Washington Post
12-7-2002http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21151-2002Dec6.htmlFreedom, Justice, Equality -- for All
Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, demonized Egypt
for broadcasting a TV series called "Horseman Without a Horse" [letters, Nov. 26].
If Mr. Foxman and the Anti-Defamation League spent as much energy insisting that the
Palestinians be treated fairly both on the ground and in the media, then I would find
his comments more pertinent. But he claims anti-Semitism whenever anyone questions
Israel's laws and policies.
As a prominent American voice, Mr. Foxman should be emphasizing secular freedom and
justice and equality for all, even the Palestinians. Egypt's "Horseman Without a
Horse" would have no audience if the Arab world wasn't witness to the racist crimes
perpetuated against the Palestinian people.
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
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Philadelphia Inquirer
12-4-2002Stop hate, don't inspire it
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/4659470.htm
I totally agree with Steven Rosenzweig's letter "Cartoon unfair
to Muslims" (Dec. 3).
In Hitler's Germany, anti-Semitism was part and parcel of the
times, and the media there and in many other
places were filling people's minds with horrible racist stuff.
Bad went to worse as people too easily accepted the
unacceptable and did not understand the ugly ramifications of
racism.
We should know better now.
Thank you for at least printing Mr. Rosenzweig's letter, but I
can't help but think the type of people most swayed
by cartoons need to be reached in the same medium. Auth should
work on stopping racist hate, not inspiring it.
Anne Selden Annab
Mechanicsburg
***********************************************************************
Patriot News
Monday, December 02, 2002Israel's latest wall is not a wall of fear- it is a weapon (in response to Thomas
SEEKING REAL PEACE
Friedman's column Nov 28) . A huge churning land confiscating choking primitive
weapon in a siege attack on the Palestinians' basic human rights.
Anwar el-Sadat declaring "No more war" is simply not enough to make this very
real nightmare go away. Real peace depends on real justice.
Israel should stop blaming the Palestinians for everything and start the long
and difficult task of building legal walls against racist discrimination... fighting
anti-semitism should include fighting for the full and equal rights of each and every
Palestinian.
In addition, fully implementing international law would go a long way towards
laying the ground work towards a just and lasting peace. Israel must fully implement
United Nations Resolution 194, the Palestinian refugee's right to return; anything
less is continued apartheid.
Peace really is possible.
Anne Selden Annab
***********************************************************************
New York Times
11-10-2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/10/opinion/L10RAMA.html
On Being a Muslim in America
To the Editor:
Thank you for "Learning a Lesson for Ramadan," by Asma Gull Hasan (Op-Ed,
Nov. 6). Will this glimmer of truth help usher out all the wild assumptions,rash fears and gratuitous opinions about Islam, which are based mainly on misinformation and ugly stereotypes? I hope so — our democracy depends on it.
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
***********************************************************************
USA Today
8-7-2002'Honest' account depicts reality of Palestinians' lives
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020807/4339713s.htm
Thanks for publishing the brutally honest commentary by Sherri Muzher, an American of Palestinian descent (''Mideast conflict bores too many,'' The Forum, Friday).
I am outraged by our media's fixation on Israeli pain and suffering, especially when compared with the meager and limited information provided about the plight of Palestinians. I am shocked that U.S. taxpayers are giving billions of dollars in aid that empowers Israel's policies of
apartheid.
Despite the ongoing suicide bombings, Jewish Americans are still eagerly encouraging their kids to study in Israel. Jewish-only roads lead to Jewish-only settlements occupied by a fair portion of
American Zionists and guarded by American zealots determined to protect ''the Jewish state.''
It is obvious that the Palestinians are not monsters. They have just complaints about being made into refugees and being impoverished and persecuted by Israel. It's clear to me that Israel's
continued racism is made possible with U.S. aid.
A two-state solution is no longer possible because of Israel's state-sponsored terrorism, which includes many illegal settlements.
The only hope now is a secular state with full and equal rights for all. A good first step would be for the United States to stop supporting and sustaining Israel and start paying attention to what is
really going on.
