This article co-written by Allison McCracken, the DC Coordinator of CODEPINK.
During August recess this year, 81
members of Congress went on a junket to Israel funded by the Israel lobby group
AIPAC (well, funded by the American Israel Education Fund, but they are really
one and the
same ) to "learn first-hand
about one of our closest friends and allies." While the representatives insist they
got a balanced view, their itinerary belies that claim: 95% of their time was
spent hearing the Israeli government point of view, with only one token meeting
with Palestinian reps.
CODEPINK has filed a complaint with the
Congressional Ethics Committee stating that these trips -- and the upcoming ones
scheduled for December -- violate the Congressional prohibition on traveling with
a lobby group. We feel these Potemkin voyages are part of AIPAC's grand plan to
control and monopolize Congress, which is not just unethical, but dangerous.
Their bias reinforces a disastrous U.S. policy of unconditional support for
Israel that obstructs peace and runs counter to our national
interests.
At a recent Foreign Affairs Committee
hearing, entitled "Promoting Peace? Reexamining US Aid to the Palestinian
Authority (PA)," we got a glimpse of what happens when Congress views the Middle
East through AIPAC-colored glasses. Here are a few of examples of their tunnel
vision:
* Listening to the wrong people: While the hearing was about Palestine, not one of the four witnesses was Palestinian-American, Arab-American, or even sympathetic to the Palestinian point of view. Like the AIPAC-junkets to Israel, this Washington hearing was completely one-sided. Three of the four people testifying before the Committee were Jewish, and all four were white men from conservative think tanks that take the side of the Israeli government. One of the witnesses was none other than convicted criminal Elliott Abrams, who, after the Iran-Contra scandal, went on to covertly arm Fatah after Hamas won the 2006 elections in Gaza, leading to a bloody conflict and inadvertently, to a Hamas takeover of all of Gaza. What great credentials for giving Congress advice on the Middle East!
When we asked the
committee staff why there was not one pro-Palestinian voice on the panel, we
were told to be quiet or we'd be ejected from the hearing.
* Polluting the atmosphere with racist
comments: Not once was
the plight of the Palestinians under occupation even mentioned. Instead,
Democrats and Republicans across the board made sweeping statements that were
embarrassingly racist. "Sending aid to the PA reinforces bad behavior," said
Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lethinen. "The Palestinians refuse to negotiate
and they glorify violence," she added. Cong. Carnahan wanted to know why there
are no "honest actors" among the Palestinians. Elliot Abrams added, "The
Palestinians have been cursed by a failure of leadership for 100 years." There
was no mention, of course, that some of the best Palestinian leaders can be
found in Israeli jails.
At the end of the day, one message that
could clearly be taken away from the hearing was that all Palestinians (except
perhaps Salem Fayyad, who they didn't think was so bad) are ungrateful,
Jew-hating, terror-worshiping freeloaders who are too lazy to work for peace
and who glorify violence. It obviously didn't fit into the AIPAC junket agenda
to introduce any of the committee members to peace activists in the West Bank
who organize nonviolent protests against the occupation on a weekly basis.
* Ignoring history/denying reality:
It was painful to listen
to the whole hearing, but one particular lament of Congress was arguably the
most offensive. "Ah, Israel has given up so much land, and done so much for
peace. When are the Palestinians going to make some concessions and do anything
at all for peace?" asked Cong. Rohrbacher, throwing up his hands in disgust.
The Palestinians still want the right to return "so that they can destroy
Israel," he added. Cong. Poe complained that Israel has given so much land for
peace that "pretty soon they're gonna run outta land." Witness Schanzer
denounced "100 years of Palestinian nationalism, which has been more concerned
with destroying Israel than constructing a viable Palestinian state."
Putting aside the fact that the West Bank and Gaza territories represent a fraction of historical Palestine, Congress completely ignores the fact that thousands of acres of Palestinian land have been confiscated by the Israeli government to establish dozens of settlements and populate them with hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers. When the word settlement came up, it was not in the context of land theft but to chide the Obama administration for focusing too much on settlements in its first two years and creating a rift with the Israeli government.
* Targeting the victims: As if pointing the finger at the
Palestinians for all the Middle East's woes wasn't enough, to its delight the
committee found a new target to defund and shut down: UNRWA, the United Nations
Refugee Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees. UNRWA assists about 5 million Palestinian refugees throughout the
Middle East, including those who were displaced during the creation of the state
of Israel and their descendants. UNRWA provides these refugees with basic
services such as education and health care. The surrounding Arab countries where
millions of Palestinian refugees live refuse to grant many of them citizenship,
thus denying them the ability to work and receive social services. Without
UNRWA, these people would basically be left with nothing.
Instead of acknowledging this sad reality,
members of Congress nodded their heads in eager agreement as witness Jonathan
Schanzer insisted that UNRWA be shut down. "UNRWA treats the Palestinians more
like clients than refugees," he claimed, thus perpetuating the refugee problem.
The only dissenting voice around shutting down UNRWA was David Makovsky, who
cautioned that the Israeli government might hate UNRWA, but it would not like to
see it shut down because then Israel would have to pay for those services it
provides, including schooling Palestinian refugee kids.
* Shutting off the lights : One witness, Jonathan Schanzer of the
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, had just returned from Ramallah with
news about the "electricity scam." The PA, he said, was supplying power to
Palestinians in Gaza, but Hamas -- which controls Gaza -- was charging people and
pocketing the money. Since the US funds the PA, we were enabling this scam.
Committee Chair Ros-Lethinen was horrified and indicated that cutting off funds
for electricity (i.e. turning out the lights on 1.6 million people) might be in
order. No one mentioned that Israel bombed Gaza's sole power plant during the
2008 invasion, and today it is still only partially functioning. No one
mentioned that Israel continues to restrict the entry of spare parts to rebuild
the plant and fuel to run it, leaving the people of Gaza with severe power
shortages of up to 12 hours a day!
* Tying aid with plenty of
strings: While most
representatives expressed a desire to cut all funds to the PA, the witnesses
cautioned them -- not for humanitarian reasons but for Israel's interests. The PA
security forces have been cooperating with the Israelis on everything from
stopping attacks on Israelis to repressing demonstrations. David Makovsky from
the Washington Institute speculated that cutting off funds to the PA security
forces would only hurt Israel. Jonathan Schanzer said that cutting off the PA
could lead to an "intifada" in which Hamas could emerge even stronger. He
stated that money is the U.S. leverage to control the PA. "If we cut the funds,
we lose our leverage and open the door for Iran and other anti-Israel actors."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
4
4
2
