accept or even tolerate a formal settlement with Israel that was accepted by the Palestinian people, even without its formal and official recognition of Israel, Hamas could be a player in the peace process.
Hamas would rather hold the Palestinian people hostage in its quest for the destruction of Israel.
If I was a person of status in the peace process, I could not ask Israel to sign an accord that did not include wording that ended the right of Palestinian refugee return within Israel. Yet, I would still ask Israel to withdraw from at least 95% of the West Bank and (as Palestine is asked to waive a claim of refugee right of return) ask Israel to waive its claim to all of Jerusalem to allow East Jerusalem to remain Palestinian.
At the time of the establishment of the Israeli state, thousands of Palestinians left of their own accord, while others were forced out of Israel. This occurred sixty years ago. The establishment of Israel resulted in numerous wars fought against it by several Arab nations, some of whom are now friendly with Israel.
It has been established that the international community opposes the Israeli settlement movement and that most of that same international community, opposes the terrorism against Israel. But with that opposition to terrorism against Israel, most of the international community believes that Israel has been too harsh in its treatment of Palestinians during the occupation.
Of course; Palestine does not want occupation and Israel does not want terrorist attacks.
This strikes back directly to my unilateral disengagement plan which I posted on websites in the Middle East (while Sharon led Israel) that discussed hope of a peaceful settlement between Israel and Palestine. Would the Palestinian people give up a chance at complete liberation, the leaving of Israel of all but 5% of the West Bank to continue occupation and fight for a concept of refugee return that is three generations old?
What Israel would gain is stable and permanent borders, peace agreements with all its neighbours except Syria and Lebanon, the end of the claim of refugee right of return, and an avenue toward a comprehensive peace settlement with nearly all the Arab world. With a fair and final settlement between Israel and Palestine, what reason would Arab nations have to oppose Israel other than simply bigotry?
I have spoken in behalf of humanitarian food and medical aid to Gaza during the blockade of Gaza. And would wish for economic aid to Gaza and Palestine, but not when Hamas controls Gaza and refuses to accept Israel’s right to exist, under any circumstance. I have suggested that Hamas be willing to recognize Israel if or when Palestine becomes totally free, so that Hamas not have to concede directly to Israel, but rather the desire of the Palestinian people to be free.
Even with all this, Israel has not stepped forward to say it leave the West Bank, or at least 90 to 95 percent of the West Bank, as it had previously offered. Thus: Israel is asking Palestine to waive virtually all of its leverage in negotiations even before serious negotiations would begin.
Of course, dialogue between Olmert and Abbas is always positive and should continue. When it is said that both sides must make difficult choices, in my opinion, the reference is directly about the settlement movement, about Jerusalem, and about the claim of refugee right of return within Israel.
Offers of compensation to refugees have been mentioned; hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars in aid to Palestine have been mentioned. Hamas said that it could not be bought off while trying to smuggle millions of dollars into Gaza, allegedly with the help of Iran.
The question should be: Would the Palestinian people rather be free within a fair settlement, rather than continue a seemingly endless cold and hot war with Israel? And: will Israel offer such a fair settlement that could be accepted by the Palestinian people?

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The problem for peace between Israel and Palestine is more complex than the long standing obstructionism by Palestinian extremists. Gaza has been returned to Palestine, now it needs be that East Jerusalem and virtually all of the West Bank needs to be ceded to Palestine, as by international agreement.
In return, Israel would be freed from Palestinian occupation and the calls for right of refugees to return inside the Israeli pre-1967 borders should end.
Israel in trying to retain parts of the west bank and reclaim e. jerusalem; only drag out the occupation.
The question remains: Would Hamas block or try to obstruct a fair deal for peace and freedom for Palestine?
And what if they did? Is there no peace-keeping force available from the west, the mid-east, the UN to keep Hamas out of Israeli territory and end rocket attacks?
Is it not strange that hardliners on both sides now seem to block peace? Yet is that not the lingering problem?
Would Israel keep part of the west bank, seek e. jerusalem; and Hamas keep seeking the defeat of Israel? And what does this ongoing war serve?
When peace could be at hand, if cooler heads prevailed, if each set of hardliners accepted fair borders once and for all...
And when will the Iraqi government step forward and seek national unity with a secular government that respects all factions...
No rhetoric or diplomatic pressure seems to affect the pace or lack of progress by the Iraqi government. Only a slow and gradual US withdrawal will even have a hope of getting US combat troops out. This I wrote a year ago, have circumstances changed much beyond a surge in troops and a deal on the ground with certain Iraqi factions [which has been more effective than the surge], that still makes the US pull-out dependent on the progress of the Iraqi national government...
To say things need to change is one matter; to affect change in ways one can control is quite another. That even if this administration will not reduce troop strengths much, the Iraqi government should understand by now that a new US administration is coming and it is time for new political strategies from Baghdad, not necessarily Washington, if iraqi's want the US troops to begin a larger withdrawal...