Anne Selden Annab
***************************************************
****************************************
http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/northeast/hc-letters1110.artnov10,0,4544081.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Dnortheast
Readers React to Palestinian's Story
Mazin Qumsiyeh's gently told story stirred me deeply.
Thank you so much for printing every last word.
It reminded me of Za'atar. (Crazy lady, you are probably
thinking, but let me explain). Za'atar is a mixture of several
carefully chosen herbs dried, but still a bit green and
crumbled together.
You take a round piece of warm, Arabic bread and tear off
a bite-sized wedge, and you gently dip that wedge into a
small bowl of smooth silky greenish-gold olive oil, and
then you carefully dip the oiled bread into a small bowl
heaped with the fragrant Za'atar and the crumbled herbs
cling to the bread and there is something mystical about
the history of herbs and family recipes and rituals and the
olive trees and the bread and the tart aromatic taste and
the texture all coming together and you can't help but
close your eyes and think kind and good thoughts.
Thyme is one of the main herbs in Za'atar, and you simply
can't eat Za'atar and stay in a hurry no matter how hungry
you are. And somehow it tastes better when shared.
Personally, I like sharing it with family, and children are
welcome and their company is savored, as are stories of
olive trees or cucumbers or cactuses or the weather or
whatever.
Here in America, we are so inundated with negative
stories and assumptions about the Palestinians. It is hard
for most Americans to comprehend that the Arab world is
more than just Muslim, and the Middle East is much much
more than what we see in our headlines. The world is full
of regular people - warm intelligent and compassionate
human beings with histories and hopes and dreams and
sometimes even happiness no matter what.
Like Za'atar, Mazin Qumsiyeh's beautifully told story was a
welcome reminder of exactly that.
Anne Selden Annab, Mechanicsburg, Penn.
*************************************
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/10/opinion/L10RAMA.html
On Being a Muslim in America
To the Editor:
Thank you for "Learning a Lesson for Ramadan," by Asma Gull Hasan (Op-Ed,
Nov. 6). Will this glimmer of truth help usher out all the wild assumptions,
rash fears and gratuitous opinions about Islam, which are based mainly
on misinformation and ugly stereotypes? I hope so — our democracy depends
on it.
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
Mechanicsburg, Pa., Nov. 6, 2002
*************************************
Christian Science Monitor 10-11-02
PALESTINIAN FLAG INSPIRES HOPE
Thank you for printing Ramzy Baroud's gentle and moving Oct 4 Opinion piece
"Seeking a safe place to raise the Palestinian flag". It occurred to me that the
Palestinian flag is slowly but surely unfurling into the one flag raised every where
on earth by a multitude of wonderfully diverse people, free thinkers who firmly
believe in truth and justice and decency and the inherent dignity of each and every
human being.
From coast to coast, and continent to continent peace activists are pulling out
Palestinian flags and marching in solidarity with the Palestinians. It gives me
great hope to know that people all over the world are willing to gather together to
work towards a real, just and lasting peace in the Holy Land.
Anne Selden Annab
*******************************
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/4437812.htm
Letters | It's important to keep an open mind
My own impression of the TV terrorism "experts" that Lillian Swanson warns her readers to be wary
of ("Media, police and public are in this together," Oct. 28) is that many of them are actually far
more interested in terrorizing a captive audience with gloom and doom and perpetuating negative
stereotypes than in anything else.
We all really should be very wary of white vans - and I don't mean that white vans in and of
themselves are a threat but that a white van was easily lodged in all our minds and white vans one
after another distracted each and every one of us from seeing the real killer hiding in the shadows.
Things aren't always what they seem, and open minds helped shut this case. If it weren't for the
open minds of many people working diligently together, most everybody up and down the East
Coast would still be absorbed by the sight of every white van within visual range.
Mechanicsburg
*******************************
http://www.ecola.com/go/?f=&r=pa&u=www.phillyburbs.com/couriertimes/
letter I submitted on Bucks County Courier Times web page
Dear Editor
I am surprised that you printed such a rude and hostile letter as the one by Paul
Simons.
