World Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders for World Peace and Unity
Objectives of Steering Committee Meeting
One of the stated goals of the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders that took place at the United Nations in August 2000 was to set in motion the process for the formation of a World Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders. This Council will be a permanent body and function as a resource for the Secretary-General and the United Nations in their efforts to build a lasting peace.
The growth in interfaith activity over the last decade leading up to the Summit has already laid much of the groundwork for such a Council. The unique role of the World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders is to forge an alliance of religious and spiritual leaders with the United Nations, an ideal forum in which to address world problems. The outcome of the Summit was the signing of a Commitment to Global Peace, in which religious leaders accepted religious diversity, condemned all violence perpetrated in the name of religion, and committed themselves to fostering mutual respect among their communities. These principles will be the foundation for the Council.
Currently, no organizational body exists where religious leaders from the major faith traditions can come together to provide guidance to the human community on critical issues. Today, as they have for centuries, religious voices speak out individually, each addressing their own religious community. There is no means for issuing joint statements to demonstrate the convergence of the religious traditions on key matters.
While these voices often express similar ideas and values, they tend to reach only the adherents of their respective faiths. Stronger collaboration by the religious leadership would positively impact the global community. There was consensus among the Steering Committee that world circumstances in the one year since the Summit – the increase in violence in the Middle East and the terror attacks of September 11 – have heightened the need and readiness of religious communities for a World Council, which could provide a stimulus for greater cooperation.
A main function of the Council would be to build a community of world religions to serve as a model and guide for the nations and peoples of the world.
Mission of the Council
The Steering Committee identified four major thrusts for the Council:
1.Fostering the universal values intrinsic to all religions
2.Upholding and celebrating religious and ethnic diversity by cultivating an attitude of mutual respect
3.Employing the moral power of religion to address major social and environmental challenges
4.Encouraging times of world prayer and meditation to aid in the transformation in global consciousness toward greater unity
Post-September 11th, religious leaders recognize the need to move beyond what they have done in the past and to create a new entity that will serve the entire world community with a new vision that includes an acceptance of others. Isolated religious communities will no longer be able to achieve this larger human goal on their own. The mandate is to see all faiths as part of one family. The need is to transform religious points of view from an exclusive to inclusive way of thinking. As the Archbishop of Canterbury said in a recent conversation, 'We need to redefine our theologies for the modern age.' While it may not yet be clear what this 'redefining' entails, the movement emerging from the Summit, and quickened by the events of September 11, is toward a refocusing on what the religions have in common, rather that how they differ.
This refocusing will enable religious communities to engage with each other in a way that promotes harmony rather than division. An easing of religious tensions will provide the human community with a greater capacity to address the true problems of our era.
The formation of a community of world religions will be the essential mission of a newly created World Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders. Its activities will be geared toward building cooperation at the highest level across all faith traditions. The Council will provide opportunities for the world’s religious leaders to come together on a regular basis to address critical issues. Ultimately, it will help create a shift in the thinking and behavior of people, and aid in fostering greater acceptance of other traditions and a new sense of shared global responsibility.
Religious leaders have a unique asset – their spiritual resources. An important function of the Council will entail fostering spiritual practices on a global scale – such as world prayers in times of crisis.
The mission of the World Council
The World Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders aims to serve as a model and guide for the creation of a community of world religions. It seeks to inspire women and men of all faiths in the pursuit of peace and mutual understanding. It will undertake initiatives to provide the spiritual resources of the world’s religious traditions to assist the United Nations and its agencies in the prevention, resolution and healing of conflicts, and in addressing global social and environmental problems. By promoting the practice of the universal human values shared by all religious traditions, and by uniting the human community for times of world prayer and meditation, the Council seeks to aid in developing the inner qualities and external conditions needed for the creation of a more peaceful, just and sustainable world society.
http://www.millenniumpeacesummit.org/news011022.html
The Importance and Role of Religious Leaders' Activities
against Evil Doers' Violence and Conflicts have very significant meaning of bringing World Peace on the earth through the Cessation of War. In this days all Religious Leaders should come together and make every efforts to create Peaceful World for mankind.
