http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6542.htm
'Time to put US interests first'Â
By Mazin QumsiyehÂ
07/21/04 "Jordan Times" -- Without taking the will and interest of voters (and the rest of the world) into consideration, Congress voted last week to reject the ruling by the International Court of Justice on the illegality of Israel's apartheid wall. More disturbing is the fact that such bills pass within 24-48 hours to avoid discussion and to intimidate House members who might otherwise consider that such bills are not only immoral but also violate basic US laws. US law forbids foreign aid to governments that violate human rights and promote one religion or a religious group at the expense of another. We send Israel nearly $5 billion per year. Every single human rights organisation, and even our own State Department, document gross Israeli violations of human rights. To this day, Israel refuses to comply with international law, violates over 35 UN Security Council resolutions and hundreds of General Assembly resolutions. By extension, US law is violated since the US is signatory to such agreements as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 4th Geneva Convention. This includes the right of native refugees to return, the illegality of making Jewish-only settlements and roads on Palestinian lands, and Israel's basic laws that discriminate based on religion.Â
Now, one should ask why Congress issues more binding and non-binding resolutions in support of Israel than it issued on all other foreign issues combined. This is a question that one would think the media in the US would be interested in exploring and at least presenting one with both sides of the issue. But like Congress, many in the media have a paralysing fear of the tiger (paper or otherwise) known as the Israeli lobby.Â
Congressman Paul Findley analysed this phenomenon in his book âThey Dare to Speak Outâ. In it, he explored the tactics used to intimidate and silence debate. But I believe the perception of the Israeli and Jewish lobby power is more than its reality.Â
In 1996, a report by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies (IASPS) called for regime change in Iraq to neutralise Syria and Iran. Titled âA Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realmâ, the study, addressed to Benjamin Netanyahu, was written by neoconservatives like Richard Perle (chair, now chief architect of the war on Iraq), James Colbert (from the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs), Charles Fairbanks, Jr. (SAIS), Douglas Feith (Feith and Zell Associates, now third ranking official in the Pentagon), Robert Loewenberg, (president, IASPS), Jonathan Torop (the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, WINEP an earlier offshoot of AIPAC), and David Wurmser (IASPS, assistant to George Bush's Chief Policy Adviser John Bolton). I believe everyone should study this document and similar ones (like âProject for New American Centuryâ) to understand the agenda and the people advancing this in 1996 and before. IASPS does not hide its agenda as it even requires its applicants to have bought into the philosophy of the godfather of neoconservatives Leo Strauss.Â
Many Republicans and Democrats are unhappy with this direction of unconditional support for Israeli policies. Yet, as Senator Fullbrigt articulated, fear of âthe Lobbyâ shapes Washington's policies.Â
President Bill Clinton appointed a lobbyist for Israel as ambassador to Israel. Martin Indyk was an adviser to former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and an Australian citizen. Presidential intervention was needed to speed-up his US citizenship to get appointed. Dennis Ross served as director of WINEP, created by ex-AIPAC President Weinberg, to advance Zionist interests before and after Clinton appointed him as Middle East envoy. Appointing ambassadors, envoys and policy makers selected from the ranks of those who lobbied for a foreign country (Israel) is unprecedented in US history.Â
John Kerry's brother was just sent as an envoy to assure Israel of his unwavering commitments, and Kerry frequently makes comments in support of the apartheid wall and Israeli colonial activities. So one would expect no change in Middle East policy under a Kerry administration.Â
Not all are falling in line, and those like Cynthia McKinney, who were shot down for speaking the truth, are coming back, while others in Congress, like congressmen Kucinich and Conyers and Senators Byrd and Hollinger, speak some truth to power. But it is time the public began to bypass mainstream media to find out what really is happening in Washington and to hold elected officials accountable. It is time to put US interests first.Â
The writer is author of âSharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggleâ. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times
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