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Hermano Lobo Eric, congratulations for a job well done on The PANAMA NEWS. You are the only source online that gives "Panama Residents abroad" an objective view of the OTHER SIDE of Panama news, and we retirees and readers know the sacrifice and do appreciate your contribution. Happy New Year, and God Bless... vale...

The conflict in Gaza

Islamic domination and Jewish Zionism, which mark the ideologies behind the conflict in the Middle East are archaic and outdated. With the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, God is no longer tied to a specific geographical area. God’s kingdom is a universal kingdom today. All the people of the earth are the People of God. God is not a real-estate agent.

Violence is and always will be a show of inhuman ferocity that, precisely for this reason, will never be able to solve conflicts among human beings. Only reason and love are the valid means of surpassing and resolving disputes between people. No situation of injustice, no feeling of frustration, no philosophy or religion can justify such an aberration.

The recent cycle of blind violence we are witnessing in Gaza is the result of scandalous injustices and imbalances that create conditions favoring an uncontrollable explosion of the desire for revenge. When fundamental rights are violated, it is easy to fall prey to temptations of hatred and violence. Nonetheless, we must keep in check our base impulses and together work to build a global culture of solidarity that restores hope in the future to the young.

Presently we must raise our prayers for an immediate cease-fire to the fighting in Gaza, for humanitarian corridors to be opened in order to bring help to the suffering peoples, and for international leadership in new efforts to open negotiations that could lead to a lasting settlement.

An Open Letter to the People of Palestine

This letter should have been written years ago, when the incident that prompts its belated publication took place. More than a letter, it's an apology, heartfelt and long overdue. I have been haunted by its urgency for more than three decades. I cannot wait any longer and hope it is neither too late nor in vain.

Some thirty years ago or so, as I absent-mindedly browsed the merchandise in a Times Square novelty shop in New York, a young man, clean cut and neatly attired asked me if I needed help. I thanked him and said no, not for the moment. I detected a familiar accent and asked him where he was from.

"Palestine."

"There is no such a place," I replied. I had uttered these incredibly cruel and humiliating words without a hint of animosity, without the slightest passion, the way one talks about some banal occurrence, like the weather.

I knew better.

I had lived in Israel as a boy and several of the kids I played with in the Greek Colony in Jerusalem were Palestinians. My first girl friend --- my first young love --- Leila, was my age, beautiful, smart, educated and proud. Her father was a respected community leader. My parents, who diidn't have a prejudiced bone in their bodies, took an instant liking to Leila and neither said nor did anything to discourage what was my first teen romance. Our neighbors were not quite as fair-minded. Circuitous and irresolute at first, the community's resentment toward my parents, first for sending me to a Catholic French school (going to a Hebrew public school would have set me back to first grade) reached a furious pitch when I befriended Leila.

One day, a delegation of about a dozen persons headed by a rabbi came to our house unannounced and uninvited. The rabbi addressed my father in Yiddish. He admonished him for keeping me at the College St. Joseph and asked him to discourage me from "fraternizing with the enemy." He meant Leila and the other kids. My father, a physician and a man of uimpeachable integrity who served Israel with distinction in later years and never to be trifled with, especially by bigoted busybodies, stood his ground. He was magnificent. I don't remember his words and won't attempt to reconstruct them for fear of diluting what must surely have been a knockout riposte. What I vividly recall is that he then opened the door and asked the "delegation" to get out of our house. Predictably, my father's uncompromising stance did not help mend fences in the Greek Colony. Acrimony and ugly rhetoric festered for the duration of our stay in Jerusalem. Leila ceased to visit. I looked for her. Her father told me she was no longer allowed to see me. "It's best this way," he said. There was sadness in his voice. I was heartbroken. We soon left Jerusalem for Ramat-Gan and I later left Israel on my own for good.

It was the same look of mortification and sadness that I saw in the young salesman's eyes more than two decades later in New York where I now lived. It didn't take long to realize the ugliness of my gaffe. I had not only offended a human being, depersonalized him, I had trivialized his national identity and stripped him of the one thing stateless people aspire to most: the hope of nationhood, security and self-determination.

