A Youth Camp 2007 clip

Youth Camp 2007 Dance

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My Experience with the Jamaica Baptist Union Youth Department (2002 - 2007)

My Experience with the Jamaica Baptist Union Youth Department

(2002 – 2007)

Focus on Conference & Rally

In November 2002 I attended the Jamaica Baptist Union Youth Department’s annual Youth Conference and Rally for the first time. The conference is the highest decision making body of the Youth Department and should involve youth leaders from all of the Baptist Churches across the island, chiefly Youth Fellowship presidents and secretaries, Parish presidents, observers and the Youth Department Executive members. The Rally was where different groups from all over the island come to display their talents in a competition format.

The Conference was held at the Nutshell Conference Centre in Duncans, Trelawny and the Rally at the Ocho Rios Baptist Church in St. Ann. The Chairman of the Youth Department at the time was Mr. Courtney Christie Veitch. When I saw so many young Baptists from all over the island of Jamaica coming together, I gained an instant interest in this body of youths. I was at this conference in the first place because I was the president of my Youth Fellowship (Waterford Baptist Youth Fellowship). During the business meeting which was held in the night, I was nominated along with ten (10) others to sit on the executive of the Youth Department as a member at large. However out of the ten (10) that were nominated, only four (4) were going to be elected, I wasn’t one of them. I was still interested in this Jamaica Baptist Union Youth Department “thingy” and I thought that I would be a good candidate for zone 2 coordinator (The incumbent person was Phillip Roberts).

Rally 2002

These are the current posts within the executive of the Youth Department:

=====

Chairman – chair meetings (officers and executive)

NATIONAL COMMITTEE - VICE CHAIRMEN

(There are 4 vice chairmen and they are each given an area to oversee and plan as well as organise events for. Each Vice Chairman of the Youth Department, is a chairman for their individual committees eg. vice chairman for youth fellowships is the chairman for the Youth Fellowships Committee)

- Uniform groups (responsible for the uniform groups through out the island eg. girl guides and boys brigade)

- Youth Fellowships (responsible for youth fellowships through out the island)

- Young Adults (responsible for young adult fellowships throughout the island)

- Student Affairs (responsible for tertiary students)

Secretary (record plans for the executive to carryout)

Assistant Secretary (Record minutes at executive meetings)

Treasurer (in charge of finances for the Youth Department)

Chairman Elect (Assist the Chairman in any and every way possible)

Immediate Past Chairman (Assist in everything or whatever assigned)

NATIONAL COMMISSION HEADS
- Camps (Organise annual camps)

- Discipleship (plan Baptist World Alliance Youth Day of prayer and other events and projects relating to bringing others to Christ and maintaining Christian beliefs and practices)

- Sports (Plan and organise sporting events for the island’s youths)

- Cultural (Organise annual Rally competitions and zone eliminations)

ZONE COORDINATORS

(all zone coordinators should plan and organise events for their parishes as well as report progress and problems of the parishes they are in charge of)

- Zone 1 (Portland, St. Thomas)

- Zone 2 (St. Catherine, Kingston / St. Andrew)

- Zone 3 (Clarendon, Manchester / St. Elizabeth)

- Zone 4 (St. Mary, St. Ann / Trelawny)

- Zone 5 (St. James, Westmoreland. Hanover)

MEMBERS AT LARGE

(They are given different arbitrary responsibilities eg. to assist a commission or committee, to form and be the head of new working committees or whatever duty is assigned to them by the executive.)

EX OFFICIO MEMBERS

(They monitor the executive and lend much needed assistance to all members of the executive especially the chairman)

- Programmes Coordinator

- Associate General Secretary (Youth, Education and Training)

JAMAICA BAPTIST UNION NOMINATED REPRESENTATIVES

(They are elected by the Jamaica Baptist Union and attend the youth department meetings.)

=====
So yes I was interested in being the zone 2 coordinator. In 2003 I started to perform dub poems throughout Jamaica and served as counsellor for Intermediate 1 and youth camps. At the 2003 Conference Business meeting; I was nominated and elected to serve as the Vice chairman with responsibilities for Student's Affairs. Phillip Roberts was now the Vice Chairman for Young Adults. Earlier in 2003 I was also elected to serve as a member of the Spiritual Empowerment Conference Committee while still being the president of my youth fellowship and also the zone 2 coordinator for the St. Catherine Baptist Association Youth Arm.