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It is time to stop over-thinking simple concepts; All persons should be considered to be born with equal rights and opportunities. We should help our fellow people, though sometimes they will not let us.
We should remember the past, but work for a better today and a better tomorrow.
I believe that by whatever name one calls the supreme being, that being is best served by loving and forgiving other peoples.
Leaders need to be prepared to act for the greater good. Planning for a possible bad situation does not mean that such plans must be used or desired.
Even if one prepares for a bad circumstance, still one should seek the best and most peaceful solution.
Fairness means being both fair to others and one-self. The trick is to find the balance.
What should feel better;? Helping a people improve their situation in life in a fair peaceful manner, or winning some unnecessary battle to prove a point that little matters in the face of human suffering.
Being a tinker, I could give a tinkers da.. what others say during an election; I care what the candidate says.
Peace Fairness Prosperity should be the American mantra, and for other nations, even though sometimes that be not easy or sometimes even possible.

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Peace be the call between Arab and Jew. Let the current season of violence and hatred be ended. This be the call and this be the dream and this be the goal.
Whether the greatest power be a father or be a mother or simply a power beyond my child-like understanding; Does the death of another serve that highest power?
I have written and hoped and prayed for an ultimate peace. I have written of strategies and goals of methods of one toward another. There becomes a time, as I saw in the days of Martin Luther King, when complexities and conflict serve little beyond fueling more and more violence.
A time when simple concepts of resisting violence and working toward a better way become the natural solution for bringing peoples together.
I do not choose sides, rather I would choose peace for all sides, for all peoples.
I will never accept the idea that there is no such thing as innocent victims. There will always be innocent victims, and as long as there is violence there will be innocent victims.
The question should be posed directly to the leadership of Hamas: If Israel left virtually all of the West Bank and let East Jerusalem remain Palestinian and would accept no longer claiming a Right of Refugee Return into Israel, would Hamas accept a peace with Israel so that Palestine could become a wholly free nation?
If Hamas could not accept such terms; it serves as proof enough that Hamas desires the end of Israel even before freedom for Palestine. And that is one of the two most critical questions: The second question; could Israel accept such terms to finalize a deal with Palestine and the greater Arab international community?
Based on previous agreements and further negotiations, the rest of the details can be worked out, in my opinion.
Whether in public or in private; if Israel and the Palestinian Authority accepted such terms, as I have written before, where would that leave Hamas and other organizations but to accept freedom for Palestine or to deny freedom to Palestine to continue the cold and hot war to destroy Israel;
Sadly, If either Israel or the Palestinian Authority could not accept such simple terms to build an agreement, would there be any other result than a continuation of conflict in the form of the current occupation?
By laying out to the parties such a simple basic settlement, could that not announce to the world what nation is impeding peace for the region, freedom for Palestine, and greater security for Israel?

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It is time for Israel to change the tone and debate and make clear how far it is willing to go for peace. If abbas and olmert can reach a settlement, what does hamas do but either accept palestine freedom or show the world that it truly values destroying Israel over bringing freedom to the people of palestine.
A settlement with fatah, which would have to resolve the border and the status of east jerusalem, would leave Hamas even further on an island in gaza.
a ceasefire with hamas would be positive for no other reason than that innocent persons would be out of a cross fire...
Can violent groups like hamas and hezbullah ever accept the peace that virtually all others want?
Abbas should issue a relatively complete peace plan to Israel and the quartet, as should olmert release to abbas and the quartet a relatively complete peace plan, and start negotiations from that as a starting point.
The idea is begin real settlement talks and show the world clearly that Hamas in Palestine and hezbullah in lebanon seek their own narrow military and political victories and their own peoples seem to matter little to them.
yet israel and palestine leaders need to become practical in their proposals for peace.
The quid pro quo of east jerusalem and 95% of west bank stay Palestinian and the right of refugee return demand given up by Palestine.
Israel needs to seek an end to the rocket attacks both militarily and diplomatically, but not let hardliners in both israel and palestine push Israel into a full military offensive which could very easily lead to another occupation of Gaza.
I believe that going back to unilateral disengagement might be a possible approach: with Israel leaving 90% plus of the west bank, and giving up claims within east jerusalem and telling Palestine you are free, and if you want our help, we can talk... would that not be better than endless violence, taking away Hamas as a player in the argument, and putting Palestinian hardliners in the position of either accept a fair peace or keep its people in harms way so hamas can continue to fight an absurd struggle as a terrorist group...