Simons is absolutely viscous with his rage and distorted thinking. He is clearly
attempting to convince the whole community to join his campaign of racist
hatred against Arabs or anyone else who might believe that Palestinians are people
and as people they are entitled to basic human rights that the rest of us take
for granted... I can't help but think that if Israel is filled with such angry and
hostile and ill informed people as Paul Simons clearly is in his letter, it
is no wonder that the violence continues to escalate in the Middle East.
Anne Selden Annab
*******************************
Patriot News
RE "Nativity city finds season unmerry"
I am grateful that you ran the story of Bethlehem today. Our media
usually avoids mentioning the horrible circumstances that the
Palestinians must live with every day.
We can not keep blindly shoring up Israel with money, weapons and
political support and then have such low expectations for them. We can
not keep ignoring the plight of the Palestinian's very real suffering
because we primarily sympathize with the Israeli Jews. We are only
making an insane situation worse.
At a time of year when Christians are retelling the story of how
there was no room at the inn, the Palestinians are stuck staring at a
gutted five story hotel, knowing that Israeli helicopter gun ships and
tanks can easily swoop back again when ever and where ever Israel wants.
What a nightmare.
Is how we want America to be perceived- as a distant democratic
nation of equality and diversity and freedom that armed the Jewish
nation to the teeth and then closed our eyes while the racism and the
hatred in the Holy Land grew and grew and grew.
Bethlehem is empty of crowds this year: The pilgrims and tourists
have been replaced by piles of rubble from bulldozed shops. What a
nightmare... we need to wake up.
Sincerely
Anne Selden Annab
***********************************
http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/11/04/opinion/voices/LEDE23.htm
Mideast violence and the war on
terrorism
Published Tuesday, Oct. 23
Archive | Letters
I strongly disagree with William
Raspberry's column (Inquirer, Oct. 19)
chastising Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D.,
Ga.). I see her words and intentions as
gracious and wise. Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani was extremely rude when he
publicly lambasted the Saudi prince. I was
embarrassed for America.
I believe a huge portion of the American
population was quite offended by Giuliani's
rudeness in the face of honest generosity.
One large group would be the Arab
Americans, decent and well-informed
people who are part and parcel of the
fabric that is America, and who happen to
be more attuned to the sufferings of the
Palestinians; well-informed because many
of them take the time to access world news
that has not been filtered through
America's predominantly pro-Israel sieve.
Anne Selden Annab
***********************************
Patriot News
Onus is on Israel
Both President Bush's speech and Cal Thomas' commentary (Bush Shifts Peace Burden to Palestine) swings the door wide open for Israel to keep pummeling the Palestinians.
The horror of this situation is bad enough but do we really have to pretend that our blind support of Israel is protecting anyone?
Israel's actions speak louder than words as American made gun ships and bulldozers pulverize the Palestinians' property.
Misconstruing the Palestinians' just complaints concerning Israel's continued confiscation of Palestinian land as merely militant Islamic theology only drives many
real fanatics further away from pursuing real justice and a real peace based on democratic ideals.
Israel's racist accusations about Palestinian motives are highly suspect in light of the fact that Israel is the one bulldozing Palestinian homes, confiscating their land, and building armed Jewish-only fortresses in the illegally occupied territories reached by armed Jewish-only roads that carve the Palestinians' land into impoverished pockets.
The onus really is and always has been on Israel and Israel's need to rehabilitate their own Jewish population first. Fully implementing U.N. Resolution 194, the Palestinian refugees right to return, would be a step in the right direction.
Sincerely
Anne Selden Annab
**************************************
U.S. policy worsens Middle East crisis
489 words
22 April 2002
USA Today
FINAL
A.11
English
(Copyright 2002)
Ted Galen Carpenter of the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., blithely
states that the people who insist that the United States must "do something"
to end the bloodletting in the Middle East "are ignoring reality and
demanding the impossible" ("U.S. can't do impossible," Opposing View,
Mideast's future debate, Thursday).
Carpenter totally neglects to factor in the most glaring point and a huge
problem with horrible ramifications for all: the U.S. role in all this.