I returned to the store the next day, eager to apologize, in need of the kind of moral cleansing that only sincere expiation of a wrong can provide. The young man had left his employ. His co-workers, also Palestinians, volunteered no information as to his whereabouts.

Time, personal and professional preoccupations dulled the memory of my unforgivable affront. But they did not erase it. It kept surging in my mind like a recurring abscess and every time it did, fresh pangs of conscience filled me with regret and remorse.

I am now 71 and semi-retired. I will not dwell on the partisan politics that continue to cleave the region. I will not comment on the hegemonic objectives that doggedly retard the prospects for peace in a land bloodied by years of hatred and violence. I have family in Israel and I wish that nation well. But in the name of decency and justice, as a human being and a journalist, I cannot silently watch the continued dismantlement, expropriation, marginalization and, yes, dehumanization of a people who have just as much right to selfhood and dignity and peace as does the state of Israel.

As for the recent actions by Jewish "settlers" in Hebron, I join P.M. Ehud Olmert in characterizing their obscene behavior as nothing short of a "pogrom," something worthy of Hitler's thugs. As a Jew and a Holocaust survivor, I too am deeply ashamed that Jews act in such a despicable manner.

The recent massacre in Gaza by Israel's Defense Forces of an untold number of innocent civilians has left me nauseated and outraged.

What I did nearly a lifetime ago in a Times Square souvenir shop may seem trivial to some. I have been haunted by it ever since. Call it a matter of scruples, of conscience, of principles.

It is with sincere good wishes for a brighter, secure and prosperous future that I offer my most sincere apologies to the people of Palestine, in their homeland and in exile, for the stupidity and cruelty of idle, unreasoned words. Palestine exists. In body and soul. I hope the young man, and by extension the people I once insulted read this letter and find it in their hearts to forgive.

Might does not make wrong right

By all accounts, what is happening in Gaza today is a new chapter in history. Not so much because Israeli atrocities against Palestinians are unprecedented in historical proportions, but because the world conscience got a rude awakening when we all asked ourselves: "What if this happened to me and my family?"

For the first time, we could not help but to look at the Palestinian question from a moral and human perspective instead of political. We all saw the question in stark contrast with our political perceptions and personal convictions.

Certainly, the question of Palestine or Israel has been one that is essentially moral first and foremost, a fundamental question many thought we could forever evade.

Is human life equally sacred? Or do we place discriminatory scale on people's lives according to our own inclinations?

If the answer is human life is NOT equally sacred, then we are simply Nazis or fascists who do not fit in a civilized or human world. After all, there is nothing moral about selective morality.

If the answer is yes, that human life is equally sacred, then we may need to look at the crisis in the right proportion.

Out of the million and a half people of Gaza, close to 1000 Palestinians killed to date is proportionally equivalent to 4,100 Israelis killed, while the more than 5,000 Palestinians injured so far amounts to shockingly 21,000 Israelis injured.

I submit that grand total Israeli casualties of the dead and injured since its inception sixty some years ago, does not amount to the merely half the proportion of Palestinians killed of 4,100.

Self admittedly, the United States has been a full partner in Israeli assault. What that would proportionally mean in terms of US casualties is even more shocking.

Ready for this? Palestinian casualties in merely ten days or so of Israeli assault would amount to a staggering 210,000 Americans dead, and 1,250,000 Americans injured.

Now let us all look at this from another perspective. When we lost 3000 in 9/11, we did not settle for any less than a global war that killed and injured millions in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places. While we are yet to confess to our blunder in Afghanistan, insanity and irrationality of Iraq war is now undisputable.

As Iraqi life is equally sacred to American life, what if Iraq inflicted a proportional toll of American casualties equivalent to what we did to Iraqis? It suffices to say that number of American casualties in such a case would come close to all the millions killed in WWII.

Such proportionality may have traces in so called Judeo-Christian history as in Spanish Inquisition, and Holocaust for example, but luckily it goes in fundamental conflict with premises that govern the Islamic model.

However, the question of moral equivalency is one we cannot afford to either ignore or escape. As we all saw in Gaza, "Might Does Not Make Wrong Right," and "Human Spirit Undoubtedly is Ever Un-Breakable." The lesson we learned from the latest Israeli blunder is that you cannot go on forever distorting facts and truths about a human situation you choose to politicize.