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It is a time for renewal, a time for change in this nation. I believe that Barak Obama can best bring about this change. I have heard some say that the Obama phenomenon has approached the same type of excitement that saw Robert Francis Kennedy ready to be nominated to be the Democratic Party standard bearer before his tragic assassination in 1968.
I have been impressed by his focus, common sense, his commitment to serve all peoples, and his support of fair trade and his support of the state of Israel. For personal reasons and circumstances, I can greatly appreciate his family background.
It is time for a new generation of leader to step forward in America; a generation that is better served to rise above past prejudice, a generation that knows of war, a generation facing new economic challenges that threaten the lower and middle economic classes.
I believe that Ms. Clinton is both aided and hampered by the legacy of her husband. If she were to become the Democratic nominee, I could easily support her.

On another topic, there are reports that Russia could support a new round of sanctions against Iran if Iran continues to develop advanced nuclear technology without compromise. I had much earlier supported the proposal that Russia provide nuclear materials and then remove the spent fuel for Iranian nuclear power plants so that Iran could have nuclear electric power, but not the spent fuels to develop nuclear weapons more easily.

It was a positive sign in Gaza that citizens [for the most part]peacefully protested the Israeli blockade. Peaceful protest not violence will more greatly aid the Palestinian cause. Palestinian violence only aids to continue the cycle of violence and deepens the Israeli hardliners resolve to resist a fair resolution of the occupation.
Peaceful Palestinian pressure that accepts that right of refugee return to Israel will not occur, but insists on an end to the Israeli settlement movement and maintains East Jerusalem being Palestinian, would greatly pressure Israel toward such a resolution.
Israel must receive sufficient security guarantees, full recognition by Palestine and friendly Arab states for this to be possible, in my opinion.
Palestinian people are caught between Arab and Israeli hardliners who will not move toward a fair settlement and peace.
It is time for Palestine to accept its freedom with fair terms, rather than blame Israel wholly for the occupation. With rocket attacks and suicide bombers, Israel remains in a military attitude for self defense.
For without a settlement, Palestine can continue to blame Israel for all its problems; rather than seek a fair settlement, develop its own economy, build its own institutions.
In essence, without deeply seeking a fair settlement, Palestine can continue to refuse to accept responsibility for its own future.
It is time for a Palestinian free state, a secure Israel, an end to the conflict, and for these two peoples and rest of the world to find a greater peace. A hope that one day: Israelis and Palestinians can live together in peace as two free and secure nations accepted by the international community.
Both sides are asked to make great sacrifice for the greater good of their own people and for the all peace-loving peoples of the world.

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it is late and still i dream special dreams
such as to find a way to declare
Dr. Martin Luther King a saint

by his church and denomination
a leader who saw that all people
were created truly equal in the eye
of our Creator [by what name you may this power]

By special council
or another means...

So that other denominations
can speak of his name as
a special leader as a saint

As i would say John Paul II
would indeed be a saint for
special leadership
to bring peoples not free
to come to that cherished freedom...

I be one small man
yet I dream
the biggest the dreams

In my country to elect
a woman or a black man
as president has now become possible...

Do you not see
should Ms. Rodham Clinton
lose a close race to Barak Obama
for the Democratic nomination...

Still this nation chose carefully
between a qualified black
and a qualified woman...
and no matter the outcome

History shall be made;
for this nation rose above
previous prejudice
to make a special choice...

And I see the likenesses
of Nelson Mandela and Anwar Sadat
and Bobby Kennedy and Ghandi
and Haribi and Dr. King
and John Kennedy and John Lennon
and Medger Evers and Rabin
and Benazir Bhutto

and John Paul II limping through
Jerusalem and Arafat trying to forge
a peace deal

and i am a small man
and i write of peace
and times sway me
to wrangle about details
and to lose sight of the higher goals

and yet i come back
to seek in my small way
a place of tolerance
a place of acceptance
of the suffering of others
of the prayers of others

to find a place of peace
to find a place for growth
to find a place to leave their children
a better place than they now live...