The reality is that the United States has been actively arming and
underwriting Israel's impoverishing and pummeling of the Palestinians.
Our Congress continually insists on proudly and loudly awarding Israel
massive amounts of money and political support, completely ignoring the fact
that Israel is and has been in direct violation of multiple United Nations
resolutions.
Israel's laws favor Jews. Israel's policies impoverish the native
Palestinian population. America has the power to be honest and label Israel
what it really is: a racist state with no intention of changing anything,
except its borders.
How does one negotiate with a bulldozer intent on demolishing one's home?
How does one negotiate with helicopter gunships and F- 16 fighters making
refugees of people who already are refugees?
There is a huge and positive step America can take: We can stop funding and
endorsing Israel's war on the Palestinians.
Anne Selden Annab Mechanicsburg, Pa.
***************************************
New York Times, March 15, 2002
On the Mideast and Afghan Fronts
To the Editor:
Re "Israel's Unwise Offensive" (editorial, March 14):
Has it slipped everyone's collective mind in America that there was a very solid reason the current intifada started in the first place?
Israel's latest "unwise offensive" is merely a more concrete example of the psychological and physical abuse that the Palestinians have been enduring for years and years. It is merely a continuation of the same theme.
While I admire all who call for peace, it simply isn't enough to just withdraw the troops and the tanks. Israel should also withdraw its prejudiced laws and start establishing fair and balanced policies that treat all the citizens of the Holy Land as equals, with equal justice for all.
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
*****************************************************
Patriot News February 17, 2002
America isn't innocent
Thomas L. Friedman (Commentary, Feb 7) and the rest of American should be the ones "listen up" to the actual message we have been clearly broadcasting to the entire international community.
Bush has not bowed out of Mideast Diplomacy: America supplies a mammoth amount of financial aid to Israel. American politicians are in the habit of flitting over to Israel to
plant trees in Jerusalem to commemorate Israeli victims of Palestinian "terrorism", while Israeli/American weapons such as Apache gunships and F 16s blast away at Palestinians in
the occupied territories.
America is not that innocent. We are willingly funding apartheid. We claim that we are supporting democracy and freedom by supporting Israel, but how is shrugging off the
Palestinian refugee's legal right to return supporting democracy? What is democratic about bulldozing a person's home and confiscating his land?
The balance of power is that the Palestinians have none and they are up against a heavily armed and angry racist regime. Sharon emerged because Israel's lopsided laws favoring Jews fan the flames of racist hatred on all sides.
Sincerely
Anne Selden Annab
**********************************************
Patriot News 12-4-2001
Nightmare Ignored
I am grateful that you ran the story of Bethlehem today. Our media usually avoids mentioning the horrible circumstances that the Palestinians must live with every day.
We can not keep blindly shoring up Israel with money, weapons and political support and then have such low expectations for them. We can not keep ignoring the plight of the Palestinian's very real suffering because we primarily sympathize with the Israeli Jews. We
are only making an insane situation worse.
At a time of year when Christians are retelling the story of how there was no room at the inn, the Palestinians are stuck staring at a gutted five story hotel, knowing that Israeli helicopter gun ships and tanks can easily swoop back again when ever and where ever
Israel wants. What a nightmare.
Is how we want America to be perceived- as a distant democratic nation of equality and diversity and freedom that armed the Jewish nation to the teeth and then closed our eyes while the racism and the hatred in the Holy Land grew and grew and grew.
Bethlehem is empty of crowds this year: The pilgrims and tourists have been replaced by piles of rubble from bulldozed shops. What a nightmare... we need to wake up.
Sincerely
Anne Selden Annab
**************************************************
USA Today Nov. 29, 2001
What a fascinating and compassionate article by Uri Avnery. It is a shame that more members of Israeli's Knesset, both past and present, haven't had the same reasonable and honest perspective.
There is a definite wisdom in stepping back and analyzing the negative ramifications of swiftly labeling anyone who isn't just like you as your enemy and a terrorist. That kind of myopic and self centered thinking is the basis of racism; and racism left unchecked just
grows uglier and uglier and uglier.
