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Interfaith Cooperation Blog
Karen groups warn of intensified dry season attacks
Democratic Voice of Burma
www.dvb.no
Nov 20, 2006 — The Karen Human Rights Group and the Karen National Union are warning of increased Burmese military attacks against Karen civilians during the dry season as troops amass in Toungoo district.
In November 2005, the Burmese military launched their largest offensive against the Karen resistance since 1997, resulting in the forced displacement of more than 20,000 civilians from Toungoo, Nyaunglebin, and Mutraw Districts.
A report released by the KHRG on Friday, titled 'One year on: Continuing abuses in Toungoo District', says that attacks against the Karen are likely to increase with the end of the rainy season.
". . . The [State Peace and Development Council] has moved thousands more soldiers into Toungoo District to assist the soldiers already present . . .," the report says.
"Many new army camps have been built and the soldiers have continually ordered villagers to re-supply these and existing camps with food and munitions. The combination of these factors suggests that the SPDC is preparing to launch renewed attacks on the villages of Toungoo District as soon as the weather permits them to do so."
The ongoing attacks in Karen State have sparked increased condemnation of the military regime with stories of village burnings, beatings, rape, torture and forced relocation sweeping the international media.
The Free Burma rangers—a grassroots humanitarian group operating in Karen State—released fresh reports from Toungoo District on the weekend, detailing the deaths of more than 50 civilians at the hands of the military in the past few months.
According to the reports, a 47-year-old Karen father of six was burned alive in his home by Burmese troops in Toungoo District on November 1.
"Burma Army troops are murdering villagers and porters, burning down houses and farms, looting and destroying property, and using forced labor," the FBR report says.
General Secretary of the KNU Padoh Manh Shar told DVB today the group's armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army was involved in daily skirmishes with Burmese troops in northern Nyaunglebin District.
"There are three of four bursts of fighting now everyday around our northern base . . . The fighting is increasing with the coming dry season," Padoh Manh Shar said, despite a gentlemen's ceasefire agreement between the KNU and the SPDC.
Touted as the world's longest running insurgency, the KNU has fought the Burmese military since 1949. Since then, dry season attacks against the Karen have been frequent but this year the military continued assaults against villages throughout the monsoon.
"The very fact that SPDC Army columns have continued to mount patrols under these conditions can not be dismissed nor taken lightly," the KHRG report said.
The group says the number of Burmese military battalions operating in Toungoo District has increased in the past few months, resulting in the construction of a number of new army camps.
Both the KHRG and the FBR say the increased military presence in the area means increases in forced labour, relocations and portering. The groups also say the military has laid thousands of landmines in the area.
"One year on, and the situation has far from improved; if anything, the opposite has occurred. The conditions facing villagers living in SPDC-controlled villages as well as those confronted by the internally displaced have deteriorated and are expected to decline even further before the year is out," the KHRG report warns.
"Attacks on civilian villages and all associated human rights violations perpetrated by SPDC Army soldiers must therefore be entirely stopped. Without an immediate cessation of such abuses, many more villagers will continue to suffer at the hands of the SPDC."
::: posted by Tricia : Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Foreign businesses to Arroyo: Stop killings
By News Desk
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Wednesday, November 15. 2006
Saying violence has no place in a democracy, foreign chambers of commerce and multinational companies made an unprecedented call on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration to put an end to political killings or risk losing aid and investments.
The statement was issued by the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce (JFC) in the Philippines, comprising business groups from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe, Japan and Korea, and the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters.
A similar plea was made in a letter sent to Arroyo on Thursday that was signed by local officials of the US-based apparel companies Gap, Polo Ralph Lauren, Wal-Mart, Liz Claiborne, American Eagle Outfitters, Jones Apparel Group and Phillips Van Heusen.
The business groups’ appeals came amid unabated attacks on media people and leftist and religious groups, Ms Arroyo’s vow to end before her term expires in four years the 37-year-old insurgency waged by the Communist Party of the Philippines, and a legal offensive against leftist members of Congress facing rebellion charges.
In the latest incident, two motorcycle-riding gunmen shot and killed Joey Javier, 42, a director of a farmer’s cooperative, in Baggao town, Cagayan province, on Saturday. He was the 71st victim of political killing this year. Its tally last year was 79.
