With too many troops deployed in the Middle East to back out now, the Bush administration has no choice but to attack Iraq in order to save face. However, it is high time we returned to a high-profile international debate that has recently been denied the public limelight it consumed not too long ago.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has largely taken the journalistic back-burner, but last week’s occurrences should have infuriated those who could tear their eyes away from the mainstream media’s continual regurgitation of political allegations, smoke signals and half-truths.
Last week was the four-day holiday celebrated by Muslims called Eid
al-Adha, the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. On Feb. 11, President Bush issued this statement: “The Quran teaches that the sacred feast of Eid al-Adha is a time for Muslims to join family and friends in thanking the Almighty for His many blessings and to reflect on the great sacrifice and devotion of Abraham.” How sweet.
A day later, The New York Times reported that an eight-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead on the same day as Bush’s statement when “security forces” opened fire on a group of people throwing stones at them in the West Bank city of Qalqilya. The Israel Committee Against House Demolitions said in June of last year that “if Palestinians are to be held accountable for their terrorist actions, then Israel must be held accountable for the structural violence inherent in its occupation.” We cannot condemn one act of terrorism and support another.
I am not anti-Israel — I believe that the Jewish people deserve their own state. It’s unfortunate, however, that this state happens to be on land previously occupied by others. Bush gives continual lip service to Muslims around the world and then turns the other cheek when Israel commits atrocities against Muslims and breaks U.N. resolutions — which is a big complaint against Iraq.
Israel has more than 40 U.N. resolutions against it — more than Saddam Hussein — including U.N. resolutions 242 and 338 that call for Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, lands occupied by Israel since 1967. More recently, the U.N. General Assembly attempted to pass a resolution that called for Israel to “stop encroaching” on Palestinian lands. There were 185 nations to vote in favor of this resolution, with only the United States, Israel and Micronesia voting against it.
In addition to violating numerous U.N. resolutions, Israel is in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, regulating occupying powers. Article 49 of the Convention states that “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.” In addition, Article 49 states that “the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” These two resolutions apply to the post-1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Finally, the U.S. government violates its own policy by financing Israel. Article 2 of “The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961” forbids the United States from giving military aid to any government that engages in human rights violations. Israel has been accused of human rights abuses by international human rights organizations including Amnesty International. The Christian Science Monitor in December of 2002 stated that “since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion. If divided by today’s population, that is more than $5,700 per person.”
The United States cannot afford to be inconsistent in its foreign policy and should apply pressure in all areas where oppression is taking place.