Racism makes a mockery of democracy: Israel's best chance of making peace with the Palestinians is to acknowledge the Palestinian refugees legal right to return.
Otherwise, when or if Israel's military leaves the occupied territories, the state of Palestine will remain little more than a impoverished confinement camp for prisoners leading
perpetually lessened lives.
Anne Selden Annab
***************************************
Patriot News 11-9-2001
Parallel Conflict
Georgie Anne Geyer's latest column Parallel Conflict (October 29) is a welcome and intelligent foray into the wisdom of supporting moderation. To quote Thomas Paine " Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation is principle is always a vice."
For those who have forgotten lessons learned long ago: Thomas Paine (1737-1809) came to be regarded as an American Patriot and an important advocate for the democratic rights that we Americans enjoy.
Geyer has grasped the truth that "moderation in principle is always a vice" in realizing that Israel has an agenda of their own that might not be in the best interests of America. She has set aside her earlier knee-jerk reaction, that was essentially an anti- Arab
stance, and honestly explored the complexity of the mess that we are currently in.
She sees the very real danger that exists if we aren't very very careful in the directions that we allow our War on Terrorism to take.
Sincerely
Anne Selden Annab
**********************************************
New York Times 10-30-001
Re "America Doesn't Know What the World Is Saying,"
To the Editor:
Re "America Doesn't Know What the World Is Saying" (Op-Ed, Oct. 27):
Dennis Baron's article about the need for more foreign language study falls
short by focusing only on college-level studies.
Our youngest children really should be exposed to and taught foreign
languages. Their minds are pliant and eager to absorb sounds, yet elementary
schools rarely provide language instruction as part of their curriculums.
Imagine if first graders learned Latin along with how to read. Reading
comprehension and the ability to master foreign languages would soar as our
children grasped the root words that influence so many words we know (and
don't).
Adults who have heard and pronounced only English are more apt to find a
foreign language difficult to master. Our college students would be much
more likely to study Arabic if they were already well schooled in French.
ANNE SELDEN ANNAB
Philadelphia Inquirer Oct. 23, 2001
Mideast violence and the war on terrorism
I strongly disagree with William Raspberry's
column (Inquirer, Oct. 19) chastising Rep.
Cynthia McKinney (D., Ga.). I see her
words and intentions as gracious and wise.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was extremely rude
when he publicly lambasted the Saudi
prince. I was embarrassed for America.
I believe a huge portion of the American
population was quite offended by Giuliani
rudeness in the face of honest generosity.
One large group would be the Arab
Americans, decent and well-informed
people who are part and parcel of the fabric
that is America, and who happen to be
more attuned to the sufferings of the
Palestinians; well-informed because many of
them take the time to access world news
that has not been filtered through America's
predominantly pro-Israel sieve.
Anne Selden Annab
Mechanicsburg
************************************
Patriot News 10-5-2001
Monday's Patriot carried the story "Israeli schools open amid safety concerns" It features a place called Gilo and refers to this place as a neighborhood.
Labeling Gilo as a neighborhood rather than what it is, a settlement, might appear to be a minor mistake- but it is not. Such misidentification changes both the texture of a story, and it's actual meaning.
Some mistakes are harmless, but this particular mistake is both sloppy and lethal, like labeling morphine as baby aspirin. It is part of the systematic mislabeling of the people and places that are the facts at the heart of the violence that continues to escalate in
the occupied territories of the West Bank.
It is equivalent to saying that a man recently gave birth to a nine pound baby. Sometimes one slightly wrong word can really change the whole point and purpose.
Let the truth speak for itself: A settlement is a settlement, not a neighborhood. It has walls and armed soldiers and Palestinians aren't allowed to live, or go to school, within it's confines.
Anne Selden Annab
***************************
Patriot News
Tue, 07 Nov 2000 12:51:10 -0500
"Terror, unrest always part of life for Israelis" , Mr.
Wassner's letter (Nov. 7th), is unjust and simmers with a racist rage
that seems to permeate our American media. Mr. Wassner objects to Dr.
Damuni's use of the word demonstrations, however it is an accurate
description. .. the civil rights movement in our own country was not exactly
peaceful.
