this week

for this week what do you plan to increase the peace in our world?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ahmad Hammouri on May 14, 2012 at 4:50pm

tim you still dont get it i dont want to understand history ! i want to see peace ! i dont care who killed who i dont want to know how many people died in the passt!! i want to see peace here for my and your children the stupid discusions about who is responciple for the stupid past is nothing but a waste of time for the humanity and much of its time is beeing wasted we all need to grow up so yes he killedc all the jews in europe! ya they killed all muslims in cosovo so what!! big deal yes honer the dead but not by killing more for each stupid discusion you guys make lead to more stupid hate live as a human that means what happened before you is not to affect you if its bad but a true humantarian would forgive and work for a better future not just try and blame others i opened this disction for new peace that we share not for you people to act as kids now if any one has any thing for this peace your welcome to say it if not then your in wrong disscusion!!

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Permalink Reply by Tim Upham on May 14, 2012 at 6:30pm

In my last entry, I mentioned what I was doing as an individual, but I got side tracked. What caused the side tracking was when I mentioned the Holocaust in the same breath with the number of Soviet civilians who died in World War II, and the Armenian Genocide from 1915-1922. It was then made into a contest of who suffered the most. The Jews suffered more in the Holocaust, than the Soviet civilians and Armenians. This seem ironic, because in Jerusalem they have Yad Vashem, but also a memorial to the Soviet war dead at Mount Herzl, and a museum dedicated to the Armenian Genocide in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City. This made it into a contest, because of Jewish extremism claiming Jews suffered more than any other people. If we want to address peace, then this contest needs to be thrown out the window, because the contest is just distracting from the cause of peace. I have worked in the United States, Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza for over two decades on the issue of peace, but it can easily get side tracked, when extremists bring up the contest of who suffered the most. I am sure you deal with it all the time.

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Permalink Reply by Ahmad Hammouri on May 16, 2012 at 8:01am

its okey Tim , keep your eyes on the goal "peace" dont gey distracted by the informations others are trying to give you you know your heart wants peace so forget aboutwhat evry onne else says yes we all know informations about the past each one of us some fror diffrent view points and evry one is trying to impose their view on others well geuss what your doing it the wrong way for people have been trying what your doing for ages and ages that gave us nothing but waste of time you will not convince a jew that israel is not his land , his parents has been telling him this since he ever existed as for palestinian same thing the only diffrence is the palestinian gets to see and live the suffurings each day which his parents didnt bother to tell about,what am saying here we already did set our mindes about lots of cases ! ,but what is to be spoken of now is peace which is the main subject

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Permalink Reply by Tim Upham on May 16, 2012 at 8:58am

So much of what you are mentioning can be enacted through the legislative bodies of our governments, such as the U.S. Congress. Also, through people in the executive branch of government, such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. President Shimon Peres has a Facebook, that anybody can get on. On-line publications, that you can comment on. I have been able to get on the website of Hamas. We can communicate to our own government, and others. So more constructive activities can be done, then just go back and forth on who is right, and who is wrong. Because I got sick of all of the complaining. I wonder if other people on this website do anything more, that just whine on here all of the time.

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Permalink Reply by Ahmad Hammouri on May 16, 2012 at 9:07am

exactly Tim but will those people lestin ? what would change their mindes? or the whole way they make their decisions?

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Permalink Reply by Tim Upham on May 16, 2012 at 9:29am

I have worked with Bereaved Families, which international is known as Combatants for Peace. It is from working with them, whether they are Jews, Muslims, or Christians, that I learned about the importance of putting aside past bitterness. Because holding on to this bitterness, will just hold you there, and there will be no moving forward. We must move forward, if we are to end the perpetual sectarian violence that has grip the area for decades. Move forward with a two-state solution. We have in the U.S. Congress now the Cohen-Yarmouth-Connolly letter, which will be presented to President Obama, stating that a two-state solution must be the top priority in U.S. foreign policy. It got my elected representative to sign it. Last time I looked there were 74 signers. I just got in contact with the conference of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels, and admonished them for not taking a more active role, which they can because with European companies building both Israeli settlements and upgrading Palestinian villages in the West Bank. I think about when I was in Nahariya, Israel, and an air raid siren went off, because of a Hezbollah rocket attack coming in from Lebanon. Also, I was in Gaza when an air raid siren went off, because of an Israeli airstrike. I thought to myself "Is this the way, you are suppose to live?"