In the end, it all comes down to one fact: "Injustice is Self-Destructive." I contend that the first casualty of Gaza war is not the Palestinian victims. In Palestinian terms there is no more honorable death than dying for a cause. Their cause is to fight against oppression, occupation, and to die in pursuit of freedom. After all, even we Americans engrave the term "Live Free or Die" on our license plates, upholding such a value as humanly supreme.

The first casualty of Gaza War is the disputed morality of all who took part in Israeli aggression, namely Israel and all its supporters. Albeit baseless, Israel's mere attempt to justify bombing schools, hospitals, orphanages, universities, food and medical supplies, rescue teams, ambulance crews, houses of worship, and civilian infrastructure, to name a few, is both repulsive and more shocking to blind Israeli supporters first and foremost.

By now, we all know that Israeli War on Gaza was in collusion with a number of parties, aside from Israel and the United States. What those parties have in common is that they are all dictatorial, illegitimate, and corrupt. Further, these very parties are primarily blamed for US blunder in the Middle East and for fueling the anti-American sentiment in the region.

Indeed, from the darkness of Gaza shines a new dawn, one in which we can all shed our bigotry, hate, and self destructiveness and see each other as humans in equal light. Indeed, the people of Gaza are the heroes of new age.

Instead of catastrophic "moral equivalency" predicament, we all have a chance to declare: Injustice no more, bigotry and hate no longer, and equality in humanity is our only way to go.

As a new age is dissipating our darkness, it is only fitting to say: "Welcome to Gaza New World Order."

Nidal Sakr

Editor's note: I have received a number of emails, in-person comments and a phone call that weren't for publication in reaction to what I have written in The Panama Newson the subject of the Israeli offensive against Gaza and a similar column I wrote for the Panama Star. Most have been sympathetic to the stand I have taken and a few have not been. Meanwhile in some of the Panama-related English-language Internet discussion groups I have been excoriated as a vicious anti-Semite, a doctrinaire Marxist, a deranged luntatic, a person who is hopelessly prejudiced because I write a column for a "Muslim-owned" newspaper (and so on), all for opining that nothing good can come out of the Israeli attack on Gaza. That against a backdrop of the Israelis shelling a UN school and releasing at least four different versions of the story, all of which were self-serving and some of which were palpable lies; the Israelis designating a building as a safe haven for Palestinian civilians and then shelling it; the Israelis firing on ambulances and UN relief vehicles and so on. Now I don't happen to see Hamas as good guys, but I don't see anything that gives the Israeli politicians any free pass for the atrocious things that have been done pursuant to their orders. And if anyone is offended by my opinion about this war, so be it. Like most of the people in this world and most of their governments (including all Latin American governments), I deplore this war and won't cut my opinions about it to fit the preferences of a relative few vocal and often quite vicious critics. 

Gutman's opinion about Afghanistan

In response to the article by the article by W. E. Gutman, Afghanistan: America’s Waterloo, I have to admit that America may well lose in Afghanistan. History doesn't paint a rosy picture in regards to an American victory.

What makes America's war in Afghanistan exceptional when compared to past Afghan wars is that empire building has little to do with America's war. There might be some leaders in industry and government that would like to see a tame and friendly Afghanistan that might be exploited but the vast majority of Americans have no interest in Afghanistan outside of fighting Bin Laden and his lads. If that motivation begins to decline or the situation looks hopeless then American's will insist on pulling out. The US government cannot resists public sentiment for long. We are seeing a similar situation play out in Iraq.

Without the drive of empire America has no reason for the war to climax with a Waterloo type ending. America will walk away first. Financial realities will contribute to such a decision.

Will Europe walk away as readily as the USA? They have much more to lose in Afghanistan then the USA. With growing Muslim populations at home, Europe should be very anxious for reform in the Muslim world and the war in Afghanistan is at its root about reform. A failure in Afghanistan does not bode well for a healthy and free Europe. Demographic trends show that some nations in Europe will probably become majority Muslim during the first half of this century. Islam, in its current state, hardly allows for peaceful coexistence with peoples of other belief systems especially when Muslims are in the majority. What kind of a future does Europe face if only 1% of its Muslim population is driven to convert, subjugate or destroy non-Muslims? Islam needs an overhaul if Europe has any hope for stability during the coming years.

