A couple of weeks ago, Betsy was contacted by a pair of Germans who had read her blog and were interested in soliciting her opinion on a peace plan for the Israel- Palestine conflict. The plan is outlined in the book "Two Stars for Peace: The Case for Using U.S. Statehood to Achieve Lasting Peace in the Middle East." The book is written by Martine Rothblatt, a lawyer and founder/ CEO of United Therapeutics. Essentially, the book proposes that Israel and Palestine should become the 51st and 52nd states of the United States (as the title would indicate). The pair of Germans had planned a trip to the Middle East and Betsy agreed to meet with them. So, this morning, Betsy, Kristin (Betsy's roommate from college), Akrum, Peter, Adam (a friend of Peter's) and I all went to meet the pair at a local cafe. The conversation that ensued surrounded the obstacles, difficulties, and prerequisites for such a plan to work or to even be considered. I wouldn't know where to begin in trying to rehash all of the complications of such a plan. The book is worth a skim mainly for entertainment purposes. Needless to say, I was entertained for a few hours this morning as we debated this hypothetical scenario.
You proofed that you are also an awesome photographer, the conversation was very entertaining ... this photo of mine is one of the best that I ever had, THANKS PAULA
ReplyDeleteEveryone looks engaged and productive until the very end. I would've liked it if you'd've included a shot of everyone eating cake.
ReplyDeleteEveryone looks engaged and productive until the very end. I would've liked it if you'd've included a shot of everyone eating cake.
ReplyDeleteAlso! When I was working for a super-bare-bones nonprofit in FL in spring 2003, we started getting massive donations out of nowhere from this German guy who had apparently found us on the internet and decided we were good news. So since I had just spend the previous 6 months in Germany and was still talking about it a fair amount, my boss tasked me with writing thank-you notes to him. So I would spend about thirty minutes every day writing things like, "Thank you; your donation will help us keep going for a few more months" and "What do you think about the Genitive?" The internet is an amazing thing :)
Sorry, but I couldn't resist...
ReplyDelete"This book is entitled 'Two Stars for Peace' because that is exactly what is needed. Israel and Palestine are being invited [nope, sorry, wrong verb tense] to join the United States, as equal states in the union [sic]. Accordingly, every U.S. flag will be revised to contain 52 stars. This huge logistical effort is a small price to pay for the honor of welcoming the Holy Land into the United States of America."
So the biggest logistical hurdle she foresees is having to "revise" all our national flags (oh, and deciding what to "allow" as the Israeli and Palestinian "state flags"). Oy vey. But Congress (and the American people, because I'll bet you two bananas^1 they're not going to be quiet about it) having to decide whether to accept the "two new stars?" Don't worry; she foresees a "warm welcome."
It's also nice how she footnotes DC residents' lack of enfranchisement by noting that they supposedly have greater presidential electoral representation (in spite of having no voting rights in Congress) - something she should know better than to do, esp. as a Silver Spring, MD resident - and that she basically equates the US Civil War and the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Um. No.
I'll stop now... I still want photos of cake...
1. I just made up that idiom.