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Voices Crying to be Heard
By lindamuralidharan on 2011-12-30 00:06:17
Persian
Gulf
affiliate" [/caption] Checking
the news this week, I certainly feel like I am not being heard by this administration. Nice for a while there.... with fellow
Occupy Wall Street citizens in the streets and making some difference on economic matter's I kinda did feel heard for a
while. Now we are talking smack about Iran again. Frighteningly big time talk. Let's hope it's just talk, just "rhetoric" in the
long wrong. It sounds like the arguments in the hood that end up with some person being shot...maybe even an innocent
bystander. We will not tolerate Iran blocking traffic in the Persian Gulf. We will take any measures necessary to prevent
that if Iran tries anything funny. Etc., etc. Oh, yeah, we are justified. He dissed my girl friend. He took a swing at my
brother. Here is what a "liberal' media (as defined by many) or a truly unbiased media would report: "Since the US has been
imposing tough sanctions on Iran and also trying to impose stronger ones, and since the US has made so little effort to
restrain Israel's aggressive talk against Iran, Iran is responding by threatening the best defense: a good offense, and is
standing up to the US by saying it will block the Straits of Hormuz if they are pushed to their limits. Understandably, they
know they have a right to defend themselves, and have seemed to have had little luck in engaging the US in negotiations to
settle differences." I don't feel heard. Over a dozen leaders from the fields of diplomacy (former ambassadors to Iran from
several countries, for example), the military, and nonproliferation agencies have written this month urging the President to
begin disengaging from militant rhetoric and to enter sincere negotiations with Iran. But.... Nada. Apparently the US is now
saying through some channels that they have turned the matter over to Saudi Arabia to use influence in Iran for the purpose
of lowering the temperature out there. I wonder who is going to influence us to do the same? Meanwhile, leaving scheming
politics and our meddling aside, the best way to shift everybody's focus and to move toward fewer conflicts in the Middle
East (including those with Iran) would be to establish a just pair of countries, Israel and Palestine. And meanwhile we learn
the following:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers have freed up a little more than 20 percent of $187 million in U.S. assistance to the
Palestinians that had been frozen over the Palestinian bid for U.N. membership.
Members of Congress have made available $40 million in economic and humanitarian funding for the Palestinians, the State
Department said Wednesday. The money is administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development and "has been
vital to establishing and strengthening the foundations necessary for a future Palestinian state," the department said.
The Obama administration had been urging lawmakers, with Israel's backing, to release the money as it contributes to
Palestinian stability and Israeli security. 'It is in the interest of the Palestinians, Israel and the United States, to ensure these
efforts continue," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. "They help to build a more democratic, stable, and secure
region.’
The administration is pressing Congress to release the remaining $147 million that comes from the last budget cycle in
which aid to the Palestinians was to total 545.7 million. New funding for the Palestinians will be subject to additional
scrutiny and can be blocked if they win full admission to the United Nations before a peace deal with Israel is agreed.
The administration has asked Congress for $513.4 million in aid for the Palestinians in fiscal year 2012.
Wonders never cease. Where did this stroke of common sense come from? Never mind, I am thankful for small blessings.
At least it is half sense. The last sentence is worrisome indeed. The US is still playing bully. In essence this means if you
don't play our way, we won't play nice. History may show it was not a strategically good idea for Palestine to ask for
admission to the UN at this time or it may show it was a brilliant move. Either way Palestine has the right to pursue its own
destiny so long as it is not hurting any other country. I would like to be heard. Many Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians of
good will would like to be heard. It's really tricky getting a bully to listen if one wishes to maintain peace and decency.
(Disclaimer: sometimes our government speaks for all of us and the US is seen as a bully on the world stage. In my last
paragraph, I am referring to the power elite within this country as represented by President Obama and Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton.) Meanwhile I wish all a good year for each personally and for the voices for peace I wish many successes.