Another facet of this story is what will happen if the US and it's allies fail. Will the Afghan government revert to it's prewar disposition? If America is unable to affect change in Afdghanistan before it pulls out I believe that the USA might decide that it's time to fill up the moat and pull up the drawbridge. There is an isolationist tendency growing within the USA. Such an outcome would be interesting.

America could pass the baton to the EU and let them deal with the war on terror. If the war does not exist, as many people claim, Europe should have no trouble with filling America's shoes. If hatred for America is driving world-wide jihad, as many people claim, then peace should be within reach as soon as America stops fighting its war.

We live in interesting times.

New Book on residential tourism in Panama

I wanted to let you know about my new book which was recently released in December 2008. Specifically, this book is based on extensive research that I conducted in Chiriqui, and it focuses on the growth and development of residential tourism in Boquete. However, more generally this book aims to offer a critical exploration into the growing phenomenon of residential tourism in Central America overall.

Given the aims and scope of your newspaper, which I read on a regular basis, I thought you and your readers might be interested in this new publication related to tourism and cultural issues in Central America.

For more information, please visit here or here.

Need to modernize overseas military voting

Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF) and the National Defense Committee (NDC) praised the No Time to Vote report released on January 7 by The Pew Center on the States, especially in light of the December 2008 NIST report, A Threat Analysis on UOCAVA Voting Systems.

Combined, the reports make clear that there is every need for, and no reason to oppose, the electronic transmission of absentee ballot applications by military and overseas voters, and electronic transmission of blank ballots back to those voters. The reports underscore the wide variation in practices, processes and technology adoption across the states and how this directly affects the ability of military voters to successfully vote from overseas.

“Military voters are faced with the fact that it does matter in which state they cast their ballot. It could make all the difference whether a ballot makes it back to the local election official in time to be counted. NDC is relieved to see these facts come out into plain sight, so they can be addressed,” said Bryan O’Leary, Senior Fellow, NDC.

According to the Pew report, Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming are states identified as not providing enough “time to vote” for overseas military voters. Three other states, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Vermont were deemed “at risk” with less than 5 days extra time to complete the voting process.

“Simply put, states rule. State legislation and technology adoption make a dramatic difference in whether our military can effectively vote from overseas,” stated Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, President & CEO, OVF.

Key factors pinpointed in the voting process as those that significantly slow it down: 1) reliance on US and military mail systems; 2) late ballot sending; 3) and tight voted-ballot return deadlines. In addition, the report emphasizes that, “In states where laws and practices have been cobbled together over decades, the problem is a failure to take into account how the system works as a whole….[and that]....Even one weak link could break the chain.”

OVF and NDC cautioned that the situation could be significantly worse than presented by Pew because the report assumes voters know about and use the electronic alternatives for voting materials transmission. “Where the Pew report appears optimistic is in the assumption that overseas military voters actually use the electronic options available in the states that offer them, and that such electronic options are universally available. Given the constraints of the study, that is an understandable and stated assumption in Pew’s methodology. But OVF’s preliminary research results indicate that only a fraction (less than 10%) of military voters are using electronic options to return voted ballots,” stated Dzieduszycka-Suinat.

OVF’s research parallels the 2006 voting analysis completed by the Defense Manpower Data Center that only 2-3% of military personnel received their blank ballots by e-mail and only 1% received them by fax. Further, 96% of military personnel cast their ballots by postal mail. Finally, DMDC’s analysis shows that while less than 20% of military personnel did not have daily access to either a military or personal e-mail account, 53% did not have daily access to fax machines.

“Every state should immediately allow for the e-mailing of blank ballots to military voters,” urged NDC’s O’Leary. “The NIST report proves that blank ballot transmission to voters does not pose significant security risks, while the Pew report details how not providing that electronic alternative systematically disenfranchises the military voter from states that refuse to do so.”

Military and overseas voting experts are available to discuss with the press and interested parties both the NIST and Pew reports, as well as the broader problems facing military and overseas voters.

Overseas Vote Foundation
4786 N. Williamsburg Blvd
Arlington, VA 22207-2836