Israel & Palestine

In 1947 The UN partitioned land into Arab and Jewish states. In 1948 Israel became a state and the Arab land became the Palestinian Authority. The partition displaced between 500,000 – 700,000 Arabs and they rejected the partition; the parties have been fighting ever since. From a religious standpoint, Jerusalem is important to Arabs, Jews and Christians, it’s located on the edge of the West Bank (Palestinian Authority) and its potential as the capital for both the Israelis and Palestinians remains unresolved.

The US has been trying to resolve this conflict for years. In 2000 President Clinton sent George Mitchell to find solutions. In 2001 Mitchell published a report stressing that Israel halt its expansion of settlements in Palestinian territories and Palestine must prevent violence. In John Heilemann’s September 26, 2011 article in the New Yorker, he states that during President Obama’s transition the Israelis and Palestinians were at war in Gaza. Shortly after becoming President, Obama appointed Mitchell as the Special Envoy to the Arab-Israeli Peace Process. Mitchell visited Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia and found that Israel’s settlements within Palestinian territories are the subject of wide international scorn. In fact, the settlements have been deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice and are supported by no country in the world. On paper, the Gaza War ended in 2009 with unilateral cease fires. Despite knowing for years what was necessary to attain peace, in March 2010 the US, via Vice President’s Biden’s visit to Israel, was told by Israel’s Interior Ministry of the building of new settlements in contested East Jerusalem. As a result of the lack of cooperation between the Israelis and Palestinians, Mitchell resigned his post on May 13, 2011. 

Israel finds itself increasingly isolated, beleaguered and besieged. It’s embassy in Cairo was invaded by Egyptian protesters and its relationship with Turkey is in tatters due to its continued expansion of settlements. Activists from Turkey headed to Gaza, Palestinian militants in Gaza continue to fire rockets on Israel and as of October 30th, Egypt’s efforts to stop the firing continue to fail. On May 19, 2011 President Obama gave a speech on the Arab Spring and endorsed the use of Israel’s 1967 borders with mutually agreed land swaps as a basis for a 2-state solution with the Palestinians. The next day, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reams the President for the sheer absurdity of suggesting Israel ever return to what he called the indefensible 1967 lines. I agree with John Heilemann, Obama is attempting to make a stalwart ally see that undertaking the painful and risky compromise is necessary for peace with the Palestinians and is the only way to preserve the Zionist dream – a future as a state both Jewish and democratic. Obama’s role is not that of a callous assailant but of the caring and sober brother slapping his drunken sibling. The point is not to hurt the guy but to get him to sober up.

When Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas went to the UN bidding for statehood recognition, President Obama showed his disapproval. The US helped rescue Israelis from the attacked embassy in Egypt. The US shares intelligence, missile-defense development and gives Israel access to top-shelf weapons. Israel and the American Jews have not had such support from an American President in recent memory. But all of what he has done is not enough for Netanyahu to make an effort in a peaceful solution with the Palestinians. And, it apparently is not enough for American Jews either as the New York’s 9^th Congressional District, one-third Orthodox Jews, for the first time since 1922, has put a Republican in office as a sign of disapproval for the President (Gallup polls shows his approval with Jews has dropped 28 points since his inauguration).

On October 19, 2011 it was reported that Israel exchanged 1,027 dangerous Palestinian prisoners who were serving life sentences for one of their soldiers (he’s the first to come back alive in years). The general feeling is that we will have to wait and see whether or not these Palestinians pose a threat to the rest of the world.

The US special Mideast peace envoy, David Hale, will meet separately on Nov. 13 with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli negotiator Yitzhak Molcho. Senior diplomats from the U.S., U.N., Russia and European Union will hold separate talks with the Israelis and Palestinians. Last week, the Palestinians won membership in the U.N. cultural organization, prompting Israel’s Prime Ministers on November 2^nd, to order more settlements (2,000 housing units) to be built mainly in eastern Jerusalem and announce the withholding of millions of dollars in tax money it collects for the Palestinians. The Palestinians are demanding that Israel withdraw from all land conquered in 1967 and have refused to talk unless Israel halts settlement activity.