Bashing Arabs and blaming them entirely for the mess
that is going on in the Middle East only shows how ill-informed so many
Americans are.
To site examples of Arab terrorism yet totally ignore the
equally awful actions of Zionist extremists, past and present, is only
undermining the effort to bring peace to the region.
If the purpose is to find peace than we must honestly
accept that there are at least two valid sides that must be respected
and listened to: Wouldn't you be a bit grumpy if your home was suddenly
bulldozed to make room for an illegal settlement that was populated by a
mob of angry and armed foreigners?
Anne Selden Annab
****************************************
Patriot News 10-02-2001
Israel's Netanyahu is no prophet
Cal Thomas's column (SEPT. 28) article proclaiming former
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be a prophet is the epitome of
ridiculousness. Is it prophecy when your five year old looks at a full cookie jar and tells
you, wisely (as he proceeds to eat each and every cookie), that there will be no cookies left by the end of the day? Netanyahu is not a prophet. He's an opportunist.
Should we really trust Israel and men like Netanyahu? Does Israel really have
America's security in mind as they pummel Palestinians with American made weapons?
Thomas' racist remark that "Islamic terrorism" has been an endemic element
of the Middle East for 13 centuries totally ignores the fact that Israel itself was born
through the spoils of a vicious war- A war that still rages on, as impoverished Palestinians
have their homes bulldozed and their olive trees uprooted.
Who are the terrorists? If indeed, as Thomas asserts, Arab 3/13/2003 terrorism is born out of economic frustration, then logic dictates that Israel's harsh treatment of the Palestinians is only aggravating an out of control situation.
Netanyahu claims that "what is at stake today is nothing less than the survival
of our civilization". This is True, but let's not forget where the cradle of civilization was carved. Our civilization's meteoric rise would not have been possible with out the
extraordinary insights and inventions of Muslims and Arabs.
The oldest pieces of glass are glass beads from Mesopotamia (now Iraq). Look out any window, or even towards your TV screen, and remember it was the Arabs who helped open up your world in so many ways. Where would we be without algebra- we certainly wouldn't have
computers!
We would not be who we are without the Arabs' many positive contributions to all that we have become. This is not just about history; right now, we desperately need the co-operation of the Arab world in order to find solutions and security. Anti Arab tirades brimming with racist insults against Islam, aren't terribly helpful in fighting world
terrorism.
Anne Selden Annab
***************************************
http://www.odwyerpr.com/story_feedback/feedback.htmlAnne Selden Annab
It is so tragic, and an affront to civilization, that so many otherwise decent people continue to put so much energy into defending Israel's cruel racist
polices. Israel has been pummeling and persecuting the Palestinian Arabs for over half a century with both words and weapons.
Ahmed Bouzid's intelligent critique of P.J. O'Rourke's blithe and breezy admiration of all things Israel is a welcome voice in the churning salt sea of
pro-Zionist warrior tears and rage that swirls all around us, growing deeper and deadlier every day.
Our own democracy is drowning in that churning salt sea, while we float temporarily buoyant on delusions of doing the right thing by continuing to defend and
support Israel no matter what Israel does...
Racism is wrong. It is ugly and only grows uglier and uglier and uglier when left unchecked. Israel has the right to exist - but Israel has no right to deny
the Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes and to live with dignity and hope and equal rights.
Annie
***************************************
10/29/2001
New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-10-14/News_and_Views/Opinion/a-128449.asp
Flip the words in Chafets article to read it more truthfully- An Israeli propaganda machine in the guise of real journalism- It is true that our press is free. Our press are free to print all the pro-Israeli propaganda they want, regardless of the fact that it really
is not in the best interests of even Israel to do so.
I am a patriotic American. I fully support all the brave American soldiers who are fighting to protect my country. But boy do I have a problem with articles like Mr. Chafet's because I think that this kind of hate mongering is more dangerous to America than Bin Laden could ever
hope to be.
Mr. Chafet and his hate mongering comrades have the power to poison the air more efficiently and lethally than anthrax ever could
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