For World Peace:
Declaration of the Rights of the Child
Adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 1386 of 10 December 1959
The peoples of the United Nations have, in the Charter, reaffirmed their faith in fundamental Human Rights and in the dignity and worth of the human person, and have determined to promote social progress and better Standards of Life in larger freedom,
The United Nations has, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status,
The child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth,
The need for such special safeguards has been stated in the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1924, and recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the statutes of specialized agencies and international organizations concerned with the Welfare of Children,
Mankind owes to the child the best it has to give,
Now, therefore, Proclaims
This Declaration of the Rights of the Child to the end that he may have a happy childhood and enjoy for his own good and for the good of society the rights and freedoms herein set forth, and calls upon parents, upon men and women as individuals, and upon voluntary organizations, local authorities and national Governments to recognize these rights and strive for their observance by legislative and other measures progressively taken in accordance with the following principles:
1.The child shall enjoy all the rights set forth in this Declaration. Every child, without any exception whatsoever, shall be entitled to these rights, without distinction or discrimination on account of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, whether of himself or of his family.
2.The child shall enjoy special protection, and shall be given opportunities and facilities, by law and by other means, to enable him to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity. In the enactment of laws for this purpose, the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration.
3.The child shall be entitled from his birth to a name and a nationality.
4.The child shall enjoy the benefits of social security. He shall be entitled to grow and develop in health; to this end, special care and protection shall be provided both to him and to his mother, including adequate pre-natal and post-natal care. The child shall have the right to adequate nutrition, housing, recreation and medical services.
5.The child who is physically, mentally or socially handicapped shall be given the special treatment, education and care required by his particular condition.
6.The child, for the full and harmonious development of his personality, needs love and understanding. He shall, wherever possible, grow up in the care and under the responsibility of his parents, and, in any case, in an atmosphere of affection and of moral and material security; a child of tender years shall not, save in exceptional circumstances, be separated from his mother. Society and the public authorities shall have the duty to extend particular care to children without a family and to those without adequate means of support. Payment of State and other assistance towards the maintenance of children of large families is desirable.
7.The child is entitled to receive education, which shall be free and compulsory, at least in the elementary stages. He shall be given an education which will promote his general culture and enable him, on a basis of equal opportunity, to develop his abilities, his individual judgement, and his sense of moral and social responsibility, and to become a useful member of society.The best interests of the child shall be the guiding principle of those responsible for his education and guidance; that responsibility lies in the first place with his parents.The child shall have full opportunity for play and recreation, which should be directed to the same purposes as education; society and the public authorities shall endeavor to promote the enjoyment of this right.
8.The child shall in all circumstances be among the first to receive protection and relief.
9.The child shall be protected against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation. He shall not be the subject of traffic, in any form.The child shall not be admitted to employment before an appropriate minimum age; he shall in no case be caused or permitted to engage in any occupation or employment which would prejudice his health or education, or interfere with his physical, mental or moral development.
10.The child shall be protected from practices which may foster racial, religious and any other form of discrimination. He shall be brought up in a spirit of understanding, tolerance, friendship among peoples, peace and universal brotherhood, and in full consciousness that his energy and talents should be devoted to the service of his fellow men.
http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/humanrights/resources/child.asp
Rights of the Child for World Peace
The meaning of the child and the rights of the children
'Humanity has to do its best for the child.' Declaration of Geneva.
Definition of the child
Etymologically, the term 'child' comes from the Latin infants which means 'the one who does not speak'. For the Roman, this term designates the child from its birth, up to the age of 7 years.
This notion evolved a lot through centuries and cultures to finally designate human being from birth until adulthood. But this conception of the child was wide and the age of the majority varied from a culture to an another.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 defines more precisely the term 'child':
'...a child is any human being below the age of 18 years, unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier'
The idea, through this definition and all the texts concerning child welfare, is that the child is a human being with rights and dignity.
What characterizes the child, it is his youth and vulnerability. Indeed, the child is growing, a future adult, who has no means to protect himself.
So, the child has to be the object of a particular interest and a specific protection. In this perspective, texts proclaiming the protection of the child and his rights were adopted.