War and conflict will seldom leave
the next generation better than this
the generation of our own;
will be asked to find precious peace

I care not your race
I care not your faith
I care not your place of birth...

I care that you honour
all other peoples
and all other faiths
and all other peoples
as would a loving God
care for all loving peoples...

This is a lesson I especially learned
from Dr. King and from Pope John Paul II
and even though I did not enter;
just passed by a Nazi concentration camp
named Dachau

I witnessed in a small way
the potential of prejudice
as well as my own experience
of seeing persons hate
because of faith and colour...

Perhaps the greatest ask
of one people to another
is to forgive sins of the past
so that two peoples can live
side by side together
in the future...

My son I miss
for that be a private thing
I would wish him
a chance to rise above
the saying that limits from others
would also limit him...

As I would say
that limits to races or to nations
who seek to live in peace and honour
with all people...

That they rise to seek
living beside one another together
in peace and honour and forgiveness
side by side
in today and tomorrow...

And i am indeed a dreamer
and sing songs aloud of peace and hope
that i have found to comfort me

it is a special dream
to forgive the sins of the past
and it be a special dream
to ask better of tomorrow...

And I sing
this moment
the song
-Let there peace on Earth
-and let it begin
-with me...

I find tears upon myself
when I see the weak and the starving
and those caught in the middle
of those who would rather seek war and death

to sacrifice the innocent
for a momentary conflict
rather than seek a better peace.

Please, I would ask...
Fight no more
And look to a better peace...

for simply it be
a greater special gift
we may give
one to another...

It be a simple thing
that each people
give to another...

For what differences of the past
We shall honour your right to be free
as We expect you
to honour the right
of all yourself
and others to be free...

There, of course, will be conflict
There, of course, will be those
Who would rather send others to war...

Rather, who it not be a greater thing
to seek to end war and hardshp
And find a lasting peace...

Do not hate
because of race or religion

Do not hate
for any past reason

For we are all indeed
the Children of a Higher God
by whatever name
you may call that God...

It be that simple
It be that pure

I do not question your faith
As I would not have you
question my faith...

Yet, we come back to this moment
of you and your pain
and me of my pain

And still I would ask
... Can we not find
a special compromise
that lets you and myself
Come closer to our own freedom...

*************************************
I am who I am, and I would be more...
I would make your things and my things
just even a little bit better...

that you could make life a little better
for my child and for your children.

I remember when John Fitzgerald Kennedy
was assassinated

when Martin Luther King was assassinated
when Robert Francis Kennedy was assassinated
when Anwar Saddat was assassinated
when John Lennon was assassinated

when Nelson Mandela was released from prison
when Yitsak Rabin was assassinated

and the names of Haribi and Bhutto have also
been added sadly to this list

and each of them dreamed of a new and better peace
and others sacrificed and dreamed of this better peace

and I am caught up and captured
in the conflicts behind in the struggles
and conflicts and violence
that led to these tragedies
of these persons whose lives were changed
or were taken from us

these are peoples who risked and ultinately
gave of themselves
beyond what anyone could have asked of them

yet, I believe, if asked of them...
each would have said that they do
what they believed; their times asked them to do.

it is sad to hear of violence and death
and those innocent and caught between
the conflicts of others
to be harmed or killed
for the battles of others.

and would sing to you
the sweet-sweet song

'Let there be peace on Earth
and let it begin with me
Let there be peace on Earth
the peace that was meant to be'

For it be that simple
such a wonderful prayer...

Let there be peace on Earth
the peace that was meant to be...

Yet there be those
who would seek destruction and death
and holding captive others
who would pray to be free

That be the goal
That be the dream
to free those to be held;
to heal those to to be sick

To bring hope
to those without hope...

Beyond race
Beyond religion
Beyond place of birth

To any peoples who would
live beside one another
in tolerance and peace

And i say, I am a small man
with a great many faults...

Any people who would accept
any sincere neighbour
as an equal neighbour
that is best any could ask...

To step back from violence
To step back from battle

To say again
I will be of peace
If you shall be of peace

Oh,I shall dream of this peace
I shall hope of this hope
That a better place be found
which can find hope and peace
for those who would share this peace

ask I say
ask others
to share this peace
and may you find this sweet peace.