The human rights group Karapatan lists 765 victims of political violence since Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001. The Inquirer puts the figure at 256.
“Such violence has no place in a modern democratic state,” said a joint statement issued by the six foreign chambers of commerce and the group of multinational companies with regional headquarters in the Philippines.
“For the sake of justice and to deter continued killings, these murders should be investigated thoroughly and those found responsible punished under the law,” the chambers said.
Serious blemish
They welcomed Arroyo’s establishment of the Melo Commission to investigate the killings, but urged the probe body “to hasten the investigation and … to bring an end to a serious blemish on the country’s national image, which could impact negatively on future foreign investment and foreign economic assistance.”
The JFC has said an estimated $8.5 billion in foreign direct investment could flow into the Philippine economy over the next four years, generating employment for 2.9 million Filipinos, if the country’s investment climate, labor quality and infrastructure improve.
“The policy of government is clear -- we don’t condone these killings,” Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said, adding that the President’s instruction was for investigators “not to leave any stone unturned.”
“We appeal to the members of families of the victims and other responsible members of communities to help authorities look into these cases,” said Bunye.
He said that during a trip to Europe in September, Arroyo met with representatives of Amnesty International and sought the assistance of the European Community in the investigation of the killings.
Public distrust on probe
“Some representatives will be coming over precisely to look into the investigation. That is how focused the President is as far as this case is concerned,” Bunye said.
Arroyo herself has condemned the killings and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice, but human rights groups say the government is not doing enough.
Leftist and human rights groups have been boycotting hearings of the commission headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo, 74, questioning its independence and preventing the panel from proceeding with its fact-finding mission. Only three generals and a resource person have appeared before the commission since it was convened in late August.
A Human Rights Watch report in September found deep public distrust of the government’s investigative effort, widespread fear among witnesses and victims’ families, and a climate of fear in areas where the killings occurred.
Police Deputy Director Avelino Razon said over the weekend that authorities had narrowed down the number of suspected politically motivated killings to 136 since 2001 and solved 62 cases.
Razon didn’t say how many suspects had been arrested and expressed doubt over the higher figure cited by Karapatan.
US apparel makers alarmed
In their letter to Arroyo, the apparel firms expressed alarm over the murder of Bishop Alberto Ramento inside his rectory in Tarlac City in October and the reports of violent attacks against striking workers at the Cavite Economic Zone (CEZ).
They urged the Philippine government to “take proactive measures to ensure the physical safety” of the workers and work for the protection of the rights of workers and labor rights promoters.
The companies, which buy apparel from the Philippines, asked for an impartial investigation into the killing of Ramento, chair of the Board of Directors of the Workers Assistance Center, and the shooting of Gerardo Cristobal, former union president and member of the Solidarity of Cavite Workers (SCW).
On Oct. 23, the striking workers of Philippines-Jeon Garments Inc. and Chong Won Fashion Inc., both Korean-owned garment factories in the CEZ, filed charges with the Commission on Human Rights against officials of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and the local Cavite police for alleged violent dispersals of their picket line last month.
The workers in the two companies have been on strike since the last week of September due to the refusal of the management to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
Illegal dismissals
Marlene Gonzales, former employee of Chong Won and now president of the SCW, said the workers doubted the “sincerity of the companies’ commitment to the workers’ plight.”
“They (companies) must ensure reinstatement of those workers who were illegally dismissed. They should assure us that Chong Won would negotiate with the union on a CBA and refrain from violently attacking workers in the strike,” said Gonzales.
Chong Won Fashion Inc. supplies products to Wal-Mart in the United States, such as T-shirts, ladies’ blouses, polo shirts, pants, jogging pants, sleepwear and other apparel. Philippines-Jeon produces apparel for such firms as Al Assel and Zico in Saudi Arabia, CNI in the United States and Dream Station in Japan
::: posted by Tricia : Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Philippine rights leader murdered
By Carlos Conde
International Herald Tribune
Monday, November 6. 2006
Arroyo indictment doesn't stop killings
MANILA: The killing of political activists and rights advocates continues here as a gunman murdered the leader of a human-rights group in front of a church in a central Philippines province Sunday morning.The murder of Rodrigo Catayong, who was also a professor at a state university, came just a few days after another shooting, of the leader of a peasant group, in a northern province. The victim, Emerlito Dizon of the Peasant Movement of the Philippines, is in critical condition.