Definition of the rights of the child
The recognition of the rights of the children
Children’s rights were recognized after the 1st World war, with the adoption of the Declaration of Geneva, in 1924. The process of recognition of children’s rights continued thanks to the UN, with the adoption of the Declaration of children’s rights in 1959.
The recognition of the child’s interest and his rights becomes real on 20 November 1989 with the adoption of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child which is the first international legally binding text recognizing all the fundamental rights of the child.
Children’s Rights: Bases for World Peace
Children’s Rights are human rights. They protect the child as a human being. As human rights, children’s rights are constituted by fundamental guarantees and essential human rights:
Children’s Rights recognize fundamental guarantees to all human beings : the right to life, the non-discrimination principle, the right to dignity through the protection of physical and mental integrity (protection against slavery, torture and bad treatments, etc.)
Children’s Rights are civil and political rights, such as the right to identity, the right to a nationality, etc.
Children’s Rights are economic, social and cultural rights, such as the right to education, the right to a decent standard of living, the right to health, etc.
Children’s Rights include individual rights : lthe right to live with his parents, the right to education, the right to benefit from a protection, etc.
Children’s Rights include collective rights : rights of refugee and disabled children, of minority children or from autochthonous groups.
Children’s Rights: rights adapted to children
Children’s Rights are human rights specifically adapted to the child because they take into account his fragility, specific and age-appropriate needs.
Children’s Rights take into account the necessity of development of the child. The children thus have the right to live and to develop suitably physically and intellectually.
Children’s Rights plan to satisfy the essential needs for a good development of the child, such as the access to an appropriate alimentation, to necessary care, to education, etc.
Children’s Rights consider the vulnerable character of the child. They imply the necessity to protect them. It means to grant a particular assistance to them, and to give a protection adapted to their age and to their degree of maturity.
So, the children have to be helped and supported and must be protected against labor exploitation, kidnapping, and ill-treatment, etc.
http://www.humanium.org/en/child-rights/
Children’s Rights in The UN Convention
Survival Rights: include the child’s right to life and the needs that are most basic to existence, such as nutrition, shelter, an adequate living standard, and access to medical services.
Development Rights: include the right to education, play, leisure, cultural activities, access to information, and freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Protection Rights: ensure children are safeguarded against all forms of abuse, neglect and exploitation, including special care for refugee children; safeguards for children in the criminal justice system; protection for children in employment; protection and rehabilitation for children who have suffered exploitation or abuse of any kind.
Participation Rights: encompass children's freedom to express opinions, to have a say in matters affecting their own lives, to join associations and to assemble peacefully. As their capacities develop, children should have increasing opportunity to participate in the activities of society, in preparation for adulthood.
The UN Convention includes 4 articles that are given special emphasis. These are also known as ‘General Principles’. These rights are the bedrock for securing the additional rights in the UN Convention:
1. All the rights guaranteed by the UNCRC must be available to all children without discrimination of any kind
2. The best interests of the child must be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children
3. Every child has the right to life, survival and development
4. The child’s view must be considered and taken into account in all matters affecting him or her
http://www.childrensrights.ie/childrens-rights-ireland/un-convention-rights-child
UNHCR
International Organization for children's
Rights
UNHCR works with states, national and international
partners, and sister agencies to help children of
concern.
Other organizations working with UNHCR to provide care and protection to children:
the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF);
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), The International Rescue Committee;
International Save the Children Alliance;
Terre des Hommes;
World Vision International;
Action for the Rights of Children;
the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Children's Rights are the Bases and Starting Points of the Human Rights. They are the tender shoots in spring that should be protected and be taken care of. For Children's Rights are the Basic Foundations for World Peace.
UN Volunteers
About us
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide.
Volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tackling development challenges, and it can transform the pace and nature of development. Volunteerism benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer by strengthening trust, solidarity and reciprocity among citizens, and by purposefully creating opportunities for participation.
UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for recognition of volunteers, working with partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing an increasing number and diversity of volunteers, including experienced UN Volunteers, throughout the world. UNV embraces volunteerism as universal and inclusive, and recognizes volunteerism in its diversity as well as the values that sustain it: free will, commitment, engagement and solidarity.
