President Carter on Palestine and Israel

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Hamas offers Israel a truce..

Its a 10 year truce and its based on Israel returning the lands they have occupied since the 1967 war. This comes after the visit by former President Jimmy Carter with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal. From the MSNBC link:

Mashaal said Hamas would accept a Palestinian state limited to the lands Israel seized in 1967 - that is, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. But he said the group would never outright formally recognize Israel.Earlier, Carter said that Hamas is prepared to accept the right of Israel to “live as a neighbor next door in peace.”

Carter said the group promised it wouldn’t undermine Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ efforts to reach a peace deal with Israel, as long as the Palestinian people approved it in a referendum. In such a scenario, he said Hamas would not oppose a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

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‘when will we ever learn?’

when i read about what we do and say to our fellow human beings- i think about ‘where have all the flowers gone’ and the line ‘when will they ever learn? when will they ever learn?’ and i answer my own question. never. being up on current events is a double edged sword- on the one hand, i get to hear racist, misogynistic, bigoted comments all over the news and blogosphere- women against women; men against men; religion versus religion or non religion everyone is fighting everyone and no one at the same time. i get to read how we pollute and corrupt other cultures and then leave them to clean up the mess; how we destroy our planet and don’t care if the other 75% of the planet lives to see another day as long as we have our starbucks on the way to work talking on the cell phone in our suv- because we are oh, so important.

and on the other hand i read this:

“I just want to be like you,” he said tiredly as he gazed into the middle distance, and with those seven words summed up the eternal plight of the downtrodden and discriminated against. “I’ve got two arms, two hands … why am I any different from other people?” he went on - and, of course, the answer was staring us in the face from the gun turrets of the guard towers overlooking the camp…He was vicious in his condemnation of those at the helm of the Israeli government, castigating them for their decades spent keeping his people down and subjugating them with brute force and bloodshed - however, he was adamant that he did not view their actions as emanating from Jewish sources. “Zionism is far, far removed from the Jewish religion,” he assured me. “I have no issue with Jews - just as I have no problem with Christians or Buddhists. I don’t mind Jews living here, just so long as they do it peacefully.”

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video picks of the day

i love james blunt. there. i said it. if you have ever read at my own blog, you have probably seen me post his videos everywhere because he is one of my faves. second only to kris kristofferson- whom i also love. so, i am going to post 3 songs that really touched my heart and spoke to me- and i hope that they do you too.

james blunt served in the british armed forces and with nato in kosovo for 6 years- until 2002. this is footage taken by soldiers.
[youtube]SCYIQLqxbnc[/youtube]

this is from james’ latest album ‘all the lost souls’
[youtube]7ARec-XvnsU[/youtube]

kris kristofferson- ‘in the news’- blew me away
[youtube]3rxm17Soz3c[/youtube]

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