These attacks came on the heels of efforts by human-rights and leftist groups to bring to international attention the series of summary executions in the Philippines. Last week, they successfully convinced the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal in The Hague to try President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for the killings of activists.
The tribunal has tried world leaders in the past, among them Ferdinand Marcos, the late Philippine dictator, for human-rights abuses. Although its rulings are nonbinding, the Filipino complainants said the tribunal is credible enough to influence the United Nations, which they have been lobbying to look into the human-rights situation here.
In a summary of charges filed to the tribunal, Romeo Capulong, the chief prosecutor for the complainants, said that they were indicting and holding accountable the president and several of her key officials "for gross and systematic violations of civil and political rights."
According to Karapatan, a human- rights group, nearly 800 activists have been murdered since Arroyo came to power in 2001. Amnesty International said in a report that it has documented 51 political killings here in the first half of 2006 and that there were 66 such murders during the whole of last year.
Catayong, the secretary general of Karapatan's office in Eastern Samar Province in the central Philippines, was the 27th human-rights worker to have been allegedly killed by state security forces under Arroyo.
Activists have routinely accused the government of being behind these murders, as part of its alleged war of attrition against activists and communists, whom the military considers one and the same.
But the Arroyo administration has consistently denied this charge. Eduardo Ermita, Arroyo's executive secretary, labeled as a publicity stunt the impending trial of Arroyo before the tribunal. "They are always body- punching the government," he told reporters last week.
Arroyo has created a commission to investigate the murders, but it has been hampered by lack of funds, an absence of clear mandate and the unwillingness of activists and the families of victims to testify. It has so far only heard the testimony of military officials.
According to the New Patriotic Alliance, the tribunal decided to hear the case against Arroyo because the Philippines "is a model case where the old dictatorships are now being replaced by low intensity war conducted by governments" and that the Philippines "is a model where a climate of silence reigns in the face of the grave human rights abuses being committed because of a serious lack of awareness and concern by the international community."
The tribunal has scheduled the formal trial proceedings to begin in March next year in The Hague. The Arroyo administration has not yet said if it will defend itself before the tribunal, nor whether it recognizes the proceedings.
::: posted by Tricia : Monday, November 06, 2006
President Bush: Talk to Kim Jong II
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Kim Dae Jung
Tribune Media Service
SEOUL A huge dark shadow of fear and danger lies over the Korean Peninsula. We in the South are adamantly opposed to North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons. This act goes especially against the "Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," jointly agreed to by the two Koreas in 1992.
We strongly demand that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons program. However, because North Korea seems unlikely to abandon its nuclear weapons easily, we must figure out the appropriate measures to resolve this issue.
There are three options. The first is using military measures. However, neighboring countries will oppose this, and the resistance from North Korea when faced with such measures could result in catastrophe on the peninsula. It could reduce the peninsula to ashes and lead to the demise of the 70 million Korean people. Japan also will not remain unaffected. Therefore, we the Korean people are firmly against using military measures as a means of resolving this issue.
Second is using economic sanctions. Economic sanctions, of course, will inflict considerable suffering on North Korea. However, the North Korean people are already accustomed to economic depravation. North Korea could also receive assistance from China and other allies. In the past, North Korea has earned as much as $1 billion a year exporting missiles. If it adds nuclear weapons to its list of exports, it can earn even greater amounts of money. So there are limits to the effects economic sanctions can bring.
The third option, which I would like to propose, is to resolve the issue through dialogue between the United States and North Korea. North Korea has declared that it would give up its nuclear weapons if the United States agrees to direct dialogue and guarantees the security and unhampered economic activities of North Korea. North Korea has even said that it would allow direct inspection by the United States.
In effect, North Korea is saying, "Why would we need nuclear weapons if our security is assured? We will fully cooperate in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
Of course, some say we cannot trust North Korea. But I believe it is necessary to give the North a chance. If North Korea keeps its promise, then that would obviously be best. But if it does not keep its promise, the remaining countries in the six-party talks, along with other countries in the world, can still take comprehensive countermeasures against North Korea.
We dearly hope that the United States makes a bold decision to change its present position and pursue dialogue with North Korea.