Based in Bonn, Germany, UNV is active in around 130 countries every year. UNV, with Field Units in 86 countries, is represented worldwide through the offices of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and reports to the UNDP Executive Board.
http://www.unv.org/about-us.html
What we do
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme contributes to peace and development through volunteerism. UNV is inspired by the conviction that volunteerism can transform the pace and nature of development and by the idea that everyone can contribute their time and energy towards peace and development. With partners, UNV advocates for volunteerism, integrates volunteerism into development planning and mobilizes volunteers. The enormous potential of volunteerism is an inspiration to UNV and to volunteers around the world.
UNV pursues global recognition of volunteers for peace and development, encourages the integration of volunteerism into development programmes, and promotes the mobilization of increasing numbers and greater diversity of volunteers contributing to peace and development.
UNV helps countries to foster and develop volunteerism as a force for sustainable development. We provide strategic advice on the role and contribution of volunteerism and options for civic engagement in development programmes. We help countries to improve public inclusion and participation in social, economic and political development, and we support the growth of volunteerism within communities as a form of mutual self-help.
We partner with governments and with UN, non-profit and private sector organizations in order to support development programmes. UNV delivers a prompt, efficient and value-adding service to identify and engage professionals who can deliver services and fulfill a wide range of specialised tasks.
UNV directly mobilizes more than 7,700 UN Volunteers every year nationally and internationally, with 80 per cent coming from developing countries, and more than 30 per cent volunteering within their own countries.
UN Volunteers help to organize and run local and national elections and support a large number of peacekeeping and humanitarian projects. UN Volunteers comprise one third of all international civilians working in UN peacekeeping operations.
UNV also operates the Online Volunteering service, which connects development organizations directly with thousands of online volunteers who can provide services and advice over the internet.
http://www.unv.org/en/what-we-do.html
UN Women in the United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 after the 2nd World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining International Peace and Security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights.
Due to its unique international character, and the powers vested in its founding Charter, the Organization can take action on a wide range of issues, and provide a forum for its 193 Member States to express their views, through the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and other bodies and committees.
The Work of the United Nations reaches every corner of the globe. Although best known for Peace-keeping, Peace-building, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance, there are many other ways the United Nations and its System (specialized agencies, funds and programmes) affect our lives and make the world a better place. The Organization works on a broad range of fundamental issues, from sustainable development, environment and refugees protection, disaster relief, counter terrorism, disarmament and non-proliferation, to promoting democracy, human rights, gender equality and the advancement of women, governance, economic and social development and international health, clearing landmines, expanding food production, and more, in order to achieve its goals and coordinate efforts for a safer world for this and future
generations.
The UN has 4 main purposes
1.To keep peace throughout the world
2.To develop friendly relations among nations
3.To help nations work together to improve the lives of poor people, to conquer hunger, disease and illiteracy, and to encourage respect for each other’s rights and freedoms
4.To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations to achieve these goals.
http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/index.shtml
About UN Women
In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. In doing so, UN Member States took an historic step in accelerating the Organization’s goals on gender equality and the empowerment of women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of 4 previously distinct parts of the UN system, which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment:
1.Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW)
2.International Research and Training Institute for the 3.Advancement of Women (INSTRAW)
4.Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI)
5.United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
The main roles of UN Women
1.To support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women, in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms.
2.To help Member States to implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable technical and financial support to those countries that request it, and to forge effective partnerships with civil society.
3.To hold the UN system accountable for its own commitments on gender equality, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress.
Meeting the Needs of the World’s Women
Over many decades, the UN has made significant progress in advancing gender equality, including through landmark agreements such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Gender equality is not only a basic human right, but its achievement has enormous socio-economic ramifications. Empowering women fuels thriving economies, spurring productivity and growth. Yet gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society. Women lack access to decent work and face occupational segregation and gender wage gaps. They are too often denied access to basic education and health care. Women in all parts of the world suffer violence and discrimination. They are under-represented in political and economic decision-making processes. For many years, the UN has faced serious challenges in its efforts to promote gender equality globally, including inadequate funding and no single recognized driver to direct UN activities on gender equality issues. UN Women was created to address such challenges. It will be a dynamic and strong champion for women and girls, providing them with a powerful voice at the global, regional and local levels. Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the UN Charter, UN Women, among other issues, works for:
1. the elimination of discrimination against women and girls
2. the empowerment of women
3. the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.
http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/about-un-women
Published on Apr 15, 2014
"Recommendations for World Peace: How to Achieve Peace among Religions?"