The audacity of the Israelis to do what they want and think that we should continue to protect and support them at the risk of losing stature with the rest of the world is outright foolishness. It’s time for both of them to realize that stubborn and self-absorbed people who do nothing to compromise make it impossible to attain world peace; they in particular are hindering peace in the Middle East.  

Non-Violent Moderates

We should have all heard about the Civil Rights Activists (the non violent moderates) fighting for their lives in North Africa and the Middle East. The North African country of Tunisia inspired pro-democracy rebellions in the surrounding countries.

Tunisia has deposed its authoritarian government with the fall of President Ben Ali, on October 23rd, they had their first free election (90% of the voters turned out) and an assembly will rewrite its constitution. Time magazine reported that Morocco announced constitutional reforms in response to protests. Algeria has raised the pay of many state workers and is stabilizing the price of food and President Bouteflika has promised constitutional reforms.

On October 18^th, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, made an unannounced visit to meet with the new rebellion leaders of Libya, their freedom fighters and college students as they’re Libya’s future. She told them the US is committed for the long haul. Americans want to see the new government unify the people and get them on a road to democracy. On October 20^th (after Moammar Gadhafi was wounded when his convoy was bombed) the Libyans, after a hard 8 months struggle, shot Gadhafi; one of his sons was also killed. It’s being said that Gadhafi had billions to hold off the rebels; some money has been found, assets have been frozen, but a fortune is still missing. It was discovered that shoulder firing missiles were left unguarded and are missing. NATO announced their mission will end October 31, 2011. It’s felt that the Libyans have the resources to rebuild their country so we’re not expecting to provide a lot of funds. On October 27^th ABC News reported that US officials are scrambling to find the estimated 10,000 missing shoulder firing missiles; the other 10,000 were moved to a secure site today. There are about 30 US personnel on the ground trying to keep the missiles out of the wrong hands. Libya’s interim government, on October 31^st, confirmed the presence of chemical weapons.

Oman, in the Middle East, has had a military cooperation agreement with the US since 1980 (revised in 2000) and has long been active in efforts to achieve peace and as I said before has spent more than a third of its budget on defense due to continuous support of the US initiated anti-terrorism crusade. In August the Arab nations joined the international condemnation of Syrian protesters and President Obama asked President Bashar Al-Assad to step down. The Saudi Arabian King has announced social and economic reforms totaling at least $100 billion and the possibility that women may be able to vote and run for office soon. Saudi Arabian women know that no matter what religion you believe in, your religious text was created long before cars were created and therefore couldn’t address such a situation (they’re the only women in the world not allowed to drive); the King stopped the lashing of a woman who was driving. Jordan’s King Abdullah II announced a fund for job creation and health insurance in rural areas. Bahrain’s Shiite minority are protesting in an attempt to get democratic reforms.  In mid October the UN condemned Yemen’s President Saleh’s violent crackdown on protesters and has asked him to step down seeking to end his 33 year autocratic rule. The Gulf Council has offered Saleh immunity if he transfers power within 30 days.

All of the countries I’ve mentioned above want or are at least making an effort for democratic reform and they all have Muslim residents. Bruce Feiler says 1 in 7 human beings are Muslim under age 30 and that history has shown that it’s the young that makes change. He calls the Middle East protesters Generation Freedom as they want a better life. He also believes that the story of Moses was the first fight for freedom and I tend to agree. This seems like a double edged sword. I know we can’t tell an extremist from a moderate Muslim but FDR wanted our freedoms for the world and said our strength is in our unity of purpose and Martin Luther King said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. I say we cannot, if we believe in our Constitution, fail to treat these people fairly.

We can only have world peace if Ms. Khan is right in saying that in the theology of Islam, God clearly says, I have created you into nations and tribes so you can get to know each other. We all need to make an attempt to do as God wishes. 

Pakistan & Afghanistan

Earlier this year, Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense, pointed out that NATO members were not carrying their weight or keeping their promises. For example, all 28 members of NATO voted to support the Libyan missions but only 1/3 participated and US taxpayers at the beginning were bearing more than 75% of the cost. He also said that in Afghanistan NATO has at times struggled to maintain the 25-40,000 troops promised and the caveats of assistance such as Spain’s troops not being able to fire a weapon unless in self-defense or not being able to fight at night puts more of a burden on US troops.

