Beth,
This is a very well written and documented piece. It is very good that you shared your personal experience first. With wars and political motives and all that it is not easy to rememeber that there are people on both sides.
Nobodys' God could condone so much death and destruction based on ancient motives where the land fought over is not the same or has the same value as it did thousands of years ago.
Every mother just wants her kids to grow up and give her grandkids to spoil.
Prayers for peace people getting to know each other, where open and honet discussions can take place may lead to peace one day.
Thank you for this presentation of the facts.

Hi Joyce...

At best it is a sadly incomplete listing of some of the facts or interpretations of what has happened during these years...

I didn't come across the news story of the young Americain woman who was killed by a bulldozer by standing in front of a Palestinian home that was about to be demolished. What many here in the states don't realize is that those bulldozers are often supplied by a well known company here in the us and that they aren't to be used for these purposes by the army there. But no one seems to want to discuss this...

I recall the time when a whole bus load of children were blown up by terrorists in Israel... which happened just after I was there... and I am as repulsed by that kind of violence now as then... as anyone would be... but I can't help but wonder what keeps it going?  Why after Sharon walked up on the Mount and the violence erupted did the little boy who was being shielded by his father have to die?

The whole world knew of this one little Palestinian boy who was killed then like the whole world knew of the busload of Jewish children so long ago....

 

Why are people who have lived somewhere for eons... some have papers that document there ownership of property back five or six centuries... some even more in the Old City and other areas... Why are they not to return or live in their homes?

It actually seemed, 30 years ago that there was hope... some say there is now... that there are things developing... things are changing despite all the violence that is also happening.... 

Why shouldn't I ask these questions? Are they being asked in the main stream press? Think Tanks are trying to come up with the next way to address this same situation...Carter used one plan that the Brookings group came up with and led to some good so long ago.... ?some good? (smiles) I think he did some good!

Yes, Joyce, prayers and hope and love and keeping in one's heart and mind all that is good.

But what more can be done?

Beth

RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- A Palestinian state alongside Israel is within reach, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday after talks with the Palestinian president and Israeli prime minister.

Rice said a proposed summit in Annapolis, Maryland, later this year can be a "launching pad" toward a two-state solution.

"We appear to be on course to prepare seriously for continuous ongoing negotiations," said Rice, who appeared at a press briefing in the West Bank with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. She met Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who underscored the importance of the Annapolis summit in a speech.

"Annapolis will be the jumping-off point for continued serious and in-depth negotiations which will not avoid any issue or ignore any division which has clouded our relations with the Palestinian people for many years," Olmert said.

Rice said there are "very clear signs" Arab neighbors want the process to succeed. "I can really say without fear of contradiction that everybody's goal is the creation" of a Palestinian state, she said.

Rice's trip is her third visit to the Middle East since mid-September, indicative of the Bush administration's efforts to jump-start the dormant peace process before the president's term ends.

Abbas said he was "encouraged" by Olmert's statements Sunday and said he's seeking an accord that will lead to a solution on final status issues such as Jerusalem, settlements, water and refugees.

"We are serious to use this opportunity to reach this historical peace which would lead to the establishment of the Palestinian state and its capital East Jerusalem, that will live side by side with the state of Israel," said Abbas.

No date has been set for the Annapolis summit because both sides have yet to reach an agreement on the mutual vision they hope to present at the conference.

Olmert, who opposed the Oslo Accords in the early '90s, said an opportunity for peace talks exists "because it's time."

"Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, and Salaam Fayyad, its prime minister, publicly state -- without hesitation and despite the inherent difficulties of the complex relations within Palestinian society -- that they want to live with us in peace. This is an opportunity. It should be taken," Olmert said. E-mail to a friend

All About Mahmoud Abbas • Ehud Olmert

Merri HoLLyDaZe everyone...

This is a beautiful time of the year whether or not you are celebrating the holiday as Christian or Hannucah as Jew... and then there'll be Kwanza and there's probably others we're not aware of?

But I need to make a little comment... I was raised by an atheist and an agnostic. We had beautiful secular Christmas with FAMILY and FRIENDS and even though the emphasis wasn't religious it was joyous and loving... Now growing up then, there were still school prayers in Illinois (very early 50s) ... the reason that was stopped was not because anyone was against praying... but who should lead the prayer? a Catholic or Protestant or Jew? and whose prayer should be spoken outloud to CHILDREN being raised in a multi-faith social situation....Catholics and Protestants (or which sort of Protestant!) back then weren't too keen on the others' prayers being the ones used with their children !!! (...and that's the truth! )

So... I was one of those kids that had the good fortune of being able to follow the discussion and understandings of faith, belief, non-belief of GOOD PEOPLE while being on the outside... not a Jew, not a Catholic, not a Protestant...

I raised my daughters with choice of belief... They were given books including Bibles and a lovely blue covered  book that I gave them that had prayers in it from all around the world...

One daughter is new-age yoga teacher... the other became a Jehovah's Witness and is raising her children in that belief system. This poses a problem for this family. Whenever anything at the public school has a predominantly Christmas, Halloween, and other themes that the Jehovah Witness's don't recognize or choose to participate in due to their beliefs... the children have to be pulled out of school for part or all of the day.

Even in the middly of daily assignments, questions arise that necessitate my grandchildren to have to call home to ask their MOTHER if this is something that they should be doing ...

As disappointed as I was when I couldn't have xmas with most of my family...my first born grandson and first born grandaughter and the next two that make all FOUR of them!  and it was a shock. I learned a valuable lesson.

I'm not as tolerant as I thought I was... at least then I wasn't... Now I'm seeing happy, loving, bible reading and understanding children growing up looking inside of a culture not unlike I did as a child...

for you see, my biological mother had died when I was a small small child but the one thing I truly knew of her was that she was a loving and gracious Christian woman... (i didn't inherit the graciousness gene) and so at the age of 8 ((like my grandkids)) I read the bible and studied and looked inside a culture that is different from what most see it to be...

Imagine you are a Muslim child or Jehovah Witness' child or Orthodox Jew' child ... and think how they're experiencing the world around them...

Was I raised in a Christian Nation? I believe I was... but We do not live in a CHRISTIAN NATION ... We LIVE in a FREE NATION ..... that is what the founding father's intended.... Freedom of Religion was for all religions and in the United States there is more than one kind of celebration for Christmas or Xmas or the wonderful celebrations that Pagans have or... Hannukah or Kwanza or ????

or for those who for very valid and heart felt reasons don't celebrate this time of year! (smiles)

Beth

ps... Merri HoLLyDaZe !!!