A Lecture by Man Hee Lee, Chairman and President of HWPL Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light.
International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy & Religion 2014
"The Promotion of World Peace through Inter-Faith Dialogue & the Unity of Faiths"
(Rome, Italy; March 31st - April 3rd, 2014)
It is amazing to see Man Hee Lee Peace Advocate working throughout the world for Peace in spite of his age. I absolutely agree with the appropriate suggestion he made for World Peace and also as a Korean it is very honorable for me to use the same language and share the same culture with him. I'd like to share this Beautiful Speech for World Peace and Cessation of Arms with whoever wants, waits and wishes for World Peace on the earth. Let's be awake and arise to join this Great Procession toward World Peace.This shall be a great turning point in the human history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8s6RuVpNnQ
Man Hee Lee : Chairman and President of HWPL.
HWPL: Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light.
Peace, Peace, Peace!
New conflict begins between terrorists, Israel and Palestine, in the Gaza Strip
Gaza: The Basics
Some history and background on the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday, tens of thousands of Palestinians streamed into Egypt for a shopping frenzy after gunmen in the Gaza Strip destroyed part of the barrier along the border. In the past two weeks, following a rise in rocket attacks, Israel had ramped up its blockades, refusing to allow anything besides humanitarian supplies to pass into the region.
What exactly is the Gaza Strip?
The Gaza Strip is a roughly rectangular territory surrounding the city of Gaza, wedged between the Mediterranean Sea and Israel. To the southwest, it shares a seven-mile border with Egypt. The region has a long history of occupation—by the ancient Egyptians, the Philistines, the Arabs, the Christian Crusaders, and the Ottomans. After World War I, the Gaza area became part of the British Mandate of Palestine, and it was occupied by Egypt in 1948, in the aftermath of the first Arab-Israeli war. Israel took control of the region during the Six-Day War in 1967, along with the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula.
In 1994, Israel withdrew from parts of the Gaza Strip as part of its obligations under the Oslo Accords (which also affirmed the rights of the Palestinians to self-government). The Palestinian National Authority and Israel shared power in the Gaza Strip for the next 10 years, with the PNA administering civilian control and the Israelis overseeing military affairs as well as the borders, airspace, and remaining Israeli settlements.
In 2005, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unilaterally ended military rule in the region and withdrew all Israeli settlements, thus bringing all areas of the Gaza Strip under Palestinian administration. * In 2007, Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, causing a division between the region and the other Palestinian territory, the West Bank, where the Fatah party is dominant.
How did it come to be that shape?
The rectangular Gaza Strip is about 25 miles long and three to seven miles wide. One long side lies along the Mediterranean. One short, straight end borders Egypt: This follows the border that existed between Egypt and the British Mandate of Palestine. The other sides of the rectangle—a long, ragged edge and a shorter, northeastern side—separate the Gaza Strip from Israel. This border was established after the 1st Arab-Israeli War, which also resulted in the creation of Israel. The Gaza region became Egypt's military headquarters during the 1948 conflict, and the narrow coastal strip saw heavy fighting. When the cease-fire was announced later that year—following a decisive Israeli victory—the final position of the military fronts became what's known as "the Green Line," or the border between the Palestinian territories (both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank) and Israel.
Who lives on the Gaza Strip?
Since the withdrawal of Israeli settlements, the Gazan population is almost entirely Palestinian Arab. More than 99 percent are Sunni Muslims, with a very small number of Christians. The region saw a huge influx of Palestinian refugees after the creation of Israel in 1948—within 20 years, the population of Gaza had grown to six times its previous size. The Gaza Strip now has one of the highest population densities in the world: Almost 1.5 million people live within its 146 square miles. Eighty percent of Gazans live below the poverty line.
Who built the fence between Gaza and Egypt?
Who controls the border?