Conference 2003 Participants (Patrice & Derron)

In October 2003 I some how single handedly plan a concert for the St. Catherine Baptist Association zone 2 fund raiser. I never knew I could get so many persons to gather at the church I attended, even though most of them complained bitterly about mosquitoes (which I believe was only a figment of their imagination). Everybody knows that Portmore doesn’t have many mosquitoes. :)

This event was a huge success in terms of numbers; persons came from Phillippo, Mamby Park, Bethel, Edgewater, Gregory Park and different parts of St. Catherine and Kingston. My pastor was shocked at the crowd of persons there. There was also an altar call aftewards and many persons went up. At this time I was in my third year of University and was wondering if I could manage these mammoth tasks. At the same time I started to call persons who served in the office of Vice chairman before, to ask them for suggestions.

Bethel Baptist Performance at zone 2 concert October 2003

I then started to put pen and paper together and made some plans about events I would like to have, the persons to sit on my committee as well as a budget for the undertakings I planned to have. The persons I asked to sit on my committee while being Vice chairman for the JBUYD were:

>>· Lance Fisher (University of Technology) (Brown’s Town Baptist – St. Ann)

>>· Sheree Mair (University of the West Indies) (Waterford Baptist – St. Catherine)

>>· Samantha Clarke (University of the West Indies) (Mamby Park Baptist – St. Andrew)

>>· Sheldon O’Connor (Jamaica Theological Seminary) (Phillippo Baptist – St. Catherine)

>>· Theresa Brown (University of the West Indies) (Bethel Baptist – St. Andrew)

>>· Donna lee Minott (University of the West Indies) (Stokes/Hall Baptist – St. Thomas)

We managed to plan several events over a 2 year period. This included:

- Christmas socials (December 2003 & 2004)

- Discussion on Women in leadership (April, 2004 [Bethel Baptist]) – “The empowerment of women the way forward…Oh really now!!!”

- Concert for students (April 2005 [ Bethel Baptist])

- Student Church Services (September 2004 [ Mamby Park Baptist] & 2005 [Mona Baptist])

- Student orientation exercises (August 2004 & 2005)

Student Affairs Christmas Social 2004

I was Re – elected as Vice chairman for Student Affairs at the 2004 JBUYD Conference meeting and I was also elected to serve as the Vice President for the St. Catherine Baptist Association with special responsibilities for missions.

Rally 2004 - Grace (Maypen) Performing

At this time I was in my final year of university and I was also very involved in the University and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) and sat on their Camps Commission. I was also the Assistant Treasurer for the Spiritual Empowerment Conference and the treasurer for my Youth Fellowship. I served 3 consecutive years as President of my Youth Fellowship (2001-2004) and then served as treasurer the following year. During the year 2004, I was at my house only 2 Saturdays for the entire year, because every single Saturday was another meeting or a performance somewhere.

UCCF Camp 2005 January

It was around this time when I was in a bus going to school and was feeling very pressured by the amount of responsibilities I have. I went to the front of the bus and sat in a seat. And there in front of me was a lady’s shirt that said “Continue Working for the Lord…the pay might not be much but the retirement plan is out of this world”. I could not believe my eyes at all. I took this message in my heart every where I went.

In July 2005, a set of missionaries from Virginia and North Carolina participated in our annual youth camps. They were Aaron Lee, Karen Vassar, Dreama Montrief, Christina, Alyson Taylor, Christian Peele and Jeremiah Austin. I was asked to then serve as a missionary in Virginia for three (3) weeks where I again met up with Aaron Lee and Karen Vassar. (The details of this story may be found on my mission trip to Virginia blog at http://davecolly.blogspot.com/2007/12/missiontrip-3-usa-virginia-1.html)

I was now being tipped to be the new Chairman and even though I some how saw this coming; I was very shy and felt extremely inadequate about taking on this kind of responsibility. The main reason was that I was trying to compare myself with Stacy Lalor who was a very fluent and proper speaker as well as some one who can be called upon at short notice to do a presentation and do it very well. First and foremost, I felt more comfortable talking patois and not Standard English. Secondly, I just didn’t believe that I could manage the responsibility of planning, organising and overseeing several activities of over 4000 youths in over 315 Baptist churches in Jamaica.