South Korea is the country most seriously affected by the North Korean nuclear issue. Therefore we are dearly committed to preventing this crisis from unraveling into catastrophe, and wish to resolve it peacefully.
The United States should fully respect the opinion of South Korea, a close ally, when dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue. The dearest wish of the Korean people is to induce North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program peacefully.
I told President George W. Bush in 2002, when I was president of the Republic of Korea, that dialogue, when necessary for a country's national interest, can be pursued even with the evil. President Dwight Eisenhower held a dialogue with North Korea in 1953 during the Korean War and reached an armistice agreement, enabling peace to take root on the Korean Peninsula for 50 years.
President Richard Nixon went to China, which had previously been condemned for committing war crimes in its massive engagement in the Korean War, and held a dialogue with Mao Zedong. That laid the groundwork for China to pursue reform and open up.
President Ronald Reagan denounced the Soviet Union as the "evil empire" but still engaged in dialogue with its leaders. Pressure and containment never succeeded in changing communism in the course of history. Even Cuba, a small island on the coast of the United States, could not be changed through 50 years of containment.
However, there is not one case in which encouragement toward openness and reform has not worked. The Soviet Union, the Eastern bloc, China - they all have changed. The United States went to war with Vietnam, but now has good relations with the Vietnamese - through dialogue.
The United States must learn through the successes and failures that history teaches us. I hope President Bush makes the right decision now.
Kim Dae Jung, the former president of South Korea, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his "sunshine policy" aimed at a peaceful reconciliation with North Korea. This Global Viewpoint article was distributed by Tribune Media Services.
::: posted by Tricia : Thursday, October 26, 2006
Peace talk in Mindanao
Urging the GRP to break the stand-off in the peace talks with the MILF
When the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) started talking peace with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) on January 7, 1997, the former pushed for a single-point agendum for the peace negotiations that is “How to solve the ‘Bangsamoro Problem”.
And there was a “gentlemen’s agreement” by the negotiating parties that the MILF would not bring out the issue of independence in the talks and the government the issue of constitution, sovereignty and territorial integrity as part of confidence building measures.
It has been a public knowledge that the goal of the Bangsamoro struggle is to liberate themselves from the clutches of the oppressive and neo-colonial Philippine regime including foreign colonialism to ultimately regain full independence. The MILF never made it an agenda in its peace talks with the GRP to uphold the said “gentlemen’s agreement”.
Since 1997, the parties have already signed a number of peace agreements, joint communiqués and aide-memoirs, among others. In all those documents, one can nowhere find such words and phrases as independence, constitutional process or sovereignty and territorial integrity. There was, however, some reference on international human rights laws as well as international humanitarian laws.
However, during the 13th Exploratory Talks held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last September 6-7, the peace panels did not come into an agreement on the strand of territory of the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity due to the constitutional process invoked by the government.
Learning from the MNLF experiences, the MILF rejected said offer asserting “it does not want to repeat the failure of the GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement (FPA) of September 2, 1996”. Until now the government is yet to deliver its commitment on the said Agreement.
On the other hand, the government stands firm in its position that the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) cannot be expanded unless it goes through a constitutional process. That, its hands are tied to the constitution in any agreement it must enter to with the instruments.
With this situation, we firmly believe that in resolving the Bangsamoro issue, the GRP and the MILF must exert all efforts to be creative and resourceful. The government, on one hand, must give preference to Human Security as the over-all arching goal rather than the state security and refrain from invoking the constitution as the final process in reaching out agreement and peace. The human beings are far greater in value than the state and than the constitution. People’s integrity is more important than territories. The MILF on the other hand can hold in abeyance some of the territories outside of the 613 barangays and the ARMM offered by the government in transitional status to give itself ample time to show the viability of a Moro-led society. In other words, we would like to see the peace process continue beyond the signing of any political settlement.
There is the only way and the right way. The old way and the new way of negotiating employed by the government is not working. Getting out of the constitutional box and exploring a more creative and human security-based means is the right way out.
War is always a threat to human security. There are no winners but only losers.
We, therefore, urge the Government of the Republic of the Philippines to have a strong political will to resolve the impending impasse’ and to be more flexible in its position to the current peace talks.
