10 Reasons for US Peace and Justice Activists to Challenge U.S. Policy in Palestine and Israel
We are U.S. activists with responsibility for the damage done by our government's actions. While it is easy (and often necessary) to protest actions by the Israeli government, or by Hamas, Fatah or Hezbollah, our own country too often remains free of criticism from its citizens and certainly from the corporate media. Download the 10 Reasons Fact Sheet here.
TEN REASONS FOR U.S. PEACE & JUSTICE ACTIVISTS TO CHALLENGE U.S. POLICY IN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL
We are U.S. activists with responsibility for the damage done by our government's actions. While it is easy (and often necessary) to protest actions by the Israeli government, or by Hamas, Fatah or Hezbollah, our own country too often remains free of criticism from its citizens and certainly from the corporate media.
1) The United States financially, militarily, and diplomatically supports Israeli policies of de facto and legal apartheid.
"We used the term Apartheid before Jimmy Carter used it in his book, because the term is the correct one …There is no other term to describe the imprisonment of civil communities, the 4-laned roads for Israelis only… where people, civilians need a special permit to go to school, to the doctor, to work, or to visit ones dying grandmother. Where a person disappears without his family being informed, where he can sit in prison without trial - where he cannot attend his mother's funeral - and all on the basis of his ethnic origin."[1]
2) U.S. policy aims to create a Middle East where all states and movements that resist U.S. domination are weakened, brought into line or destroyed. "The birth pangs of a new Middle East," is the current mantra of the Bush Administration as expressed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the press on 7/21/06: "Whatever we do, we have to be certain that we're pushing forward to the new Middle East, not going back to the old Middle East.." This is part of the Bush administration's attempt to advance U.S. corporate globalization into the Middle East. The effects of the violence in Lebanon, Palestine and Israel are not limited to these nations. The dangers affect the entire region and the rest of the world. The wars in the Middle East are not just about which countries have oil, but about the nationalization of industries and advancing the domination of private western corporations.
3) U.S. policy in the Middle East reinforces Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism. U.S. policy in the Middle East and the U.S. corporate media fuels Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism in the US. According to an ABC-Washington Post poll taken in March 2006, a majority of people in the US believe that "Muslims are disproportionately prone to violence," with 46 percent expressing a negative view of the religion, 7 percent higher than in the immediate aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. The poll also found that 25 percent of people in the US admitted to "harboring prejudice towards" Muslims and Arabs.
4) Current U.S. policy toward the Middle East does not include the mandate from U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 which calls on all actors involved to have gender perspective in decision making bodies. “Not only are women at highest risk during a war, but post-war instability, internal power struggles and a spike in domestic violence all call out for increased attention to women’s security needs..” [2] The militarization of the Middle East wreaks havoc on the economy which increases woman battering, sexual violence, and child abuse in our communities.
5) U.S. interventionist policies prevent the people of the region from determining their own future. Examples:
· In the 1970s, Israel, with the tacit approval of the U.S., helped create Hamas in opposition to Fatah. Fatah was considered too nationalistic, too secular and wasn't seen as being amenable to U.S. interests.[3] Then, ironically, in the January 2006 Palestinian elections, the U.S. sent funds to Fatah to help defeat Hamas. A resolution was passed by the U.S. Congress a month before the elections that conditioned future financial aid to the Palestinian Authority on the exclusion of Hamas from the Palestinian elections.
· An Israeli government adviser said that Jerusalem was in fact open to holding discussions with Syria, but was constrained by the Bush administration's flat opposition to any dealings with the regime of Bashar al-Assad.[4]
6) U.S. government support of Israeli policies isolates the U.S. from most Middle East countries as well as the rest of the world, making a joke of the U.S. claim of bringing democracy to the Middle East. Results of the 2006 AA/Zogby International poll in 5 Arab countries show:
· Overall Arab attitudes toward the United States have worsened; negative attitudes have hardened.
· Attitudes toward U.S. policies in Iraq and Palestine are to blame.
· Attitudes toward American values, people and culture have declined as well.
7) U.S. arms corporations profit greatly from U.S. military aid to Israel. The U.S. requires Israel to use 76% of all the U.S. government military aid it receives to buy US-made arms. Thus every year, billions of dollars are funneled from US taxpayers to hundreds of arms corporations, who then wage lobbying campaigns pushing for even more foreign military aid.
8) The U.S. has defied the legitimate January 2006 Palestinian election. As a result, the situation in Gaza, especially, is disastrous. The U.S. declared Hamas a terrorist organization, The E.U. and the U.S. then withheld humanitarian funds and made no effort to insist that Israel transfer tax money owed to the Palestine Authority. The ensuing chaos in Gaza is in large measure due to the lack of electricity. Israeli forces bombed a major electric generator. Gaza suffers from lack of jobs, no ability to travel freely, not enough food or medicine. The U.N.'s World Food Program warned that Gaza faces a food crisis. The US has funneled tens of millions of dollars in the form of military aid and training to Fatah to in an effort to overthrow Hamas, fueling sectarian violence in Palestine. [5]
9) U.S. law is being violated. Section 4 of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act requires that military items transferred to foreign governments by the United States be used solely for internal security and legitimate self-defense. The cluster bombs used by Israel against Lebanon in July 2006 were made by U.S. corporations – not at all legitimate self-defense. The Caterpillar bulldozer which killed peace activist Rachel Corey and several British activists, as well as Palestinians, were sold to Israel in violation of this U.S. law. Caterpillar is just one example[6]
10) It is U.S. policy to undermine the United Nations. Over 65 U.N. Security Council and General Assembly resolutions holding Israel accountable have been vetoed by the United States and Israel. The United Nations represents an alternative to war, through diplomacy. We need to demand the U.S. accept offers of talks with other forces in the region, including Syria, Iran, Lebanon and the two major parties in Palestine.
[1] Daphne Banai- President WILPF- Israel section
[2] Michele Landsberg, Columnist for The Toronto Star
[3] Robert Dreyfuss, quoted by TomDispatch.com. Also, Richard Sale, UPI Terrorism Correspondent, United Press International, Analysis: Hamas History tied to Israel
[4] Jewish Daily Forward (12/15/06)
[5] Thursday February 01, 2007, Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencie
[6] "With regard to Israel, sales between Caterpillar and the U.S. government are openly conducted through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales Program." The U.S. government buys Caterpillar bulldozers and sends them to Israel as part of our country's annual foreign military assistance package. Such sales are governed by the U.S. Arms Export Control Act (Public Law 90-829), which limits the use of U.S. military aid to "internal security" and "legitimate self-defense" and prohibits its use against civilians, Caterpillar Corporation