In November 2005 I was nominated and elected to serve as the Chairman of the Youth Department of the Jamaica Baptist Union for the 2005-2007 year. This was while I was the Vice Chairman of the St. Catherine Baptist Association Youth Arm as well as the Assistant Treasurer for my local Youth Fellowship and the Spiritual Empowerment Conference. I was now involved at every single level of the Jamaica Baptist Union from local Youth Fellowship to top executive. This was a very rough and bumpy ride for me but I believe God was there with me all the way.

Chairing my very first JBUYD Executive meeting in January 2006

I would get depressed every now and again and many times I felt like giving up but I kept hearing in my subconscious “My grace is sufficient for you.” While being chairman of the Youth Department you are inevitably a member of the JBU executive and would sit as a proxy on about eight (8) other committees of the Jamaica Baptist Union including:

>>ü The Steering Committee

>>ü Christian Education Committee

>>ü Conference Centre Committee

>>ü Mission Agency

>>ü Worship Committee

Now, there is no way on earth I could attend all these meetings while holding a full time job. Hence, other members of the Youth Department’s Officer Corps were asked to sit on different Committees. But, I was the one who they would call to inform about meetings.

In February 2006, I was selected (after applying) to serve as a steward at the World Council of Churches 9th assembly in Brazil. (More on this story may be found on my blog about my trip to Brazil blog at http://davecolly.blogspot.com/2007/12/trip-to-brazil-world-council-of.html. Because of this trip to Brazil, I was unable to attend the JBU annual assembly in February 2006 where I would be recognised as the new chairman of the JBUYD.

My predecessor, Stacy Lalor informed me that at the executive meetings with the JBU pastors and other members, every single one of them she left with a stress head ache. I of course went to my first executive meeting in March 2006 very nervous. I was overwhelmed with nervousness especially when I knew I had to be presenting the Youth Department’s report to pastors and other persons I looked up to as a child growing up in the Baptist faith. Pastors like:

>>ü Rev. Dr. Cawley Bolt (Former Baptist Warden at the United Theological College of the West Indies and now Pastor of the Ebony Vale / Sligoville circuit)

>>ü Rev. Karl Henlin (Pastor, Gregory park Circuit of Baptist churches, President of the JBU)

>>ü Rev. Karl Johnson (President of the Jamaica Council of Churches and General Secretary of the JBU)

>>ü Dr. Burchelle Taylor (President of the Caribbean Baptist Fellowship and Pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church – Half Way Tree, Former president of the JBU)

>>ü Rev. Neville Callam (Now General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, then Pastor of the Tarrant/ Balmagine, Former President of the JBU)

>>ü Rev. Dr. Roy Henry (Pastor of the East Queens Street Circuit, Former President of the JBU)
>>ü My own Pastor Rev Dylan Toussaint

However, after presenting my report and answering a few questions, that was it. To date I felt uncomfortable in only 1 executive meeting which was in June 2007 when I was questioned about the Jamaica Baptist youths involvement in the evangelism exercise of the ICC Cricket world cup event in March 2007. I honestly tried to get persons out to the workshops but the time was just too bad for them.

In July 2006 I attended a Conference in Trinidad which was the 5th Caribbean Baptist Fellowship Youth Festival (for more on this story click on my trip to Trinidad blog at http://davecolly.blogspot.com/2007/12/trip-to-trinidad-cbf-youth-festival.html

In July 2007 I went on a Mission trip to Grenada organised by the Virginia Baptist Mission Board and the Caribbean Baptist Youth. For more on this story, click on my mission trip to Grenada blog at http://davecolly.blogspot.com/2007/12/mission-trip-1-grenada.html

In July and August of 2007 I went on a mission trip to Panama. For more on this trip, visit my mission trip to Panama blog at http://davecolly.blogspot.com/2007/12/mission-trip-2-panama.html

In November 2006 at the Conference, Mr. Lance Fisher was nominated and elected as the Chairman – Elect and in November 2007 he stepped into the seat as Chairman. I know he will do well. In February of 2008 I will have to tender a 2 year report to the JBU Assembly. I had good and bad experiences being chairman of the JBU Youth Department, and I believe that these experiences aided me to become a better person.

