UNITED STATES DISQUALIFIED!

If you or I were in a conflict with another party, would we trust a third party with any role in helping us resolve that conflict, if we knew that the third party had given more than two decades of unconditional support to the party that was our adversary? The United States has for several decades provided unconditional support to Israel. In the United Nations the U.S. abstains, votes against or vetoes any statements or resolutions that are critical of the Israeli government. The United States provides financial and military aid to Israel with no strings attached. Operation Cast Lead resulted in the deaths of hundreds of women and children and many institutional structures were reduced to rubble. The American government has done nothing to investigate whether Israel’s use of gifted armaments in Operation Cast Lead violated U.S. laws. The United States gave tacit approval to the Israeli invasions of Lebanon in the summer of 2006 and in Gaza in the winter of 2008-9. Yet, the United States has imposed many conditions on support provided to Palestinians. When less than a majority of Palestinians elected Hamas (about 44% according to The Economist), the U.S. government withheld financial assistance to this donor dependent Palestinian community.

Aaron David Miller in his book, The Much Too Promised Land, characterized the role of the U.S. as “Israel’s lawyer.” The United States government has done little or nothing to stop “facts on the ground” that now make a two-state solution very difficult if not impossible. For more than a decade, the Israeli government has increased its matrix of control over the daily lives of all Palestinians even grade school children and others who are in no way security threats to Israel.

Championing the U.S. in a major role with the Israelis and Palestinians is fundamentally flawed. Only if the United States stops unconditionally supporting Israel can we qualify for a legitimate third party role. Free and open discussion is likely to convince most Americans that unconditional support of Israel is neither in the best interests of the United States nor in the best interests of Israel. However, Israeli/Palestinian issues are rarely discussed freely and openly by academics, religious leaders and especially not by politicians. Quick, vicious attacks from the Israel Lobby (this includes not only AIPAC and other Jewish organizations, but also secular Zionists and a significantly larger group of evangelical Christians) discredit and marginalize speakers whose comments are against the unconditional support of Israel. As a result many opinion leaders censor themselves in public settings even though in private settings they may express very different views. Let us hope that the climate for free and open discussion continues to improve so that the United States can qualify for a legitimate third party role with the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The Israeli/Palestinian Conundrums

The Israeli/Palestinian situation is “an intricate and difficult problem” in which the interests of one peoples are inextricably linked to the interests of another peoples. On a recent visit to Jerusalem, Bishop Wayne Miller reported on NPR http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/content.aspx?audioID=31386 some comments from a member of the Parents Circle – Families Forum. Those comments captured this inextricable linkage of peoples and were paraphrased into the following conundrums:

Israeli security requires Palestinian freedom. Palestinian freedom requires Israeli security. Palestinians must share the land with Israelis. Israelis must share the land with Palestinians.

A United States foreign policy based on these conundrums will be guided by President Obama’s ideal of both/and not either/or. Gaza will continue to smolder with violence and suffering and Israelis near Gaza will live in fear until these conundrums are taken seriously. Smuggling weapons and materials for creating weapons through the tunnels on the south end of Gaza must be stopped. The United States foreign policy supports Israeli security on this issue. How does United States foreign policy deal with Palestinian freedom?

CNN has shown that some tunnels are used to smuggle weapons and materials for building weapons but other tunnels support merchants who sell basic necessities. These tunnels and these merchants exist because Israeli authorities deny adequate supplies to enter Gaza. Since the summer of 2007, UNWRA [http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2245142,00.html#article_continue] has forcefully asserted that the Israeli authorities deny entry of the amount of basic supplies required to maintain the health and welfare of the Gazan population especially the normal development of children. The Israeli control of land, sea and air surrounding Gaza have led some to characterize Gaza as the world’s largest open-air prison. Gazans are unable to live productive lives with the Israeli restrictions on exports and imports. The reconstruction of many buildings that the Israeli military reduced to rubble during Operation Cast Lead will require a huge increase in the amount of supplies and services entering Gaza. The United States has done nothing to support Palestinian freedom by breaking the Israeli control of imports and exports.

In the summer of 2008, American media [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/world/middleeast/02fulbright.html] carried stories of seven Gaza students whose Fulbright scholarships were not finalized. U.S. Secretary of State Rice intervened and demanded that these students be permitted to leave Gaza to study in the United States. In the face of mounting criticism Israeli authorities reversed their decision and permitted these seven students to exit Gaza. In addition to these seven, there were many more students who were held in Gaza and denied the opportunity to study in the West Bank and abroad. B’Tselem reported that the exact number was unknown but one human rights group estimated the number to be in the hundreds [http://www.btselem.org/English/Gaza_Strip/20080724_Gaza_Students.asp]. The United States acted to support Palestinian freedom.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article [http://sec.online.wsj.com/article/SB123186758734177759.html], there are about 15,000 to 20,000 Hamas fighters in Gaza. Yet, all 1.5 million Palestinians who reside in Gaza are held accountable and punished for the actions of a few. Violent acts by Palestinians that create Israeli insecurity must be condemned and stopped. U.S. foreign policy must be structured to help Israel find ways to suppress these acts of the few without violating the freedom rights of the many.