In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a Peace Treaty that returned the Sinai Peninsula, which borders the Gaza Strip, to Egyptian control. As part of that treaty, a 100-meter-wide strip of land known as the Philadelphi corridor was established as a buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt. Israel built a barrier there during the Palestinian uprisings of the early 2000s. It's made mostly of corrugated sheet metal, with stretches of concrete topped with barbed wire.
In 2005, when Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip, Israel and Egypt reached a military agreement regarding the border, based on the principles of the 1979 Peace Treaty. The agreement specified that 750 Egyptian border guards would be deployed along the length of the border, and both Egypt and Israel pledged to work together to stem terrorism, arms smuggling, and other illegal cross-border activities.
From November 2005 until July 2007, the Rafah Crossing—the only entry-exit point along the Gaza-Egypt border—was jointly controlled by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, with the European Union monitoring Palestinian compliance on the Gaza side. After the Hamas takeover in June 2007, the European Union pulled out of the region, and Egypt agreed with Israel to shut down the Rafah Crossing, effectively sealing off the Gaza Strip on all sides.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2008/01/gaza_the_basics.html
Israel is currently under attack as Hamas and other jihadist groups have fired more than 1600 rockets into its territory this month. The rockets have sent millions of Israeli citizens – Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze – sprinting into bomb shelters. They have as little as 15 seconds to run for cover. It is not a situation any county would tolerate.
When Hamas attacks began, Israel initially responded with targeted air strikes aimed at stopping the rockets and sent a message to Hamas on July 3 that "quiet will be met with quiet", adding "Israel has no interest in an escalation. If Hamas reins in the shooting now, we won't act, either." But that Peace Offering was ignored.
Also rejected by Hamas was a July 15 ceasefire proposal by Egypt backed by the Arab League and the Palestinian Authority (PA) and accepted by Israel. The rejection revealed Hamas' true colours and was widely condemned internationally, including by Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, who rightly noted: "Hamas claims to represent Gaza, yet it has jeopardised the welfare of its own people by rejecting the proposal for a ceasefire."
With Hamas rejecting the Egyptian ceasefire deal and rocket attacks into Israel continuing, the final straw was Hamas terrorists emerging from tunnels into Israel to attack a nearby kibbutz. Israel felt it had little choice but to order the Ground Operation into the Gaza Strip on July 18 to destroy these tunnels, 34 of which have, so far, been discovered.
While the Israeli army is focused on targeting Hamas and other jihadist groups, civilians in Gaza have been killed in the crossfire. For Israel, every civilian death, be it Palestinian or Israeli, is a tragedy to be avoided; for Hamas, Israeli civilians are the target of their rocket fire. Even ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestinian representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council, said on July 9 on PA TV: "The missiles that are now being launched against Israel, each and every missile constitutes a crime against humanity, whether it hits or misses, because it is directed at civilian targets." Khraishi also noted that the Israeli army warns civilians to leave areas before impending strikes.
Yet Hamas leaders sitting safely in their underground bunkers have told Gazans to ignore Israeli warnings and return to their homes, embracing yet again the practice of "human shields". Hamas fighters not only fire rockets from residential buildings but also use civilian infrastructure for their own purposes, including storage of weapons in schools and mosques.
For example, on July 16, about 20 rockets were found in a school in Gaza operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The Washington Post also reported on July 15 that Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City has become "a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices". Hamas' use of civilian infrastructure is clearly is a war crime as it endangers civilian lives. But, for Hamas, civilian casualties support its propaganda war as the more civilian casualties there are, the more international pressure is placed on Israel.
Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, removing 8000 Israelis and 20 settlements. After a bloody coup in 2007 against its political rival Fatah, Hamas took over the Gaza Strip. Hamas is a Sunni Islamist organisation linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and considered a terrorist group by Australia, Israel, the US, the European Union and Canada, among others. Hamas is committed to Israel's genocidal destruction, as enshrined in its charter, and it not only encourages rocket attacks into Israel but is responsible for terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians.