Conference 2006

This was my short recollection of my involvement with the Jamaica Baptist Union Youth Department (2002 – 2007).

Conference 2007

Thanks for reading and God bless you.

Dave Collymore

Alternative Investments

Alternative Investment Schemes

For some time, there has been an ongoing debate about the legality of certain alternative investment schemes operating in and outside of Jamaica. The two companies that are in the spotlight now are:

CashPlus - http://www.cashplusltd.com/ and http://www.cashplusgroup.com/

OLINT - https://overseaslocket.com/efund/main.html

While the Jamaican financial sector promises returns of between 3 to 5 per cent a year, these companies has successfully delivered returns to investors at 10 per cent a month in a macro economic environment which is seeing declining interest rates, falling inflation and greater consolidation of the financial sector. (Edwards - Observer, 2007)

Both Michael Lee Chin (National Commercial Bank - head) and Bill Clarke (Bank of Nova Scotia - Head ) seem to be on the same page - this time - in dismissing these schemes. They have said that investors will get burnt. But if you are offering me 4 per cent a year and thse companies are making my friends 10 per cent a month, each and every month, what would you do? David Smith (head of Olint) now has close to US$400 million under management despite the FSC putting the block on Jamaicans investing with OLINT. (Edwards - Observer, 2007)

Olint, so far as is publicly known, trades in foreign exchange, offering its investors extraordinarily high returns - over 100 per cent in annualised interest. The FSC and others have, to put it mildly, been suspicious of the capacity of Olint and similar institutions to pay such lavish interest.

David Smith (OLINT's head)

That is part of the reason why the FSC has sought to bring Olint and cashplus under its policing umbrella, saying that it is required to have a licence from the commission to conduct business as a trader in securities, and in providing investing advice to the public. Except that Olint says that it does not do the latter, since it is a private investment club, catering to its members.

In March 2007, the FSC raided Olint's office, having issued a cease-and-desist order on Smith and his organisation. Olint challenged the jurisdiction of the FSC to issue such an order against it. That matter was heard by Justice Marva McIntosh.

In the months since that case, several other investment schemes, offering stratospheric interest rates, have surfaced in Jamaica. Thousands of Jamaicans have put money in them. But there are concerns that some of these may be Ponzi schemes - worse. Many people worry about their viability and who would bear the cost if they collapsed. (Editorial, Gleaner - 2007).

Cash Plus Group Limited was established in 2002 by mortgage broker Mr .Carlos O. Hill.

The organization primarily invests in Real Estate, telecommunications, and the gaming industry (adopted from club documents). Basically, Cash Plus has become a household name in Jamaica primarily because it has become the poor man’s financial messiah and is a way of escape for those desirous of a 10% per month financial hope. To some, it’s a ticking time bomb.

Carlos Hill (Head of Cash Plus)

If you are considering investing in Cash Plus, you must dare to ask pertinent questions - at least, the most obvious; “Is this ship going to sink with my hard earned money?” Well, I can’t say for sure. But here is some useful information :

1) Before November 2007, investors have been getting their returns. That’s important!
The Real Estate market and the telecommunication industry are two industries that possess the dollar signs now and for the future. So Cash Plus seems to be going in the right direction.
Cash Plus presents documented ‘details’ of their plans for future investment expansion/development. It might not be gospel, but it does give investors and potential investors a feel of the ethos of the organization. (Andre P. Llewellyn, Maximizing Wealth 2007 ).

Some Red Flags:
1) They are not regulated by the FSC.

2) The FSC has issued them a ceast and decist order, so no new clients can join.

3) The FSC and the Banks are really fighting to make them go down

4) Persons have not been getting their monthly interest.

5) Investors are getting worried and are now contemplating withdrawing their investment

Right now there are many more negatives than positives facing especially cashplus.

What are your feelings on this?