Permalink Reply by Sussan on May 15, 2012 at 11:24am

Ahmad, this peace you so desire, is going to have to be fought for. There is no other way it is going to come, unless you are prepared to walk out of your country and become a refugee in some other place.

The Palestinians lost Palestine because the USA let it happen.

Peace will only come back to Palestine when powerful countries decide they will not accept the current arrangement. Israel’s long-term plan is for every Palestinian to become a completely disempowered refugee, living in a camp on the fringe of Israel; as has been witnessed by the behaviour of Zionists over the last 80 years.

Israel’s wars are fought with weapons, but even more important that the weapons, is the propaganda. This is why discussing the history, and who is responsible for what, is so important. Peace will only come when a large number of people – in powerful countries - demand their politicians pay attention to what has been happening in Israel/Palestine. This is why the past is rehashed, again and again, because, unless ordinary people see what went wrong, they will not bother to demand an improvement.

We argue about the history and the propaganda because that is the pivot upon which the potential for peace swings.

Ahmad, I appreciate your enthusiasm to stop the arguments and embrace peace, but I cannot see Palestinians and Jews achieving this through generosity and good will alone. Otherwise, peace would have come, long ago.

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Permalink Reply by Ahmad Hammouri on May 16, 2012 at 8:12am

peace can be made without guns and wars for guns and ware brought palestinian more death its true the hope is to get the whole land back is still living in the growing generations and it will be tought to our next generations that they should get their land back but it is going to be tought by the actions of the israelis , i know of what your saying ive lived it my whole life but nothing has changed same things always fighting and fighting and more fighting death blood and more shed of blood thats not how life is to be i know what your saying we should strugle to get palestine back but all the killed people in the past did they change any thing? israel is srill here and still doing the same crimes , i mean i for my self was going home exactly 13 hours ago and through a Qalandia-Rammallah check point and saw over 100 solders shooting rubber pullets and tear gas at young guys ,while the presoners who went on hunger strike for a over weeks got what they want without guns without blood shed ,i believe its time for a new way for us to fight with which would lead to harm to us as human beings

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Permalink Reply by Tim Upham on May 14, 2012 at 9:14pm

It is your personal decision on how you choose to be involved in this. But if you decide to join with me, you could very much be used. Because the only alternative is a two-state solution, where an independent Palestine can live alongside an independent Israel. Both are not going anywhere, so why not create a home for both.

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Permalink Reply by Ahmad Hammouri on May 16, 2012 at 8:17am

because sighnes that said one big country for both people were hanged like a couple of monthes ago and burned by the people in both side for in our culture both palestinians and jews are raised to hate each other ,i dont know how the jewish people teach their kids to hate us but its easy for the arabs to teach their sons the hate of israel ,just by sending them down the street to get a bag of milk ,or by sending them to school and allwing them to walk and see whats happening along the way,since wer discussing can a jewish peace maker tell us how?

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Permalink Reply by Tim Upham on May 14, 2012 at 6:25am

I think it is unfortunate, when you campaign for peace and coexistence, that you get attacked that you are lying about your background, how dare you compare us to other people that also went through genocide, because we went through it worse, and those people over there are not human like we are. Because these are just elitist thoughts. When you look at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, you have to view from both sides, both their past and their present. Working with Bereaved Families in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, and internationally recognized as Combatant for Peace, you can feel their pain, grief, and frustration, regardless if they are Israeli or Palestinian. These are people who said we have gone through enough, this cannot go on. Should we not all be working with them?

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Permalink Reply by Igor Gonev on May 14, 2012 at 2:33pm

Tim. It is very sad that some people misinterpret honest arguments as attacks. The peace must be made with enemies and not preaching to the choir. If Combatants for Peace were sincere they would go to Gaza and engage,demonstrate against Hamas amongst the population there and not take the road of least resistance. I have no problem with grieving families comiserating but we must understand the correlaions. Israelis are killed as a result of terrorism while most Palestinians are killed as a result of the IDF defending their people. In short, if there was no terror than we would have no bereaved on either side.

Someone who loses a loved one suffers a great loss but after that loss must come the realization that the bereaved must do something to stop other people from losing loved ones and that burden must fall on the Arab side, at this time. I do see the Israelis demonstrating on behalf of Palestinians but not vise versa. Is there not something wrong with this scenario, and I do see Palestinians demonstrating against Israel at a drop of the hat.