Ambassador Eikenberry to Afghanistan President Karzai said – When we hear ourselves being called occupiers and worse and our generous aid programs being dismissed as totally ineffective and the source of all corruption, our pride is offended and we begin to lose our inspiration to carry on. Militants from Afghanistan stormed Pakistani security checkpoints killing at least 15 soldiers. In the September 5, 2011 issue of Time magazine it was reported that outraged villagers stoned a Taliban commander and his bodyguard to death after they had killed a 60 year old farmer accused of working with the Afghan government. The Taliban launched an assassination campaign. They’ve killed Mayor Hamidi and President Karzai‘s brother and recently an unsearched Taliban messenger with a bomb in his turban killed Former President Rabbani, a co-leader in the effort to convince the Taliban to leave the battle field, as well as seriously injured Stanekzai, Secretary of the Afghan High Peace Council.

Whether the South Asian countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan were our allies when they allowed us to fight the Taliban on their soil doesn’t matter. The fact is that they allowed us there, I’m assuming because they also wanted the Taliban removed from their soil, and we obviously gave them something in return. The US has given Pakistan about $2 billion a year in military aide. Yet Pakistan was ticked off because we got Osama Bin Laden on their soil. Pakistan locked up the informants that helped us get him and their Army Chief is fighting to keep his job. And Bin Laden’s courier’s cell phone showed it was linked to a militant group tied to Pakistan’s Intelligence Agency. I don’t know if we would be less duped if we had a contract but at least we’d have proof of our and their commitment. Additionally, Pakistan sold North Korea nuclear weapons technology and allowed Chinese engineers to photograph the US top secret helicopter that was used in the Bin Laden mission. I would think that the UN, NATO or some group we belong to would forbid such action and have some kind of penalty. In early September the Pakistan military killed 3 leaders of Al Qaeda so it appeared that they were working with the CIA. 

In the President’s October 6, 2011 speech he said Pakistan’s confusion over Afghanistan is related to Pakistan’s feud with India and their concern is that if Afghanistan becomes stable that they may ally with India. I think Pakistan needs to get to the 21^st century and realize that it would be in the best interest of the world, including their own, to find an end to the feud; the same can be said of the Palestinians and the Israelites. The US hopes to leave behind an independent Democratic Afghan government that is mindful of human rights. Pakistan is not all accepting of this effort. He said we will constantly be reevaluating our relationship with Pakistan. But, he would not want to have the people suffer (wouldn’t quit giving aide to flood victims) because of a few militia.

On October 20^th, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Afghanistan pushing for cooperation with Pakistan. On October 21^st, she was in Pakistan making it clear to its President that if they drag their feet on reigning in extremists that we believe destabilize Afghanistan we will act unilaterally to end the threat. In other words, she said stop your militants from hindering cooperation with Afghanistan.

A US report, dated April 2010, came out heralding the progress in Afghanistan. On October 29, 2011 it was reported that a Taliban suicide bomber hit a NATO convoy killing 17 including 10 Americans for the worst hit in 10 years. It’s now being said that the Taliban are getting more aggressive. The UN says violence has risen 40% in the last year with more attacks in urban areas.  

Foreign Agenda

We’re part of the 5% of the world population being held responsible for the remaining 95% of the world. We are members of the United Nations, North American Treaty Organization (NATO) and other partnering associations. I think before going to war or assisting another country, whether or not it’s an endeavor sanctioned by a group (UN, NATO), we should get a contract stating our participation and/or reimbursement. Said treaties and contracts should contain punishments for violations. I do know that as a member of a partnering organization we have obligations that are not reimbursable. However, Donald Trump said we should be reimbursed for our costs of someone else’s war – take Libyan oil fields. I don’t agree with his solution but maybe he’s onto something. Perhaps when assisting a country we should make long term agreements like – oil to the US would be a dollar per barrel cheaper than that sold to others who did not help them. We have embassies around the world which makes me think that at the time they were built we were friendly with each other. Recently the US embassy in Syria was destroyed. If we originally paid for it to be built then Syria should reimburse us the cost. We have many embassies here in the US – first, I wonder who paid to build them and second, if they were to be destroyed by Americans who would be responsible for replacing them. I just think things should be fair. On a good note, South Korea did lift its block on donating medicine to North Korea on November 8^th.