Financial Services Commission's List of 'Extremely High-Yielding Unregistered Investment Schemes'

• Caribbean Real Estate Investment Fund (CAREIF)
  World Wise Partners Limited
  Swiss Cash
  Higgins Warner Music and Entertainment
  MayDaisy E Partner Plan Club
  F 1 Investments/F 1 Holdings
  A 3 Union
  Wealth Builder and Associates
  Right Vision E Partners Private Members Club
  Strategical Alliance Investment Company
  SGL Holdings
  Partner Financials
  Kingdom Investments Unlimited International (KIUI)
  Image Consultants & Services
  Nipo Farms
  USIMO
  Cash Plus Group
  Olint Corp Limited
  Overseas Locket International Corp
  LewFam Investments and Trading Limited
  LewFam Investments Club

The Brutal slaying of Bhutto

Why did they assissinate Bhutto??

The assassination Thursday of Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto threw the country's election campaign into disarray and sparked a wave of violence across the nuclear-armed nation.

Bhutto was shot to death and at least 20 other people were killed by an attacker who blew himself up at an election rally where the 54-year-old former prime minister had just spoken.
Violence left at least nine people dead Thursday. Angry supporters rioted in the southern port city of Karachi after her killing, firing shots at police, setting tires and cars on fire and burning a gas station.

UWI versus UTECH - In terms of Information Technology Education

UWI versus UTECH - In terms of Information Technology Education

These comments were made on a forum from the website http://Techjamaica.com

PERSON 1
For both Univerisities, the final year allows computing students to spend time primarily on their specialisation. In this facility, UWI offers more freedom to students to take on courses as they see fit. UWI Students can actually graduate with 2 degrees in one go. For example, my cuz is majoring in Computer Science & Mathematics. UTECH does not offer this kind of freedom, but better prepares students for the working world by giving all final year courses practical hands on approaches that can be verified outside of the classroom.

The Final Thesis for both bodies are marked by the same body of individuals. In fact, there are lecturers that teach at both universities. The end product of a UWI student rests VERY heavily on the student. UWI students are more under pressure to select courses that will make their degree worthwhile. UTECH students are not. UTech students however, undergo a far more stressful course and have far less free time on their hands than do UWI students. This is because of the overwhelming content of the UTECH Comp Sci Degree.

Since the UWI degree's meaningfulness is determined by the students, managers in the real world by default explicitly stipulate in their want ads that students have a UTECH Degree or equivalent. That is because they know that no matter when a student graduates, they WILL have completed certain practical training exercises their organisation may need. They don't have that kind of guarantee of a UWI Comp Sci graduate.

This does not mean that UWI Computing graduates are looked down upon. The very idea is ridiculous. HOWEVER, a UWI computing student's usefulness in the work world is only as good as the courses he chooses to do while at UWI. So theoretically, many (if not most) UWI students graduate with very little real world skills as the courses they choose to complete are not necessarily the best ones that would make them truly marketable. It's nice to have that fancy piece of paper. But how can you back up the paper in the real world?

There are very good courses available @ UWI. What I do not like about UWI is that courses such as C programming (and a host of others) are NOT core courses. To me, that is nonsense. Furthermore, I do not like the fact that UWI stresses managerial skills for their computing FIRST degree more than TECHNICAL skills. Managers are usually the first people to loose their jobs, since everybody wants to be somebody else's boss. What is the sense of graduating from UWI with a degree that stresses managerial skills when students will NEVER get a management job right out of UWI just like that, without any previous Job experiences? That doesn't make any sense to me.

Most managers would think twice before giving a job to any young university student who only has a first degree (from any university) who doesn't have managerial skills and experience. You have to work your way up to the manager status. Start out as a programmer. Then move on to be a technical project manager. Then a Project Manager. Then after doing your masters, you take the managerial position.

However, since today's Jamaican organisations are far too top heavy (especially Government) having a practical skill is VERY VERY important. If all else fails, you can use your education to start your own business. I'm not sure all UWI students can say that - unless they choose all of the practical courses available at UWI. This is one of the reasons I have a lot of respect for GodKid. He went into a field practically no one else was even thinking of doing while at UWI. Now Godkid has his own business.

Now there's an example of a smart, no make that brilliant, UWI graduate.

Too many UWI students do the comp sci course just for the sake of completing a degree to say they have a degree in a field where they are sure to make money. UWI makes it too easy for students to leave the institution with a degree and no marketable skills. Skills are what get people paid nowadays. In today's world, it's not enough to have a piece of paper that says you have a degree. So long as you plan to work for someone else, Certifications are the THING....

