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<h2 class="contentheading"> <a
href="http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/opinion/5291-livni-suggests-erasure-of-palestinian-history-is-a-necessary-price-for-freedom">
<font color="#cc0000"><small><i>Two articles follow</i></small></font></a></h2>
<h2 class="contentheading"><a
href="http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/opinion/5291-livni-suggests-erasure-of-palestinian-history-is-a-necessary-price-for-freedom">Livni
Suggests Erasure of Palestinian History is a Necessary Price for Freedom</a>
</h2>
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<dl class="article-info">
<dt class="article-info-term">Published on Tuesday, 30 July 2013
12:32 </dt>
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<small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/opinion/5291-livni-suggests-erasure-of-palestinian-history-is-a-necessary-price-for-freedom">http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/opinion/5291-livni-suggests-erasure-of-palestinian-history-is-a-necessary-price-for-freedom</a></small></small><br>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.8;">By Muki Najaer / PNN</span></p>
<p>Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni suggested on Thursday July 18<span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;">th</span> during
President Shimon Peres' 'Facing Tomorrow' conference that Palestinians
stop using the word ‘Nakba’. Nakba, or ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic, refers
to the plight of Palestinian Arabs starting in 1948, displacement and
murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians. The Nakba is marked by
the start of Israel’s occupation in 1948 –also considered the moment of
the Israeli state’s independence.</p>
<p>Livni said, "the Palestinians could celebrate Independence Day if
they would erase the word 'Nakba' from their vocabulary.” Her
insensitive assertion suggests that Israel’s continued occupation of
Palestine would end, if only Palestinians forgot about their history. </p>
<p>Livni’s remark is not the first of this kind. In a 2007 address to
the Annapolis Conference she said, “Not every celebration of ours is
cause for sorrow on the other side, and vice versa. I say to my
Palestinian colleagues: Do not bemoan the establishment of the State of
Israel; establish your own state,” thereby diminishing the actions of
the Israeli state against Palestinians for the last 65 years. She went
on to say, “The establishment of the Palestinian state is not our
Nakba, or disaster - provided that upon its establishment the word
“Nakba” be deleted from the Arabic lexicon in referring to Israel,” as
if partition is comparable to the occupation and destruction of
Palestinian land and sovereignty for six and a half decades. </p>
<p>Livni’s suggestions to eradicate the word ‘Nakba’ in reference to
the Israeli state's long lived history of oppressing Palestinians has
caused internet controversy, with some interpreting her remark as an
attempt to give Israel a clean slate. I am left wondering: How would
Livni and other Israeli’s feel about their freedom hinging on the
eradication of the word ‘Holocaust’? While comparing the Nakba to the
Holocaust is highly contested, that debate misses the point: As a
peace negotiator, Livni’s remarks invalidate generations of
Palestinians’ experiences of oppression. <br>
***********************************************************<br>
</p>
<h1 class="article-title">Kerry appoints former pro-Israel lobbyist to
oversee peace talks</h1>
<div class="article-subtitledetails">
<span class="article-details"><span class="article-detail"><img
class="icon" src="cid:part1.07080005.04070902@freedomarchives.org"
alt="author"> Tuesday July 30, 2013 15:00</span><span
class="article-detail"><img class="icon"
src="cid:part2.01010807.01060203@freedomarchives.org" alt="author"> by
Staff <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.imemc.org/article/65889">http://www.imemc.org/article/65889</a><br>
</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="article-intro">On Monday [July 29], US Secretary of
State John Kerry named Martin Indyk as the administration’s special
envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Indyk, 62, who is Jewish,
has worked for AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby group, and he helped found the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a think tank that
has been critisied for being a part of the pro-Israel lobby. <br>
</blockquote>
<p class="photo"> During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Indyk volunteered in
a kibbutz, then moved to America and in 1982 started his career as a
deputy research director for the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC), a powerful pro-Israel lobby group based in
Washington DC. He then went on to found the Washington Institute for
Near East Policy (WINEP), an offshoot of AIPAC, in 1985. <br>
</p>
<br>
According to his biography on The Brookings Institution’s website,
“Indyk served as special assistant to President Clinton and senior
director for Near East and South Asian affairs at the National Security
Council (1993-1995) and as assistant secretary of state for Near
Eastern affairs in the U.S. Department of State (1997-2000).” <br>
<br>
Former United States president Bill Clinton appointed Indyk to serve as
the US ambassador to Israel from 1995-1997, and he held this
ambassadorial position again from 2000-2001 when he was involved in the
failed Camp David peace talks. In order to assume his role as special
envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Indyk has taken a leave of
absence from his current position as vice president and director of the
foreign policy program at the Washington-based Brookings Institution
think tank. <br>
<br>
Indyk’s history of working with pro-Israel organizations has raised
concerns about his ability to impartially oversee the renewed peace
talks, and to work towards a solution that would see Israel abide by
its obligations under international and human rights law.
<p> </p>
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