Today, Hamas is widely disliked among the people it purports to represent. A recent Pew Research Centre poll found 63 per cent of Gazans surveyed held negative views of Hamas and 79 per cent were concerned about Islamist extremism. Some speculate that this latest attack on Israel may be aimed at reviving its flagging popularity and its depleted funding, following reports that Hamas is largely bankrupt. Hamas' financial woes, and its lost support from Egypt, were also considered reasons why it agreed to a unity government with Fatah in April.
When Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, the area could have flourished but hostility was so strong rockets kept being fired into Israel. Israel imposed a security blockade on Gaza precisely to try and stop the flow of weapons into Gaza and rockets fired into Israel. The UN Palmer report found this blockade to be legal under international law.
Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel because that is its raison d'etre. Israel has responded to defend its citizens, who cannot possibly be expected to live under incessant rocket attack. The situation has now escalated into a ground-force operation that Israel did not want. But, as this conflict ensues, it is important to remember that Hamas started this round of conflict and had the opportunity to end it, but now Israel's operation is aimed at degrading Hamas' extensive terrorist structure to stop the rockets now and into the foreseeable future.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/hamas-rocket-attacks-provoked-israels-ground-offensive-into-gaza-strip-20140720-zuysx.html
Terrors and Wars between two political opponents cause too many sacrifices of innocent blood.Throughout
the human history Terrors and Wars have occurred continually shedding innocent youth's blood. We as the Lord of Whole Creation should learn through the past.
We should realize that Terrors and Wars are not originated from God our Creator but His Opponent Satan. Therefore Terrors and Wars are merely being exploited as Satan's Puppet and Malicious Tools.
Now the Era of World Peace has come through the appearance of Peace Advocate Man Hee Lee who has been practicing peace on earth as God showed and directed. The only possible solution for World Peace is for us to join and help him, being ourselves Peace Messengers. Then God will work ahead of us and grant Peace to us! May God be with us for ever and ever.
Nelson Mandela Biography
Mandela’s Youth
Nelson Mandela was born Rolihlahla Mandela on July 18, 1918, in a rural village in the Transkei region of South Africa. His name means “troublemaker” in the Xhosa language. A teacher at a Christian mission school later gave him the name Nelson. Mandela rose from a humble village of mud huts into a comfortable life as the adopted son of a Tembu chief.
As a young man, Mandela attended university, but was dismissed because he took part in a student protest, his first act of civil rights activism. In the 1940s, Mandela entered into the turbulent world of South African racial politics by joining in the liberation movement known as the African National Congress (A.N.C).
The Origins of Apartheid
Since the arrival of the Dutch and British colonists in the 1600 and 1700s, black South Africans – and all people of color in South Africa – had steadily been pushed out of power. Racist policies of the European-dominated governments took away their basic human rights. By 1950, Afrikaners (South African whites of Dutch descent) had control of the government and enacted the modern form of apartheid. Under this system, black South Africans could not have a voice in the government, socialize with whites, or travel outside their living area without government approval.
Mandela’s Activism and Imprisonment
Mandela was a founding member of the African National Congress's Youth League and later become second-in-command. Through this group, Mandela was able to take organized political action against apartheid. In the 1950s, he was the leader of the African National Congress. The South African government considered him an enemy.In 1963, the government put Mandela on trial for treason, condemning him to a lifetime sentence. Throughout his imprisonment, Mandela continued his work to end apartheid by sending secret messages from his cell on Robben Island.
Leader of a New South Africa
On February 2, 1990, 27 years after Mandela was imprisoned, South Africa’s president Frederik Willem de Klerk removed the ban on the A.N.C and released Mandela. The two men had held meetings about his release while Mandela was in prison. Three years later, Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Mandela used the joint award to show forgiveness, and that reconciliation was possible in the deeply politically and racially divided South Africa.
In 1994, Mandela became South Africa's first democratically elected president. He focused his presidency on building peace and unity in his country. In 1999, at the end of his term as president, Mandela chose not to seek re-election. He remained politically active, however, working to promote peace throughout Africa and to draw attention to social injustice and the spread of HIV and AIDS.
He was married three times and had six children and 17 grandchildren.
In 2009, an abridged version of Mandela's 1995 autobiography, 'Long Walk to Freedom', was published for children. In that same year, the United Nations declared his birthday as 'Nelson Mandela International Day'.