....or you can just do the UTECH Comp Sci degree ;D

PERSON 2

I think we can all agree that there are pros and cons to making any educational choice. But what it boils down to is the individual. I know exceptional grads from UTECH as well as UWI. What they all have in common is a drive to excel at what they do. They never stop learning, and they have fun with their work. The institution they chose is just a stepping stone to higher heights - it does not define them.

Those are the individuals who recognize the weaknesses of whatever academic programme they are in, and find ways to compensate for it and get whatever it is they are missing (by working at a computer lab, experimenting on their own, doing additional courses elsewhere).


PERSON 3

First of all, I thought I'd comment on the UWI vs UTech debacle. I'm a UTech student, but I'm not particularly fond of the system here. However, the content that you cover in the courses is tremendous. Now, you don't ever complete what you are supposed to. But if you are motivated to do more that just pass courses you will learn a great deal of stuff. And contrary to popular opinion, you do ALOT of theory at UTech: Analysis of Algorithms, Theory of Computation, Analysis of Programming languages, just to name a few. I agreed with Keno's comments on the need for learning theory, and I think we do alot of that here at UTech too. So once again, if you are motivated you will learn to think outside the box. But don't expect UTech to teach you that. That comes from your mindset. I can't fairly assess UWI's course, but what I do know is that we do ALOT more at UTech, including most, if not all of what is done in the UWI course. We pay for it by the extra year though :-\

As for adjusting to the work world, I agree with previous comments regarding training. To become competent and usefull to any company we first need to be trained. We can't expect to come out of University fully operational with all our circuits functioning perfectly. No one expects a Doctor to finish their five year course and then throw them into an operating room :-X First, you have to do two year internship where you are no longer in the class-room. Lawyers, even after seven years in school, don't come out ready to defend Microsoft. You need traning and experience. Jamaican firms need to recognize this. To tap the full potential of graduates, they must be willing to train them. And we are willing to be trained!

PERSON 4

as a student currently doing a computer science degree @ UWI I can say for a fact that what you are taught is the science not the technical part of things but the opportunity is there for you to get a job as a lab tech and get some hands on network training and there's more than enough exposure to programming and operating systems in the end we have limited resources but if a person desired the knowledge it can be had right there on campus i might add.

PERSON 5

I did my degree @ UWI the courses in your final year are more practical (Database, Networking etc) however I would recommend that in the summers you do some certs and try get some of the lab tech positions on campus....coming close the summer the dept of management studies always looks for lab techs and the things you learn in that lab particularly make you ready to be a network admin. However even if you dont get one of those jobs do Network+ cert or some others. The certs can be done in the summers and will make you a well rounded techie.

Making a switch after two years is gonna add alot of expense to your education and at the end of the day you may still need to do certs with a UTECH degree some employers want to know for a fact that you do have the skills (Certs) rather than knowing you're supposed to cause it was in your syllabus

What Do you "Technocrats" have to say??

Life at University of Technology, Jamaica

Life at University of Technology, Jamaica (UTECH)

(Sept 2001 - May 2005)

Took a chance by leaving my job at Life of Jamaica to go to UTECH in order to pursue a Bachelors Degree in Comuting and Information Technology.

It was a long road of sleepless nights over the 4 years as well as some glad Cs. I notice that all the courses that had an "A" in it when abbreviated, I got a C grade in it.

• COA (Computer Organization and Assembly) "C -"
• A of A (Analysis of Algorithm) "C "
• AP (Advance Programing using JAVA) "C- " (a di bwoy Andrew cause dis)
• NA (Numerical Analysis) "C- "
• CA (Computer Architecture) "C"
• AI (Artificial Intelligence) "C+"

Oh how can I forget the time when I was in a math class and my friend Sheldon Scott was meeting me for the first time, and no one could have told me that this guy wasn't from the USA.

What about when Andrew Dennis was trying to learn to swim and had to switch his elective.

Dwayne's car bruk down in the rain why?? Because of a single woman. Where was he travelling from clarendon?

Many others I cant remember right now.

Thank God for these friends I met there though, who I believe will be life long bredrins and sistren.

