UPDATED: US House of Reps Votes on Palestinian Self-Determination

The Chair of the US House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee, Rep. Howard Berman, is trying to push a resolution through Congress today “condemning unilateral declarations of a Palestinian state.”

The United Nations has long recognized the sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem as a matter of international law.   Since 1975 the UN has recommended that the Palestinian people be able “to exercise their inalienable rights to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty; and to return to their homes and property.”

There is growing consensus around the rest of the world in support of Palestinian sovereignty and statehood, yet two countries stand in the way:  Israel and its fiscal sponsor, the United States.

I just received notice from the US Campaign to End the Occupation about this horrifying resolution that will be voted on today.

They state:

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” the worst stumbling block to freedom’s advance is the person who “paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s [or woman’s] freedom.”

Yet, this is exactly what Rep. Berman’s resolution seeks to do: subjugate Palestinian freedom and self-determination to Israel’s indefinite timeline.  As MLK said, “‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’”

The question of sovereignty is nothing new for us as Sikhs, and many Sikhs have pledged solidarity with the plight of the Palestinian people.  Now more than ever is the time to raise our voices.  The US Campaign to End the Occupation is urging us to sign the petition to denounce this resolution and call your Congress members and tell them what you think.

UPDATE, 12/16/10

Last night, the House of Representatives unanimously passed the anti-Palestine bill.  The bill, drafted by AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, “calls on the U.S. administration to ‘deny recognition to any unilaterally declared Palestinian state and veto any resolution by the United Nations Security Council to establish or recognize a Palestinian state outside of an agreement negotiated by the two parties.’  It also urges Palestinian leaders to ‘cease all  efforts…to gain recognition of a Palestinian state from other nations, within the United Nations, and in other international forums prior to achievement of a final agreement between Israel and the Palestinians… and calls upon foreign governments not to extend such recognition.'” (See full article in Ha’aretz).

As Israel continues to expand illegal Jewish settlements, the Obama administration, like its predecesors, has given Israel the green light to continue doing essentially whatever it wants.  The Administration recently gave up on its efforts to convince Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu to institute a 90-day settlement freeze.

MJ Rosenburg states in his op-ed today in Al-Jazeera today:

No matter what Israel does, it is fine by America.

It does not have to be that way. If the administration and Congress put US interests (and Israel’s too) over the craving for campaign contributions, the United States could tell the Israeli government that, from now on, our aid package comes with strings.

Like a loan from the International Monetary Fund (although aid to Israel is a gift, not a loan), the US could say that in exchange for our billions, our UN vetoes of resolutions criticising Israel, and our silence in the face of war crimes like Gaza, we want Israel to end the occupation within, say, 24 months. And Israel would have to comply because our military assistance is, as AIPAC likes to call it, “Israel’s lifeline”…

But the lobby would be furious because, above all else, it needs to feel that it controls US policy in the Middle East. Not for America’s sake. Not for Israel’s. But for its own. As with most Washington lobbies, it is not in business to make the world a better place. It is not pro-Israel; it is pro-AIPAC…

But, for now, the bottom line is money. The US government dances to Israel’s tune because it is afraid to risk campaign contributions from a few dozen fat cats. That is the whole story.