Let others be free
to find this peace

And nay we sing
together
your song or our song
of me and you being free

*************************************
Every few days another story shows up of Israel trying to develop a settlement zone within east Jerusalem which is controlled by Palestine.
Such things only delay any chance for a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The existence of Israeli settlements in the West Bank only maintains the occupation.For israel to keep the settlements in essence, creates a 'one state' solution because Israel must maintain security and infrastructure support inside the west bank to maintain these settlements and is occupying land in the west bank. To keep settlements in the west bank, Israel must maintain checkpoints and limit travel in the west bank, thus keeping the occupation in place.
Groups like Hamas do not want to see the struggle between israel and Palestine to end because it leaves them without an enemy and would end their chance to evict Israel from its place in the middle east.
Syria and Iran would rather see Israel gone and move Hezbullah into Palestine completely as it has tried to keep Hezbullah in Lebanon and block peace with Israel and impose Hezbullah beliefs across the whole of lebanon.
For a two state solution in Palestine, there must be an end to the settlements [at least 90% or more]of the west bank returned to Palestinian control.
This is the reality on the ground In My Opinion.
The Palestinian Authority recognizes Israel as made clear by the arafat statements in 1993.
It is Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbullah that do not recognize Israel.
The UN has stated clearly in resolution 242 that the west bank belongs to Palestine and virtually if not all other nations hold this position.
Some years ago, I believe in 2002, I first used the term, unilateral disengagement [which later appeared in a less complete proposal by Ariel Sharon]that called for a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem by Israel, and then if Palestinians wanted assistance and cooperation from Israel in the transition toward establishing the new nation of Palestine, that would be open to negotiation.
The Sharon plan picked and chose where Israel would stay and where it would go, including the complete leaving that occurred in Gaza. This left gaza in a separate situation as the rest of Palestine and goes a long way in explaining why gaza is in its current plight.
But for disengagement to work, Israel must leave virtually all of the west bank and east jerusalem, In My Opinion.
It is time to end the occupation in the west bank, take away the excuse that extreme Islamics have with Israel and establish a free palestine so that israel can also be more secure.
Until Israel leaves the west bank, it is stuck with Palestine and the Palestinians.
In a blatant act of lying by omission, Israel and the P.A. can ignore final settlements talks about refugee right of return and keeping east Jerusalem Palestinian and simply silently accept the status quo. no refugee right of return and keeping east jerusalem in Palestinian hands, as is now the case...
It is as it is, for Israel it is time for some type of disengagement...

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The time for a settlement between the P.A. and Israel is now. That is obviously not going to happen instantly, yet each side can go a long way to bring it closer by doing some good old-fashion soul searching and realise that without a couple key concessions on each side, the status quo will remain.
The Status Quo will remain: and I certainly do not endorse a status quo.
With a settlement, Hamas would have no status beyond being simple terrorists unless they conduct at least a cease fire with Israel.
If the P.A. makes a fair settlement and Palestine is granted a more substantial 'provisional' nation status, Hamas would be left to either keep throwing stones at Israel or accept Palestine being a free nation.
If the occupation continues, radical Palestinians still have the argument of that they are still maintaining a resistance to the occupation.
With a settlement, those opposing such a settlement could either accept the settlement or be seen for what they are: The major roadblock to peace.
If the P.A. makes a peace deal with Israel, and the majority [nearly the Israeli west bank settlement] are readied for being dismantled, what would be left for Hamas to do except either accept Palestinian freedom or be combatants against Israel and Israel would have the same right to defend itself as would another nation that is under attack by foreign attackers.
Until a settlement is signed which would lead to the end of the occupation is signed, Hamas still has some dubious standing as a resistance force.
With a settlement, Hamas would be left to decide in front of the world what is more important to them: Freedom for Palestine or the end of Israel.
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We are not only citizens of our own nation, yet also, we are citizens of the world. And sometimes that means that one nation or one people need find a way to balance its own goals and dreams with what is best for the rest of humankind.
And this sometimes means that a nation makes a special concession or sacrifice on behalf of peace for the rest of the world.
Beyond what economic people call globalization, I see globalization as support for multi-national groups and the United Nations to find a way to use international influence and diplomacy, and [sadly] even military means to bring peace to places where conflict continues and innocent persons die simply because they lived in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I served in my nation's armed forces and I grew up during war. When I joined the armed forces in peace time, still I knew that I might be asked to go to war and make the ultimate sacrifice. I made that choice for myself at an older age than usual, perhaps understanding that notion better than the majority of enlistees I entered military service with at that time.
To put things a bit more bluntly: I knew the 'real deal'; when I joined up. I did not have to go to war, though I did ask to go to war while I served in the armed forces reserve and that request was politely turned down. While on active duty I was in units that had special designations to be placed in harms way before other units.
At age 52, I have followed Mid-east conflict since the age of ten. And I was better read than most persons on international issues from that age. I make no apologies for my opinions, for that is what it is, offering my own opinions.
For reasons that are my own, I cannot expand on views I have offered in the past that have found their way into implemented policies in the international community.
My personal primary wishes beyond family considerations; is for peace between Israel and Palestine. I do not seek victory for one side over the other. I see peace between Israel and Palestine as a victory for each nation and for the world community. And from such a possible peace would likely give birth to a free nation of Palestine and a more secure Israel as well as an easing of conflict between countless Jews, Moslem's, and Christians.
Oh my yes, I am naïve' to believe such peace is easily and readily possible. Yet I also believe that such a peace is not impossible. When I wrote to an Israeli newspaper in Jerusalem in 2003 about peace between Israel and Palestine a Jewish gentleman apologized for his sarcasm in an e-mail to me, saying, "from your lips to God's ear", meaning; "just because you wish and speak it and even God hears it, that will not make it so".
But that note brought home to me the depth of the conflict and mere good wishes would not be enough for persons of goodwill to make a final peace.
And, oh my dear Father, I certainly am a Martin Luther King, but I was reminded of his final remarks in his last speech, the night before his tragic assassination: "Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult times ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the Promised Land. And I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the coming of the Lord."