 China said it would strain our relationship further if President Obama met with the Dali Lama. I don’t understand why a peaceful person meeting with another would cause a problem unless they’re afraid some secret would come out. Of course I’m not aware of what our relationship with China is but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t include an acceptance of criminal behavior. A Chicago Sheriff working with Customs in 6 months confiscated over 1700 fake identification that our children bought over the internet from China. The fakes (look real because they’re complete with water marks and holograms) are hidden in playing cards and games. Vice President Biden was in China, I guess to improve our relationship with the Chinese when there was the basketball game between China and Georgetown that ended badly. Washington Post sports reporter, Gene Wang reported that the experienced Chinese team didn’t like getting beat by a college team they couldn’t beat squarely by playing basketball so they stepped it by getting physical and crossed the line of good sportsmanship. For the fighting to stop, the Georgetown coach took his team off the court with 9 minutes left to play; they asked for and didn’t receive a police escort back to the hotel. And, China’s confiscating of our secret aircraft information from Pakistan and the manufacturing problems didn’t give us leverage in the talks. On October 24, 2011 it was reported that they did urge North Korea to improve its ties with the US. However, on November 1^st, we heard that cyber attacks tracked back to China targeted at least 48 chemical and military related companies. On November 8^th, it was reported that the US is going to investigate the accusation that China is dumping counterfeit electronic parts into the Pentagon’s supply chain, putting US troops at risk. As the world tries to drive out the terrorists that hinder world peace, I think China is sitting back, waiting for us all to falter.

The internet is a world-wide enterprise. If there isn’t one already, I think there needs to be an organization that regulates internet behavior of all sorts (hackers stealing information and identities, the selling of products that are illegal in a country, cyber-bullying causing kids to run away or commit suicide, predators and human traffickers). The organization would notify the country of origin of a breach so they can punish the internet abusers. On October 29, 2011 NASA admits that one of its satellites was hacked twice in 2008. You know, Disney says – it’s a small world after all and that’s very true with the internet.    

President Bongo of Gabon met with President Obama. Bongo is said to be worth 100s of millions of dollars and critics say it’s because of corruption. Although Gabon has oil wells, it is said that Bongo is buying up expensive properties while a third of his people live in poverty. President Obama meets with this man while we exile other leaders behaving in the same manner. Apparently, the difference is Bongo has some new reform programs going on and he votes with the US at the United Nations (UN). I don’t understand how a country with such a leader is part of the UN since I thought the organization was to encourage world peace and civil rights. I really don’t want to see this relationship be like Egypt or Iran and cause us to be on the wrong side when the people revolt. I think we need to start being a little more particular about who we say are friends. 

Freedom from Fear

Freedom from fear is probably the freedom we take most for granted. I read a little about the Program for Survivors of Torture, founded in 1995 by Dr. Allen Keller. Via volunteers the program offers medical, psychiatric, legal, and social services for immigrants who have been persecuted or tortured in their homelands. Dr. Danielle Ofri runs the medical clinic of New York (NY) City’s Bellevue Hospital and has first-hand knowledge of the atrocities experienced by the people coming through the program. She’s treated patients from Sri Lanka, Nepal, China, Serbia, Turkey, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Iraq that have been trying to make positive change in their countries and have suffered greatly.

We do have our poor and on October 14^th, Diane Sawyer reported on the Lakota Indians of South Dakota who live in trailers with leaky roofs and broken floors. The neighborhoods are cluttered with junk and they live like they’re in a third world country. There’s no shopping mall, bank or other corporate business. They have an 80% unemployment rate, 80% of the adults are alcoholics, there’s an epidemic of diabetes and 2/3 of the kids drop out of school. Nearly 50% are living below the poverty level and there’s an agonizing history that created a dependency on Welfare. The new generation doesn’t want to live this way and want a helping hand not a handout. But for the rest of us, we don’t know what a wonderful thing we have as we complain about the price of gas and other things that in actuality are so trivial.   

