<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;">Dear Lee,<br>Thanks very much for sending this report along..............the young Palestinian and Israeli student solidarity groups have worked throughout the years to promote this Nobel agenda that the ordinary people of the both sides have no agenda of their corrupt regimes.......and our task as the older generation also is to further bring transparency,accountability,and accuracy to the dilemma that we have politically dealt with from the other angles.<br><br>Our task should always remain intact with what is moral..............Right conduct has always been the Essenes of good politics.......... <br> <br><font size="2" face="Arial">"It is a heartening story of a Palestinian boy who lets kites fly free over
the concrete wall round an Israeli settlement, with "salaam" written on them.
</font>
<div class="yiv585241392bo">
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">When the wind changes, the kites come flying back with "shalom" written on
them by the settlement children.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Michael Morpurgo believes peace can only come from young Jews and young Arabs
living together, learning together and showing respect to each other".</font></p></div><br>This is a fascinating story with the extraordinary insights,but as we expected of a children story book there is no political or strategic solution to the conflict that has persisted for 62 years.<br><br>Till 4 years ago i tirelessly promoted the Two State solution,conditioned by the return of all the lands to the Palestinians,except the 6% of of it that historically belonged to Israelis in 1947..............that is not a good socialist agenda...........therefore i put that behind.......... the agenda should be focused on the one state solution principally........to bring the international unity to the oppressed people of the world and on the top of it the workers that become meaningful in unity and not in seperation.............anything beside that wrapped in the distoration of the truth as you are clearly aware,is not your task or mine and not those of us that i
know...........so Kudos to the establishment of the house of truths,to geniune hearts and minds, and to those who spent most of their lives to live sane and clean in a world that more than any thing else has produced the unkind and the selfish...........we become better human beings when we respect the truth and do not contribute to the inhumane agendas of those that we stood in fight for the most of out lives........happy and better days ahead Lee............<br>Thanks,<br>Zhaleh <br><br><p><font color="#8000ff"><font size="2"><span class="body"><font face="Verdana"><strong>The historic ascent of humanity, taken as a whole, may be summarized as a succession of victories of consciousness over blind forces - in nature, in society, in man himself.</strong></font></span> <br></font><br><strong><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="border-bottom: medium none; background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;"
id="lw_1254934561_3" class="yshortcuts">Leon Trotsky</span></font></strong></font></p><br><br>--- On <b>Sat, 12/11/10, Lee Loe <i><leeloe@igc.org></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br>From: Lee Loe <leeloe@igc.org><br>Subject: FW: small steps for peace in Mid-East<br>To: "'Zhaleh'" <zch6402@yahoo.com><br>Date: Saturday, December 11, 2010, 1:23 PM<br><br><div id="yiv2139015834">
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial"><span class="yiv2139015834877142119-11122010">Encouraging news. Lee</span></font></div><br>
<div class="yiv2139015834OutlookMessageHeader" dir="ltr" lang="en-us" align="left">
<hr tabindex="-1">
<font size="2" face="Tahoma"><b>From:</b> Lee Loe [mailto:leeloe@igc.org]
<br><b>Sent:</b> Saturday, December 11, 2010 1:07 PM<br><b>To:</b> 'Lee
Loe'<br><b>Subject:</b> small steps for peace in Mid-East<br></font><br></div>
<div></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">
</font><div class="yiv2139015834logo"><font size="2" face="Arial"><img alt="BBC NEWS" src="http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/printer_friendly/news_logo.gif" height="34" width="163"> </font></div>
<div class="yiv2139015834headline"><font size="2" face="Arial">Small steps for peace still forged in Mid-East </font></div>
<div class="yiv2139015834bo">
<p></p></div><font size="2" face="Arial">By Hugh Sykes <br>BBC News <br>
</font><div class="yiv2139015834bo">
<p><font size="2" face="Arial"><b>A school in the Middle East and a new book by a British children's writer
share a common vision of peace based on a new generation of Arab and Jewish
children growing up together as friends. </b>
</font></p><p></p></div>
<div class="yiv2139015834bo">
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">At a demonstration I went to last week against evictions of Palestinians from
their homes in East Jerusalem there were more Jews chanting and holding up
banners in support of the Palestinians than there were Arabs.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">The banners were in Hebrew and in English. That is a change.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">I remember going to an anti-occupation demonstration by a variety of peace
activists in Tel Aviv a few years ago.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">They had slogans entirely in Hebrew, which meant I had to clumsily ask a
number of people what their posters meant. </font></p></div>
<div class="yiv2139015834ibox"><font size="2" face="Arial">“ <b>There is much more contact now between Jews and Arabs who
feel the same way about the occupation </b>” <br></font></div>
<div class="yiv2139015834bo">
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">I wondered why some of them were not in a more international language, like
English.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">"Ah," said one of the demonstrators, "I suppose you have a point."
