Time and time again, pundits and policy-makers say that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will do more to advance American values and safeguard Americans than any of Bush’s wars. While the Bush Administration pushed aside most of the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations, Congress should be more responsive to these recommendation if we, their constituents, urge them. So, let’s reach and teach them.
In December, the Iraq Study Group report stated, “The United States cannot achieve its goals in the Middle East unless it deals directly with the Arab-Israeli conflict and regional instability. There must be a renewed and sustained commitment by the United States to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace on all fronts: Lebanon, Syria, and President Bush’s June 2002 commitment to a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. This commitment must include direct talks with, by, and between Israel, Lebanon, Palestinians (those who accept Israel’s right to exist), and Syria.”
Recently the Rebuilding Alliance came up with an innovative strategy to bring constituents together with their Congress people to listen to guest speakers living in Gaza, Jerusalem, and even Lebanon. The constituents hear about facts on the ground and, based upon informed discussion, urge policy change. This convenient forum, which can accommodate 96 people at a time, is our Contact Congress Teleconference — and we've held seven so far.
Okay, direct negotiations between governments is not something that Senators and Congress people can accomplish—at least not yet. But they can take action to end abuse and promote the fair rule of law, especially international law. We found that when constituents ask their help, senior staffers will call the State Department and the U.S. Embassy to express concern to save a home or neighborhood set for demolition by the Israeli Army. They’ll inquire on behalf of American constituents who have been denied the right to live with their families in the West Bank, Jerusalem, or Gaza. They’ll revise legislation based on a critical analysis from our teleconference group.
Lately we’ve been focusing on the issue of Americans denied the right to live with their families in Palestine. Dorothy Naor, who describes herself as an American and an Israeli-Jew, summarized the problem as follows in her presentation to Richard Harper, foreign policy staff to Senator Feinstein: “You are undoubtedly aware that since the second intifada in 2000, Israel has stopped processing family reunification requests, thereby forcing individuals who do not have Palestinian residency to depend on visas to remain in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT)s, and, further, that since March 2006 Israel has been denying entry to the OPTs to individuals of Palestinian descent who have foreign citizenship. Among these are many US citizens. At present over 120,000 requests for family reunification in the OPT are pending, many of which have been pending for years. At the same time, while family reunification requests are going nowhere, the ‘entry-denied’ stamp is becoming more and more prominent, and Israel is rapidly increasing the number of Jewish settlements and population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Just the past two years 2000 housing units were constructed in settlements in the OPTs. The average annual population growth rate in the settlements is 5-6 percent as compared to 2-3 percent in the Jerusalem area and central Israel, with even lower growth rates in the remainder of the country.”
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