Yes, we had a Civil War but Pearl Harbor and the September 11, 2001 attacks are probably the most fearful events that we as a country ever realized. Yes, we have the Wall Street protests granted by our 1^st amendment to our Constitution and because of this we know on a daily basis that human rights abuses do not occur at the hands of our government employees. Our government goes to great lengths to protect us from the atrocities of other countries. Our laws prohibit anyone from inflicting gruesome injuries, deaths, rapes, and unsupported attacks on its citizens. Unfortunately, there are some that take advantage of their position but, in this country when they’re caught they are prosecuted.

Dr. Ofri says whenever she scans the newspaper headlines and laments of the political squabbles of the day she thinks about her patients that are emissaries. She says they are blunt and intensely human reminders that we cannot take what we have for granted. 

It’s these freedoms that truly make our country great as it provides us with opportunities to choose the life we dream of; it is not the wealth or freebies that are associated with this country. It is not up to the 1% of our population in the military to keep us safe and protect our freedoms. It is the responsibility of us all. Those of us not in the military and protecting our freedoms in other countries should be protecting us here. This means fighting against those that commit criminal acts which would include telling on your neighbor, friend or child if you have knowledge that they committed a crime.

On September 9, 2011, ABC News spoke with a Homeland Security representative who said that over 70% of the attacks detected were discovered by a citizen seeing something that they thought was unusual. They also spoke with Bill Bratton, former police chief in NY, Los Angeles (LA) and Boston who said to look for people bundled up on a warm day, delivery vans and trucks that are parked for a long time (don’t deliver), someone trying to stuff a large package into a trash can; people in stadiums: taking pictures or sketching security devices, or an unusual interest in talking with maintenance personnel, have question about air conditioning and ventilation systems; at shopping malls: watch for someone who wants to get on the roof or is paying unusual attention to emergency drills and multiple false alarms are a red flag. Wherever you’re at, have an escape plan.

I say it shouldn’t take a catastrophe for us to come together as a nation. We’ve been in worse situations and we will continue to stand strong and survive if we do it together and not let the weak or worst of us control. I also believe that anyone not willing to support this country should not be here, they need to move to a place that suits their inability or unwillingness to assume some responsibility to their own safety and human rights.

Freedom from Want

Freedom from want –Liz Murray author of Breaking Night writes of her experience. Born to drug-addicted parents and after her mother’s death and her father staying at a men’s shelter, her and her sister were often homeless and on one occasion ate lip balm to satisfy their hunger. Ms. Murray daydreamed to deal with the isolation and give herself feelings of safety, belonging and hope. At age 16 she found herself alone, sleeping on frozen stairwell landings, begging for change in Manhattan and desperately searching for a high school that would enroll her after years of truancy. After all she’s been through and she says maybe because of it, a certain amount of want is healthy as it served as a catalyst for her dreams and her dreams have always been what motivated her. Ms. Murray found the alternative high school Preparatory Academy and a non-profit place called the Door which provided homeless teenagers with counseling, medical care and food which kept her going while she completed her homework in train stations and under hallway lights. Ms. Murray was fortunate to have the NY Times tell her story after spending 2 years as a homeless student earning A’s in her courses. After the article, she says dozens of people reached out to her from all across the United States. Before these people reached out to her, she didn’t know how good people could be. As she sees it, America never owed her anything more than a real and solid chance to work for her dreams. She says it’s been up to her to choose a life that measures up to those dreams. To get there the focus was a clear vision for her life which might have proved impossible if she had not lived in a country where dreams still come true. And she says that at the heart of it all was her willingness to be grateful for the things she has and not dwelling on what she doesn’t have. Ms. Murray says let that be enough and it will be all the freedom any of us need. Ms. Murray not only graduated from high school but from Harvard University.

On October 6, 2011 Good Morning America gave a summary of Steve Jobs’ commencement speech given at Stanford in 2005 he said – you have to trust in something; your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick, don’t lose faith. You’ve got to find something that you love. All external expectations, all pride, all fear or embarrassment of failure falls away when you live like every day is your last. Your time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition; they somehow already know what you truly want to become, everything else is secondary. Steve also encouraged the graduates to stay hungry and stay foolish. He said it’s not the customer’s job to figure out what they want.