-I am not so brave sometimes, sometimes perhaps I find another type of bravery. But these are private things and shall remain so;

Yet, I have some certain amount of hope and imagination and I can see a day, a day perhaps soon when Moslem and Christian and Jew can easily and truthfully live side by side in their nations and their neighbourhoods; when [as Dr. King said] "... a person is judged by the content of his heart and not by the colour of his skin';
And I would add; "..by his or her faith or his or her place of origin".

And having yet still, a certain amount of hope and faith and even imagination perhaps, when; [to paraphrase Dr. King]; "I have been to the mountain top and I have looked over. And I have seen peace come to the people of the Holy Land. A holy place for Jew, for Christian, for Moslem and the people lived side by side in peace. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know that I believe we will get there together in peace and hope to the Promised Land";

I dream of a new state of Palestine living beside a safe state of Israel. That when Palestine becomes a free nation, nations of goodwill will step forward and help Palestine prosper. I dream of an Israel with safe and secure borders as a homeland for its citizens and a symbol to all Jewish people that her people have a homeland, no matter where they themselves may reside.

I have never entered a former concentration camp on European soil, having only passed a couple of them. Just to have passed by those wrought iron fences and looked in, moved me in a way I still do not completely comprehend. {Not greatly different how I cannot completely comprehend slavery in the United States and the genocides of Cambodia and Darfur].

By whatever name one calls the highest power: I cannot believe that power would have persons kill another human in his or her name. War is of man, not of God. This is what my heart believes.

It is time. Now is the time, not years from now, not sometime in a better future for Israeli and Palestinian leaders to commit to making a real peace. And I ask again: "If Not Now: When?."

It is time for Israel to set its borders to nearly conform to U.N. Resolution to represent Jerusalem being the Israeli capital, East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, Gaza and at least 95% of the West Bank be part of a state of Palestine. That Palestine withdraw efforts to place Palestinians inside Israel as part of a "right of refugee return", and accept peace with Israel, in return for great international economic assistance and an opportunity to establish a Palestinian homeland.

It is time to end the horrible cycle of violence between Israel and Palestine. It is time to end the "Addiction to Occupation"; that some maintain in both Israel and Palestine.
The addiction to occupation is the effort of Israeli hardliners to keep the settlements in the West Bank and resist the establishment of a free Palestine; and for Palestine to end violence against Israel and refusing to accept the existence of an Israeli homeland in the Mid-East. The great irony is that Islamic hard-liners need Israel as an enemy to justify its violent nature and hard-line Israeli's need a violent enemy to justify its own military exercises.
Without these hardliners on both sides, Israel and Palestine could make a final peace, rather than blame one another for the ongoing cycle of violence.

