The United States is partially responsible for the conflict between Israel and Palestine because it ignores international law and supports Israel’s military occupation of neighboring regions, author and political activist Phyllis
Bennis told a crowd of about 20 students, educators, and community members Tuesday.
“The U.S. does say they want a Palestinian state, but everything they’re doing is having the effect of undermining their capacity of a true state,” said Bennis, who is a senior analyst at the Institute for Policy Studies and has written about United Nations and Middle East issues for almost 20 years.
Israeli occupation in Palestine and U.S. occupation in Iraq are linked and are set within the U.S. strategy, she said.
Bennis said the United States has shared a strategic alliance and “special relationship” with Israel, granting economic and political support since the 1967 war, when Israel seized large tracts of land from neighboring countries. In April 2002, Israel violated international law when it relaunched a military assault on a refugee camp in Jenin and killed 29 civilians, Bennis said.
Following the Jenin invasion, the United States provided political support to Israel and used the invasion as a model for urban warfare, she said.
Throughout the war in Iraq, especially during the seizure of Fallujah, the U.S. military used tactics Israelis used in Jenin, Bennis said.
In August 2005, the Israeli government ordered Israeli Jews to leave settlements in the Gaza Strip. After the disengagement, Bennis said, there was a moment of
celebration and people were grateful the occupants were gone, but Palestinians are still not granted any real independence.
“There’s no money. There’s no economy. There’s no way to export goods,” she said. “There’s supposed to be negotiations underway, but there’s no indication, given the disparity in power, that anything new is going to change.”
Bennis said education and action are key to changing conditions in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.
International law is only useful when it is held up as a tool, Bennis said.
“They (international laws) are only worth the paper they’re written on if we make that paper a flag that becomes part of our movement and we demand enforcement of these things,” she said.
Bennis said she is not taking sides in the conflict, but she supports international law. She is against the United States supporting illegal occupation and wants the U.S. government to abide by international law.
Bennis described “exactly what is happening,” said Amal Eqeiq, a graduate student from Taibeh, Israel.
“Back home there is so much depression,” Eqeiq said. “You’re always trying to search for hope.”
As a Palestinian living in Israel, Eqeiq said she is considered a second-class citizen.
When Equeiq first came to Eugene, she expected to see more students politically active in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
As an Arab Muslim, Eqeiq said it can be dangerous for her to openly protest and wishes more students with the opportunity would become more involved.
It warms her heart to see people holding “stop the war” signs, she said.
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