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MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2002

"Last week, Alaskans observed Seward's Day, celebrating the 1867 treaty that transferred the property of the Russian American Co. and the sovereignty of Alaska from Russia to the United States. The actual land of Alaska, the treaty said, belonged to the Native peoples who used and occupied it. In 1971, Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, recognizing Native title to about one-fifth of the state and paying Native peoples almost a billion dollars for the 80 percent of Alaska to which they relinquished title.

It seems to me that the Middle East, in its current stalemate over dually claimed territory, could take a valuable lesson here. The Palestinians and Israel need their own ANCSA. . ."

Get the Story:
Rev. Michael Oleksa: State history offers path for Middle East (The Anchorage Daily News 4/1)

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