Signatories:
(SGD) Dr. Pendatun Pangadil (SGD)Sammy Maulana
Bangsamoro Coalition for Peace Bangsamoro Civil Society for Peace
(BCP) (BCSP)
Prof. Taha Usop (SGD) Bobby Benito
Bangsamoro Peace Advocates Center for Justpeace
(BPA) (CJP)
(SGD) Alibai Benito
Bangsamoro Women for Peace
::: posted by max : Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Urgent Appeal for Thailand
UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME
Update on Urgent Appeal
9 October 2006
[RE: UG-018-2006: THAILAND: UN rights bodies must act urgently to address junta; UP-189-2006: THAILAND: Illegal detention of former government ministers; UP-190-2006: THAILAND: Websites and radio stations shut down by military junta]
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UP-194-2006: THAILAND: Join protest for media freedom and 1997 Constitution
THAILAND: Military rule; martial law; threats to human rights defenders; restrictions on freedom of assembly & _expression
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Dear friends,
As the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) informed you in our last update on Thailand, the new military junta there has shut down websites and radio stations and is closely monitoring the media (UP-190-2006). A local media rights group has called for a protest this Wednesday, October 11, against these actions, to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the 1997 Constitution. Please join the protest if you are in Bangkok, or make protest actions outside the Thai diplomatic mission in your own country.
The AHRC is repeating below the call to join a protest organised by the Bangkok-based Campaign for Popular Media Reform, on this October 11 at the Democracy Monument.
For persons outside Bangkok or Thailand, please consider organising your own protest actions to coincide with this event, or later if you cannot do it on the same day. For instance, you could hold a gathering or submit a letter to the local Thai government mission in your country or town. For a sample letter on the issue, see the previous appeal: UP-190-2006. See also the open letter on the same issue by the international monitoring group Reporters Without Borders.
STATEMENT OF THE CAMPAIGN FOR POPULAR MEDIA REFORM
Stop blocking the freedom of thought and _expression: Please join in mourning over the 1997 Constitution and holding lights for the return of civil liberties
The coup d’etat on September 19, 2006 resulted in the abolition of the 1997 Constitution, nine years since its declaration on October 11, 1997. It is deeply sorrowful for Thai society that the regulations and intentions regarding rights and freedom in the constitution were invalidated.
Moreover, we can see that the powers-that-be have run the measures affecting the rights and freedom of people, such as the order closing community radio stations on the one hand and commanding community radio stations to broadcast military information regularly on the other; shutting websites which have political criticism, like www.19sep.org and www.midnightuniv.org; using legal action against critics who have political _expression, like the criminal charge against Associate Professor Giles Ungphakorn, and other measures limiting civil rights and freedom of _expression.
The Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR) considers that the above actions obstruct the opinion _expression and violate civil and political rights. Meanwhile, it emphasizes the climate of fear and frustration in Thai society. So, the public needs to participate in upholding the principle of free _expression by opening public spaces for debate, protecting dissident voices and encouraging different opinions to be heard.
Political freedom is not only the freedom to examine the Thaksin regime, but it is also the citizens’ freedom to scrutinise state power at all levels, regardless of any political circumstances.
On the occasion of nine years since the declaration of the 1997 Constitution, this October 11, 2006 the CPMR kindly invites you, the public, community network members, colleagues and press to join activities to commemorate the 1997 Constitution on Wednesday October 11, 2006, holding lights to ask for rights, freedom and democracy.
9.00am Stand and mourn the Constitution for 90 minutes (from 9 years to 0) at the Democracy Monument, Ratchadamnoen Road
1.00pm Press conference and forum calling for the return of articles 39, 40, and 41 under the 1997 constitution by the CPMR at Royal Rattanakosin Hotel, Ratchadamnoen Road
7.00pm Join in holding lights for civil liberties at the Democracy Monument
-- Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR), 6 October 2006
For any further information, please contact CPMR: +66-2-691 0574
[E-mail: freemediapeople@yahoo.com]
Free _expression is essential for democratic society.
We want a climate of freedom from fear and favor!
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)
::: posted by max : Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Women Back Under Wraps With Taliban Vice Squad
Women Back Under Wraps With Taliban Vice Squad
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/072506WA.shtml
Afghanistan's notorious Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which was set up by the Taliban to enforce bans on women doing anything from working to wearing nail varnish or laughing out loud, is to be recreated by the Government in Kabul. The decision has provoked an outcry among women and human rights activists.