If you watched Oprah you would know that Ms. Murray’s story is not the only one of its kind; there have been several other such success stories. There are opportunities. I’ve heard many actors within the last 6 months say they were bullied or homeless and Barbara Walters did a special about regular folks becoming billionaires. Home of the brave, land of the free is still what this country stands for if you are not lazy or a freeloader and have dreams that you will strive for. 

Freedom to Worship

Freedom to worship is one of the things that make America great. Often, in other countries a faith (religion) empowers a person into leading his/her country and their people’s faith is a key to their success. While other countries have limited faiths we pretty much have them all. The first amendment in 1789 separated church and state; this along with our diversity of religions allows us to see that people should be treated in a non-biased manner and write laws with a consideration for humanity and not a single religious preference. I will have to admit that I do have biases against liars, thieves, laziness and evil but I don’t care what color you are, what religion you believe in or your financial status in society. Because of our multi-faith society, religions such as Scientology and Jehovah Witness that have medical procedures that they do not participate in are still bound by our laws when it comes to their children. And although the Mormon religion allows for polygamy our country does not. The same goes for religions that allow arranged marriages of young girls to older men. And just recently the Amish were cited for not having reflectors on their buggies. Rick Perry’s supporter Baptist Pastor Robert Jeffress called the Mormon religion a cult and says we need a real Christian (whatever that is). It is un-American for a religion to play a part in getting a candidate elected; such thinking puts us back over 200 years. I don’t care if the President is Muslim or not. I need a President who puts religion aside and does what the country needs; Elisabeth Hasselbeck pointed out that both Romney and Obama have done this. I care that our laws and behaviors continue to show the separation. If a religion does not comply with our laws its followers should be held accountable for its non compliance; no exceptions should be made. This is the only way to assure that we continue to live with Freedom from Fear. So I believe France was right in not allowing the wearing of a Burqa (covers the face) to hinder the identification of a person.

I don’t know if the talk about Muslims building a community center in Manhattan near ground zero is over or not. I agree with Daisy Khan’s belief that if we show respect for one another’s religion and don’t profess superiority that we will be fulfilling God’s mandate instead of trying to convert others to our point of view. Ms. Khan says many Muslim societies do not practice pluralism; they do not treat minorities the way they should, with equal rights. It’s good to hear that the center would continue to have Shia and Sunni praying side by side and be a place for Muslims to evolve as a community. However, I suggest that a multi congregational center, housing Muslims, Catholics, Jews, Protestants and others that want to show solidarity, be built to show the world that we can live side by side. Otherwise, I do not feel that any single religious center should be allowed to be built on or near ground zero (just as we do not allow pornography, strips joints and more near schools). We should not confuse the Muslims’ freedom of religion with a location that may be unsuitable for a Mosque.

I do sympathize that Muslims are going through the same trials as Catholics and Jews. And, Mormons are still being subjected to discrimination. However, these religions did not have the destructive record of extremist Muslims. The extremist Muslims have given us a reason to be cautious. Unfortunately, we can’t seem to separate the good people from the bad and we have to deal with extremists of other religions also such as Pastor Terry Jones of FL that was wrong for burning the Koran, Pastor Fred Phelps, SR. of Kansas, and other Baptist pastors that tell their congregation to beat on their children.

I do believe that we as individuals must stop the continued use of religion to justify our prejudices. I also think we should not be using religion or ethnicity as a means for calling foul. I do agree with Ms. Khan in that the real fight is extremists of all religions versus the moderates of all religions and think that the moderates proving their point by making change in their countries are showing the world that they’re not all bad and they’re not afraid of their counterparts. Said action is getting international support and hopefully will lead to us all living in the world peacefully.

Ms. Khan also said that in the theology of Islam, God clearly says, I have created you into nations and tribes so you can get to know each other. I believe this coincides with the current thinking that we all come from 7 mothers (holds true through the Bible with 7 churches in Revelation) and further agrees with my thinking that anything other than good promotes evil.