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Then I asked her, "Who do you think you are actually talking to at demos like
these?"
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">After a long pause she said, "That's a very good question. I think we are
just talking to ourselves."
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">That has changed too.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial"><b>Playing together </b>
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">There is much more contact now between Jews and Arabs who feel the same way
about the occupation, and a lot of it is under the radar, so to speak - barely
reported. </font></p></div>
<div class="yiv2139015834bo">
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">"We are successful," said Raida, a Palestinian teacher. "And that's why the
government don't like us".
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Raida teaches English and History to a class of 11-year-olds. She looked
round the room at the children gathered at small tables.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">"Two Jews at that table, one Arab," she told me. "Three Arabs, two Jews over
there. And in the corner, two Jews and two Arabs."
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">The school is in Wahdat al Salaam/Neve Shalom (Oasis of Peace), a village
where Arabs and Jews have lived together willingly as neighbours since it was
established in 1970.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">"But the children are spontaneously genuinely mixing, are they?" I asked.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">"Yes, absolutely," Raida insisted. "They play together, they visit each
other's homes, they go to the cinema together. They are friends."
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">The day I visited, the children were making kites in honour of their special
guest, the British author of numerous books for young people, Michael Morpurgo.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">He has just written a children's book about the Arab-Israeli conflict.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial"><b>Mutual respect </b>
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">It is a heartening story of a Palestinian boy who lets kites fly free over
the concrete wall round an Israeli settlement, with "salaam" written on them.
</font></p></div>
<div class="yiv2139015834bo">
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">When the wind changes, the kites come flying back with "shalom" written on
them by the settlement children.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Michael Morpurgo believes peace can only come from young Jews and young Arabs
living together, learning together and showing respect to each other.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">"It's not going to start from the other end," he told me, "we've seen that."
He means it will never come from the top.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">But does the children's experience at Neve Shalom/Wahdat al Salaam endure?
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Raida the teacher said yes, absolutely it does - it is rooted in them, after
11 years in an enlightened community like this.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">She tells a revealing story about one of her Jewish students going on to
secondary school and daring to challenge the teacher who was telling the class
there was nobody living in what is now Israel when the state was created in
1948.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">"If a Jewish child can stand up to an inaccurate teacher like that in a
Jewish school," Raida smiled, "there is some hope."
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial"><b>Arab and Israeli 'brothers' </b>
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Rami and Mazen believe in hope as well. </font></p></div>
<div class="yiv2139015834ibox"><font size="2" face="Arial">“ <b>Rami and Mazen are now close friends - they call each other
brother </b>” <br></font></div>
<div class="yiv2139015834bo">
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">They also visit schools, in Israel and in the occupied territories.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Their message is that violence will never solve the conflict.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">They are very persuasive.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Rami is a Jew, Mazen a Palestinian Arab and they know what violence is.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Mazen's 62-year-old father was shot dead by an Israeli soldier.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Rami's 14-year-old daughter was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber on a
bus in Jerusalem.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Rami and Mazen are now close friends - they call each other brother.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">They are members of the Parents Circle and Families Forum.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">It is not a psychological support group. It is a campaigning organisation
with a very precise objective which is written on their smart business cards:
"Bereaved families supporting peace, reconciliation and tolerance".
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial"><b>Negotiation </b>
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">"Initiatives like these are essential 'baby steps'," Hind Kabawat told me.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Hind is a Syrian lawyer who specialises in conflict resolution.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">In her fabulous, spacious, stone Damascus house - with a fountain in the
courtyard and elaborately painted high ceilings - she proudly pointed to "the
most important books on my shelf: the Bible, the Koran and the Sayings of
Mahatma Gandhi".
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Does she believe Israel and the Palestinians are reconcilable?
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Does she believe - especially now, with talk of attacks on nuclear sites -
that Israel and Iran can negotiate?
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">"Of course," she said. "In Ireland, peace only came after the British
negotiated with the IRA."
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Then she added: "Look at Europe. Millions of people died there in the Second
World War. Millions! Did your parents or mine ever believe there would be peace
in Europe?" she asked.
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">"Well there is," she went on, "because they did believe in it. We have to
have hope."
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial"><b>How to listen to: From our own Correspondent </b>
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">Radio 4: Saturdays, 1130. Second weekly edition on Thursdays, 1100 (some
weeks only)
</font></p><p><font size="2" face="Arial">World Service: See </font></p></div>
<div class="yiv2139015834bo">
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Download the </font></p></div>
<div class="yiv2139015834bo">
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Listen on </font></p></div>
<div class="yiv2139015834bo">
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Story by story at the </font></p></div>
<div class="yiv2139015834footer"><font size="2" face="Arial">Story from BBC
NEWS:<br>http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/9273866.stm<br><br>Published:
2010/12/11 11:23:01 GMT<br><br>© BBC MMX<br></font></div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font></div></div></blockquote></td></tr></table><br>