End Weapon Sales to Israel!
[Another missive to elected "representatives"]
I urge you to sponsor legislation to immediately cut off military aid and suspend other forms of assistance to the present government of Israel. Unfortunately, I have almost no hope that you will take this principled action, but I lay out here my reasoning why you should.
Although Prime Minister Sharon—with the complicity of much of the American media—has affected a public relations coup by linking his invasion of the West Bank with the U.S. response to the Trade Center terrorism, a little knowledge of Middle East history annuls his (specious) argument. That Israel exists since 1948 on 70% of what was once Palestine and has since occupied the remaining share should illuminate the problem for fair-minded individuals. The occupation, which could more accurately be termed colonization, has resulted in the expansion of 33 Israeli West Bank settlements in the last year alone. Even the much-touted Oslo accords failed to adequately address the settlement issue, leaving Israel in control of Palestinian “sectors” and the watersheds. Without a viable Palestine how can there be peace and security for Israel? If you love Israel, you would suspend shipment of F-16s and Apache helicopters to the present government there.
In response to the Arab summit in Beirut, where all neighboring Islamic countries historically accepted the land-for-peace formula, Sharon invaded the West Bank. Oh, he justified it by citing the terrorist bombing in Netanya, for which he holds Chairman Arafat responsible. Is it likely that Arafat, who has been under house arrest in Ramallah for months, has had much influence with Hamas? If Sharon really wanted Arafat to curtail the tragic suicide bombings, would he systematically dismantle the Palestinian Authority—his only likely partner for peace? Sharon has stated “the fate of Netzarim [an Israeli settlement in Gaza] is the fate of Tel Aviv.” If you examine his consistent record from his days as military commander in Lebanon to the present, it’s apparent that Sharon does not want peace with a viable Palestinian state. Indeed, you’d recognize that he intends to expel any Palestinian he cannot utterly humiliate, before annexing the West Bank and Gaza. If you were a true friend to Israel, you’d divorce yourself from this form of radical Zionism.
The Israeli novelist, Amos Oz, has said that the tragic hostilities now occurring are not because the shape of a final settlement isn’t known, but because it is. The United States, the world’s remaining superpower with among democracies perhaps the least-informed electorate, is cast as Israel’s only remaining friend. But what kind of friend are we if by fostering dependency we prevent our friend from making neighbors with those it will one day have to live?
In the Democratic Party former President Carter and Zbig have some fair-minded things to say. Please don’t lock yourself, and the Democratic electorate you represent, into a shortsighted, possibly tragic, stance for short-term political gain. Facts lend themselves to recasting the present debate into something other than JEWS vs. ISRAEL-HATING ARAB TERRORISTS. In fact, Americans Jews are leading the fight for peace because they love Israel: consider the case of Noah Shapiro. If Colin Powell can’t sort it out, and if Congress won’t cut military aid to Israel, let’s strengthen the United Nations to enforce its just resolutions for the region.
posted by Paul at 12:54 PM