And finally back to the very original point: There comes a time when a nation is asked to serve a greater international good. That time is still upon Israel and still upon Palestine. To bring peace to their peoples and bring more peace to the international community, the time is still here for Israel and Palestine to make concessions to one another for the sake of peace that will bring peace and security to each people and bring more peace to the international community.
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With the launching of an Iranian test missile, even the Russians are skeptical of Iran's intentions. That should say all that needs said.
The Russians should consider suspending assistance in getting the Iranian power plant on line until Iran suspends its centrifuge research. ...
When will Hamas get it? Palestinians have all but destroyed a lot of the potential goodwill of the international community by failing to find some way to negotiate with israel realistically about a final status for a free state.
If Palestine would present a plan similar to what has been suggested here and then put the pressure on Israel to accept a plan that leaves Israel intact, East Jerusalem in Palestinian hands and Israel out of 95% of the West Bank; without right of refugee return to Israeli territory...
What would Israel do? The settlers movement would be force to say "No, we want the West Bank for ourselves..."
That would not fly.
Rather, Hamas and other extreme Palestinian elements would rather play the "cycle of violence" and "addiction to occupation" game with Arab militants and Israeli hardliners willing to fight to the last standing Palestinian and Israeli's within rocket, mortar, and suicide bomber range.
I confess that I have the advantage of not siding with one religion or another, rather to respect all peace-loving faiths as a personal choice of that believer...
Religion is a personal choice and so is tolerance. I myself have a ways to go for complete tolerance, yet war and the killing of innocence and the innocent seems a sad and cruel waste and a great blight on the potential of humanity.
The silly slogan of the 1960's, "What if they gave a war and nobody came..." perhaps not so silly...

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I would be the pragmatist, yes, the politician, the one to be all things to all people. Whether to win votes, win support, or curry favour. There are times to rise above the politics, above the smaller debates, above even personal or partisan politics for the greater good.
This moment, the greatest challenges come in parts of embattled Africa and in the region of Palestine. In Africa, the end to violence and huge amounts of humanitarian relief: The support of refugee camps until the camps can be closed and the relocation of refugees to their homes as soon as is safely possible.
I care not about sides in these African conflicts: I care about ending the conflicts so that people can return to their home regions in safety; and then the building and developing of better economies can begin;
In Palestine, it is time for the rebirth of a new freedom. It is time for the birth of a free state of Palestine. It is time for the state of Israel to live in peace and security. And all this is possible; it is so possible to be almost unbelievable. There have been negotiations and hopes and ceasefires and agreements and yet there is not peace.
I have written often my plan for peace in that region and I will repeat it again;
Palestine waives what is called the;right of return; within pre-1967 borders of Israel. Israel withdraws from the settlements in the West Bank.
Jerusalem remains Israeli and East Jerusalem remains Palestinian and a joint commission of Israel and Palestine is developed to protect the Holy Sites for all religions affected in this area.
Whether one might call them terrorists or freedom fighters, Palestinian militias end their attacks on Israel. Israel ends its strikes against opposition fighters in Palestine.
The cycles of violence and addiction to occupation ends. With freedom, Palestine can develop its own economy and culture. Israel ends having to be caught in the traps of occupation.
It becomes a question for the world on how to assist the building of an economy for the peoples of Palestine. Israel offers peace to Palestine, yet seemingly without leaving lands set aside for Palestine. Factions in Palestine seem not willing to recognize Israel even if a peace accord is developed.
This is the short version of settlement terms I have long suggested. I have suggested a revisit to earlier agreements between Israel and Palestine to be used to simplify the process of renegotiating each question completely once again.
While each individual question could be a challenge to resolve: The greater ones are simple to grasp though tough to resolve. And if these larger questions cannot be settled, the possibility of near endless violence looms. I would seek an end to violence for its own sake and hope a settlement would rise from an extended ceasefire. But I doubt that without a resolution of the greater questions, an end to violence would likely occur.
I believe peace will eventually come to Palestine. I believe future generations and the ones young and already here will shift to seeking a better and more peaceful world. Rather, I would seek to build the greater lesson of: Even in conflict, the persons of my generation can give their, our children a peace and tolerance and cooperation to build upon. That, along with works to preserve the preciousness of our planet's environment; these would be the greatest gift we could pass to our children...