::: posted by max : Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Aren't People Seeing All of This?"
Dahr Jamail "Aren't People Seeing All of This?"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072506P.shtml
Hundreds of Lebanese refugees languish in a city park in downtown Beirut. Fleeing southern Lebanon, as well as south Beirut, thousands have already made their way through this camp as they are farmed out to schools, abandoned buildings and anyone willing to take them in.
::: posted by max : Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Article from Women In Black
Not In My Son’s Name: An Appeal to Aviva Shalit, 12.7.06
2006-07-13 13:46
Today, I had the honor to meet with Mrs. Visaka Dharmadasa , chairperson of the Association of War Affected Women. She is a Sri Lankan activist whose son was reported missing in action while serving in the Sri Lankan army in 1998. She took the bold initiative of connecting with parents of the Tamil rebels, allowing her to see the injustices they live under. Mrs. Dharmadasa told us how she has devoted her life to forging bonds among the mothers of missing combatants from both sides of Sri Lanka’s conflict, and what it means to be human. The Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), honored her efforts by releasing 10 prisoners of war in 2002, as a goodwill gesture to enhance the ceasefire treaty.
Hearing her inspiring stories and feeling her courage, a Palestinian friend sitting next to me whispered: “Why doesn’t she address the mother of the captured Israeli soldier - the mother of Gilad Shalit?”
Suddenly, all women on the roundtable discussion, including the Israeli women who for some of them, were having their first visit to Ramallah, started fantasizing about a different role women can forge: Gilad’s mother mobilizing other Israeli mothers to march in the streets of Israel with one major slogan: “Not in the name of my son.”
Like all mothers of the world, we recognize the Aviva Gilad’s agony and feelings, and fully understand her desire for his safe return. We imagine that, like all mothers, she won’t accept that her son’s liberty be on the account of Palestinian blood, mainly the blood of the children in the Gaza Strip.
Therefore, I decided to write my appeal to Aviva Shalit.
“Can we appeal to you today to get your moral voice for the sake of humanity? Do you accept the collective punishment policies your government is executing in the name of your son?
“Your son’s name will be remembered by all Palestinian children for generations to come as a curse for the bloodshed. I am sure you want a different remembrance of your son’s name. A happy ending story with his safe return and, with him, the return of all children and women imprisoned in Israeli jails. Like a mother waiting impatiently for the safe return of her son, hundreds of Palestinian mothers are waiting for the moment to hug their children released from Israeli prisons.”
I know many will say that, as women, we cannot have an impact on the current military madness. I do not believe that. On the contrary, we women can make a real difference. Didn’t the Four Mothers’ movement in Israel make a huge difference in the Israeli public during the Lebanon war? Why don’t we women who are often portrayed as victims, start receiving some recognition for our actual and potential roles in attaining peace and promoting security?”
I am a woman and a mother who believes in the politics of small things. I believe that we women and mothers can make a difference in the lives of our countries even with small initiatives. So let us not wait. Let our voice of reason be heard. Let our voice of passion for humanity be heard. We women, give life… we’d better protect it!
I assure you, the day you march calling for the safe return of your son, the day you march to call for an end to the Israeli collective punishment against the Palestinian people living under brutal occupation of your government, the day you cry out to your government that their attacks in the Gaza Strip will not bring them closer to gaining your son’ safe release… We women in the occupied territories will be marching to support your call for a safe return of your son... We will be calling for the respect of international law… We will be calling for the respect of the human rights of both peoples in the Holy Land…
Together we can make a difference in our countries. Together we can push forward a different peace agenda that is based on a negotiated and just settlement, and not on unilaterism or convergence. Peace can never be imposed by one party of the conflict. Peace can only be negotiated by both parties.
Together we can raise our voices against the Israeli occupation that has brought insecurity and instability to both Palestinians and Israelis. Together, we can make difference in the lives of our children and grandchildren.
Terry Boullata
Occupied East Jerusalem
A mother of two children
12 July 2006
[1]
Mrs. Dharmadasa’s visit to Ramallah was arranged by the Henrich Boell Foundation with the purpose of meeting Palestinian women, following her participation in an Israeli women’s conference organized by Isha L’isha (Women to Women).
::: posted by max : Tuesday, July 25, 2006
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