In the aftermath of Hamas’ victory in the Palestinian legislative
elections, several members of Congress introduced anti-Palestinian
resolutions. The most malicious of these proposals came from the chair
of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, Representative
Ilena Ros-Lehtinen of Florida’s 18th District (Miami-Dade County).
The resolution’s key provision prohibits the United States to provide direct
assistance to the Palestinian authority. Although current law already includes
this provision, Ms. Ros invented additional barriers for the President before
he could revoke the prohibition.
By designating the Palestinian territory as a “terrorist sanctuary,” her
House Resolution 4681 would eviscerate the existing free trade agreement between
the U.S. and the Palestinian Authority. Going beyond this punishment of all residents
of the West Bank and Gaza, Ms. Ros wants to deny U.S. visas to all official Palestinian
representatives regardless of their political affiliation, restrict the movement
of Palestinian diplomats at the United Nations, and shut down the Palestinian
information office in Washington, D.C.
Rep. Ros is so angered by United Nations motions critical of Israeli human rights
violations in the occupied territories that H.R. 4681 requires the U.S. to withhold
U. N. dues in proportion to the percentage of the U.N. budget’s funding
of the U.N. Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. She
also wants to require the U.S. to vote against World Bank aid for the rehabilitation
of the Gaza Strip.
One has to wonder why Ms. Ros, the first-ever Cuban-American Congresswoman, would
be so single-minded in her determination to punish all Palestinians for the fact
that the Hamas Party gained a majority in the democratic elections everybody
wanted to be held.
Born in Havana in 1954, Ms. Ros ought to be able to understand the desperation
of people, such as Cubans and Palestinians, who have been suffering decades of
unrelenting political oppression and economic deprivation. Or is her hatred of
Palestinians motivated by the tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions
she received from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)?
Realistically, there would never have been the Hamas movement hostile to Israel
if Israel’s leaders had not prolonged and aggravated the occupation of
Palestinian lands far beyond any reason and necessity. Even now the leaders of
Hamas are conceding that they would recognize the statehood of Israel if Israel’s
government ended the occupation regime. It appears that the stubbornness of Israel’s
rulers has been provoking the stubbornness of Hamas, and vice versa.
Considering the Palestinian outrage caused by Ms Ros’ ill-conceived resolution,
it really is a disservice to our country, particularly at a time when Americans
need more, not less, good will throughout the Middle East. Regrettably, in their
despair about the Israeli occupation, the leaders of Hamas fail to see that more
hostility toward the vastly more powerful state of Israel will not bring them
closer to independence.
Our leaders in the White House and on Capitol Hill simply lack the political
will to impress upon our Israeli friends that they have to make peace with their
neighbors, sooner rather than later. We need that peace with Arabs and Muslims,
and Israel needs it even more.
AIPAC and its supporters in Congress, who so frequently sabotaged Israeli-Palestinian
reconciliation, need to consider the damage they have wrought. Since September
2000, more than 2,700 Palestinians and 930 Israelis have died.
Hanan Ashrawi, the Palestinian legislator and doctoral graduate from the University
of Virginia, recently again told an audience on Capitol Hill that the U.S. has
a role to play in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “even if it is not entirely
even-handed,” merely for “the politics of self-interest. It [the
U.S.] must realize that the Palestinian question is the focal question, the most
emotive question, the source of instability and militarism and extremism because
it is the most visible expression of injustice and suffering and grievances and
pain that has not been resolved.”