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There are two worlds, the world modern and usually prosperous: And those who seek to survive; and those of each cannot easily relate of the other.
War; and then those of poverty and those who have never felt the progress of the contemporary world cannot feel how it is to live more easily. Their reality is about survival and; just maybe finding a better way of life for their children.
And then: There is the world of progress and advantage. Of a safe life, of income, of equal opportunity, of making progress, of a life with few complications that truly threaten themselves and their children.
For those who chose to live of their own faith; I applaud them. For those who chose to live simply; I applaud them. For those who truly live in service to others; I applaud them.
I care not your race, your chosen faith or where you live. These things are as they are. I have added a banner in my home that says: WISH; I wish for peace; I wish for safety; I wish for hope.
Not necessarily the easy hope;
Rather; the hope that those who would live as they would; would live and hope and help others to live in peace; would find peace for themselves and for all others.
I cannot make those who would make war and pain not make war and pain. I can write and hope that those peoples who would make such war; not make that war and that conflict.
I have some issues of my own anger and pain; of missing special people I would have in my life who are not in my life on a regular basis. I live and pray and hope that they may be safe and well and being alright.
I may be naïve and even a fool to hope that the Israeli and Palestinian peoples could live side by side in peace. I hope that genocide and misery in certain places in Africa will end.
I hope that hunger and misery end where poverty has been a sad way of life.
I seek not to live better than my neighbour; merely nearly or as well as my neighbour for I need nothing more or better.
If I should reach a higher quality of life; I would expect myself to give back to those of little or no advantage.
My aunt Katherine was a pleasant and deeper soul. She gave simple works in a gentle way as her faith led her. Each year, she found a little moment to send a birthday card and holiday card to me even when others had not. [I had not done such things for others and expected not others to do that for me] But, she being beyond me: Katherine sent a couple little cards a year to me and I send a smile belatedly to her memory.
That be a simple family moment that I believe most could know. A cousin of mine; Shelly; provided me and my family the greatest comfort on the day of my father-s funeral. Upon my own grief; I barely could notice. Though younger than me; I was later told that Shelly died two days after my own father-s funeral; and that gives me another little great hurt that I could never specially thank her for her extra kindness.
I say things so wrong some times and so much better upon other times. I see things on a higher plain. It is what I am. At the age of twelve, even then, two of my heroes: Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were shot to death while seeking hope and peace for those of less advantage.
I have sought such peace and hope myself in my own way and I have been reminded by a stranger or two of what had happened to people like John Lennon, Dr. King, and the Kennedy brothers. Take that for what you will;
I respect all beliefs that also respect and honour peace and hope. Though not Christian in the usual manner of Christianity; I honour the teachings of Jesus as a beacon and prophet of peace and hope. I greatly honour the hope and teachings in that regard of Pope John Paul II.
If I could chasm the difference between Catholic and Protestant; I would applaud Dr. King being recognized as a saint. For, whether of one being of a particular denomination or another of Christian; for Dr. King to accorded the title of saint for his martyrdom upon his crusade for justice and equality: I would greatly applaud this recognition.
Yet, there be today. I heard of unrest in the Mid-East at a border crossing between Egypt and Gaza. I have written much about establishing peace for Israel and a free Palestine. Yet, I can understand mothers of Gaza wanting basic goods for their people.
I have written about unilateral disengagement between Israel and Palestine for many years. This being that Israel leave Palestine and Palestinians not seek to live in Israel: That each people would be allowed to peacefully pursue their own destinies and hopes.
I have been called naïve for such hopes. I do not mind such alleged insults as being called naïve for wanting a final peace.
I have written today about my own pains to show that I understand such individual pains about lost loved ones. Whether a rocket fired into Israel or an Israeli response back; each injury or death does touch a whole family in return. I would say; Let Israel be safe and Palestine be free. Let each of these two nations finally agree to peace.
It is one thing to strive and compete for a better life for oneself and ones family; but not at the destruction of another life or another family.
By what name you might call the highest power of the universe, in English; by what name you might call God; I cannot believe that this power would seek undo death and destruction one upon another in this simple life.
And I would challenge the people of Palestine to say to Israel: If you leave our nation we will live beside you in peace.
And would challenge peoples in other nations to let the innocent live in peace; to let others worship in peace, to raise their children in peace and to share the joy of each other-s children; to celebrate the commonality of such joy while the accepting the differences of each way of life.
If this be naïve; let me be wonderfully naïve.