What you should do for Palestine now! Emergency appeal!

Dear friends, 

In four days the UN General Assembly will meet, and the world has an opportunity to embrace a new proposal that could turn the tide on decades of failed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks: UN recognition of the state of Palestine.

Over 120 nations from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America have already endorsed this initiative, but Israel's right-wing government and the US are trying to block it. Europe is still undecided. Only a massive public push now could tip this key bloc to vote with the rest of the world for this momentous opportunity to end 40 years of military occupation. 

US-led peace initiatives have failed for decades, while Israel has confined Palestinians to small areas, confiscated their lands and blocked their independence. This bold new initiative could be the best opportunity to jump start a resolution of the conflict. We have just 4 days to persuade Europe to endorse this statehood bid, and make clear that citizens across the world support this legitimate, non-violent, diplomatic proposal. Sign the petition and send this to everyone -- let's reach 1 million: 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/independence_for_palestine_en/97.php?cl_tta_sign=addb6acad7b2dc9c0623923a112bdc08

While the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are complex, most people on all sides agree that the best path to peace is the creation of two states. But repeated peace processes have been undermined by violence on both sides, extensive Israeli settlement-building in the West Bank, and the humanitarian blockade on Gaza. The Israeli occupation has shrunk and fragmented the territory for a Palestinian state and made daily life a crippling ordeal for the Palestinian people. The UN, World Bank and IMF have all recently announced that Palestinians are ready to run an independent state, but say the main constraint to success is the Israeli occupation. Even the US President has called for an end to settlement expansion and a return to the 1967 borders with mutually agreed land-swaps, but Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has furiously refused to cooperate. 

It’s time for a dramatic shift away from a futile peace process and on to a new path for progress. While the Israeli and US governments are calling the Palestinian initiative ‘unilateral’ and dangerous, in fact the world’s nations overwhelmingly support this diplomatic move away from violence. Global recognition of Palestine could crush extremists who argue violence is the only solution, and foster a growing non-violent Palestinian-Israeli movement in step with the democratic momentum across the region. Most importantly, it will rescue a path to a negotiated settlement, allow the Palestinians access to a variety of international institutions that can help advance Palestinian freedom, and send a clear signal to Israel’s pro-settler government that the world will no longer accept their impunity and intransigence.

For too long, Israel has undermined the hope for a Palestinian state. For too long, the US has appeased them, and for too long Europe has hidden behind the US. Right now, Europe is on the fence about Palestinian statehood. We have just 4 days to reach 1 million. Let’s appeal to Europe's leaders to stand on the right side of history and support a Palestinian declaration of freedom and independence, with overwhelming support, and financial aid. Sign the urgent petition for Europe to back this move for long-term peace in Israel and Palestine: 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/independence_for_palestine_en/97.php?cl_tta_sign=addb6acad7b2dc9c0623923a112bdc08

Palestinian statehood will not bring a resolution to this intractable conflict overnight, but UN recognition will change the dynamics and will begin to unlock the door towards freedom and peace. Across Palestine, people are preparing, with hope and expectation, to reclaim a freedom their generation has never known. Let's stand with them and push our leaders to do the same, as they have stood with the people of Egypt, Syria and Libya. 

With hope and determination, 

Alice, Ricken, Stephanie, Morgan, Pascal, Rewan and the entire Avaaz team 

MORE INFORMATION 

Abbas vows to continue UN statehood bid
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/07/201171302020819197.html 

Arab League will call for Palestinian State at the UN
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/14/us-palestinians-israel-statehood-arabs-idUSTRE76D21020110714

Palestinians and Israelis march for Palestinian statehood:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/israelis-and-arabs-march-in-jerusalem-for-palestinian-statehood/2011/07/15/gIQAQPnSGI_story.html 

Israel campaign against UN vote:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/10/israel-plan-block-un-palestinian-state?INTCMP=SRCH 

Palestinian call for statehood:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/47a391f6-b121-11e0-a43e-00144feab49a.html#axzz1SefO7Aor 

Palestinian statehood and bypassing Israel:
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/06/20116168535227628.html 

UN says Palestinians able to govern own state 
http://unispal.un.org/pdfs/AHLC-Apr2011_UNSCOrpt.pdf

List of countries recognizing the state of Palestine http://www.avaaz.org/en/countries_recognizing_palestine/?info

Tell Your Friends

facebookShare this campaign on Facebook

.

emailOpen a new email on your computer

.

Beatrice and Virgil

I bought this book just before my Further Mathematics exam to cheer me up. When I saw the cover, it looks familiar except that the animals are not the same as the one that I remembered. I went near and yeah, it is written by Yann Martel. He wrote Life of Pi before.

Beatrice and Virgil tells a story about fate. Henry, a writer living in a foreign city, receives a mail from an unknown. Instead of the usual fan mail, the envelope contains a story by Flaubert, a scene from a play featuring two characters named Beatrice and Virgil, and a note asking for Henry’s help. The note is signed “Henry,” and the return address is not far from where Henry lives. When Henry walks his dog to hand-deliver his response, he is surprised to discover a taxidermist’s shop. Here, stunning specimens are poised on the brink of action, silent and preternaturally still, yet bursting with the palpable life of a lost, vibrant world. And when the mysterious, elderly taxidermist introduces his visitor to Beatrice and Virgil—a donkey and a howler monkey—Henry’s life is changed forever. This novel brings art, animals and people together and relate them to Holocaust. It is a novel about Holocaust that has never been told before, unlike other Holocaust novels which tells us suffer, hardships etc.

At the end, author Henry develops some "games", 12 questions posing moral quandaries: would you allow your son to endanger his life to try to save the rest of the family? If you knew people were about to be killed and you couldn't stop it, would you warn them? If only Martel had bothered to dramatise any of these dilemmas, he might have produced a novel that didn't show the limits of representation quite so painfully.

Yann Martel’s previous novel, Life of Pi, has become a modern classic. A fantastical tale about a boy and a tiger shipwrecked in the Pacific, it asked probing questions about belief and reality. Now Martel has written another story that uses animals to examine our humanity. In Beatrice and Virgil, he poses enduring questions about life and art, truth and deception, responsibility and complicity. Haunting and unforgettable, this is an extraordinary feat of storytelling.

More about B&V: 

Reviews - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nina-sankovitch/embeatrice-and-virgilem-b_b_534909.html#

                http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/30/yann-martell-beatrice-and-virgil