Did University prepare you for the world of work any at all ?

Israel / Palestine Conflict

International Debate 1





Israel / Palestine Conflict





Is it a fact that the Israel really belong to the Palestinians and not the current Israelis occupying the territory? Discuss



This article was retrieved from http://www.secession.net/israel-palestine-confederation.html


Author unknown.



From a decentralist position, the best to way to look at the Israel-Palestine conflict is from the perspective of the a) rights of individuals to their freedom and their justly acquired property and b) the right to self-determination of the communities they have created. Zionism from its inception recognized that because native Arabs already inhabited most of the arable land, Israel could only be created by driving Arabs off their land. As the graphic below shows, through its 57 years Israel has managed to do just that. (Even more land has been confiscated since 2000.) The Arabs who have chosen to call themselves Palestinians have been trying to "secede" from the imposed state of Israel and regain their confiscated property since 1948.

Map retrieved from http://www.secession.net/israel-palestine-confederation.html

Yet according to decentralist theories of self-determination, Israelis also have a right to live in Palestine on their justly acquired (or if necessary, justly compensated) lands, which today might be 10 percent, including land that truly was previously unowned. Of course, given that so much of that land was stolen and Arabs ethnically cleansed from the area, many Palestinians and their supporters would disagree. However, those Palestinians willing to make some compromises do frequently point out that most Israelis live in cities near the sea anyway and do not occupy most of the Palestinian villages they emptied and destroyed in 1948. West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem land confiscated since Israel's 1967 war of aggression, of course, would have to be returned. Trying to resolve these issues in terms of collective rights of ethnic and religious groups is driving us now to the verge of a regional war as Israel ramps up war against Iran before it obtains the technical ability to produce nuclear weapons. Such a war could rapidly lead to regional or even world nuclear war. See StopTheWarNow.Net Workable solutions probably would have to be more radical decentralist, more based on case-by-case analysis, like those advanced at Secession.Net. Such radical decentralist prescriptions below highlighted in underlined italics. Decentralist solutions certainly would not look like the defacto "bantustans" that the Israeli government has been trying to force upon Palestinians since the Oslo accords, and including George Bush's "road map." The offical Palestine Liberation Organization position is that Palestinians are willing to accept Israel if it retreats to its June 4, 1967 borders--a demand long made even by the United Nations (Resolution 242)-- and recognizes the right of return. Israel refuses to give up the territory and recognize the right of return -- which would soon turn Israel into a majority Arab state -- and continues to threaten nuclear retaliation in "self-defense" of these confiscated lands. (See Israeli nuclear threats page.) Perhaps only a transcendent political solution like one or more confederations, arrived at through nonviolent negotiation, can resolve this conflict. (See a nonviolent plan for resolution from Nonviolence International's Mubarak Awad Eight Steps to Israeli Palestinian Peace.)


This information was retrieved from http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA (Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

According to the Official Gazette, No. 1 of the 5th, Iyar, 5708 (14th May, 1948).

THE DECLARATION OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL May 14, 1948
On May 14, 1948, on the day in which the British Mandate over a Palestine expired, the Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum, and approved the following proclamation, declaring the establishment of the State of Israel. The new state was recognized that night by the United States and three days later by the USSR.

ERETZ-ISRAEL [(Hebrew) - the Land of Israel, Palestine] was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.

After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.
Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma'pilim [(Hebrew) - immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.

In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country.

This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.

The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people - the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe - was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully privileged member of the comity of nations.

Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland.

In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations.

On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable.

This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.

ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL.

WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel".
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

THE STATE OF ISRAEL is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel.
WE APPEAL to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the comity of nations.

WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.

WE EXTEND our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.
WE APPEAL to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel.
PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE "ROCK OF ISRAEL", WE AFFIX OUR SIGNATURES TO THIS PROCLAMATION AT THIS SESSION OF THE PROVISIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE, ON THE SOIL OF THE HOMELAND, IN THE CITY OF TEL-AVIV, ON THIS SABBATH EVE, THE 5TH DAY OF IYAR, 5708 (14TH MAY,1948).



What do you have to say???? Was it fair for the Palestinians (arabs) to be driven out? why were they driven out really?

further reading:
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/14/israel.lebanon.timeline/index.html