US House passes anti-Palestine bill

[mudplanet]

"At last the United States is responding to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's refusal to freeze settlements and re-start negotiations with the Palestinians.

Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, rushed to the House floor with a resolution drafted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee condemning the Palestinians for publicly suggesting that, in the wake of Netanyahu's refusal to freeze settlements and negotiate, they will consider a unilateral declaration of statehood.

Congress passed the Berman bill, drafted only this week, on Wednesday. When it comes to pleasing AIPAC, there are simply no limits.

This remains true even though AIPAC is embroiled in an espionage/sex scandal that has it scrambling to find $20m to pay off a former top employee who is threatening to produce documents exposing the lobby."

Read the rest at http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2010/12/2010121611101496814.html

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mudplanet]

2. How about a little constructive criticism on how to solve the problem

such as withholding US aid until Israel changes it's policies.

[sakabatou]

3. I completely DISAGREE with you

Destruction is not an option.

[oberliner]

4. Dear lord

Comments like this on DU are still shocking to me.

[dennis4868]

5. ISRAEL DOES NOT NEED TO BE DESTROYED....

AIPAC should go away and the leaders of Israel should realize they are not acting in the best interest of the state!

[Mosby]

6. lol, only on du

Don't you think people might find your post a little anti-semitic?

[bluestateguy]

7. What a revolting thing to believe

Despicable.

[MineralMan]

8. That's simply unconscionable.

[oberliner]

9. Here is the actual resolution itself

If anyone cares about that sort of thing:

Resolved, by the House of Representatives that Congress--

(1) reaffirms its strong opposition to any attempt to establish a Palestinian state outside the negotiating process;

(2) strongly and unequivocally opposes any attempt to seek recognition of a Palestinian state by the United Nations or other international forums;

(3) calls upon the Administration to continue its opposition to the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state;

(4) calls upon the Administration to affirm that the United States would deny any recognition, legitimacy, or support of any kind to any unilaterally declared `Palestinian state' and would urge other responsible nations to follow suit, and to make clear that any such unilateral declaration would constitute a grievous violation of the principles underlying the Oslo Accords and the Middle East peace process;

(5) calls upon the Administration to affirm that the United States will oppose any attempt to seek recognition of a Palestinian state by the United Nations or other international forums and will veto any resolution to that end by the United Nations Security Council;

(6) calls upon the President and the Secretary of State to lead a high-level diplomatic effort to encourage the European Union and other responsible nations to strongly and unequivocally oppose the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state or any attempt to seek recognition of a Palestinian state by the United Nations or other international forums; and

(7) supports the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the achievement of a true and lasting peace through direct negotiations between the parties.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.RES.1734:

[Violet_Crumble]

10. Where's their bill opposing unilateral moves Israel's made?

Can you even begin to imagine the uproar there'd be if Israel's unilateral declaration of statehood had been recieved the same way by the US back when Israel came into being?

Y'know, it's very clear those who oppose official recognition of a Palestinian state are now unable to hide their true colours, where they'd bleat about how they want peace and support the creation of a Palestinian state. Now it looks like it's on its way, it's no surprise to see the opposition to a Palestinian state coming out in plain view. Maybe they had visions of a subordinate series of Bantustans that was created by the US and Israel and could be labelled a 'state', but had none of the trappings. How dare the Palestinians make decisions for themselves! It's up to Israel and the ever-so-impartial mediator, the US to do that! They'll decide what, if any, 'state' the Palestinians will get (very little), when it will happen (nowhere in the future as there's no rush for them), and what it will look like. It's really rather rude of the Palestinians to think they know what's best for themselves, or even to think they have the right to make any decisions about their future! ;)

btw, here's a copy of the Resolution. It's as biased and anti-Palestinian as what I've been hearing it is:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hr111-1734

Let's make a list of unilateral actions by Israel that the US has had no problems with. I'll start:

• The Disengagement from Gaza
  

[mudplanet]

11. No written statement from Congress is needed to demostrate their

anti-human bias and support for illegal occupation: their continued support of Israel with billions of dollars a year and all the high tech weapons says it pretty loudly.

[Mosby]

19. the occupation is legal btw

Not sure why you don't know that.

I take it that you don't think much of American democracy, so who do you think will be funding the PA and UNRWA in the future if not the US?

[mudplanet]

21. I didn't know it because it isn't true.

If you check with the Encyclopaedia Britannica and Wikileaks you'll find that Israel has been in violation of international law since 1948. There is "debate" only about exactly how continuously.

I'm unsure where you get the idea that I don't think much of American democracy. I'm in opposition to US foreign policy in the Mideast and I'm fairly sure it violate international law and enables/promotes continuing human rights crimes on a large scale. I'm an advocate for democratic forms of government. American exceptionalism and imperialism isn't "American Democracy", it's international crime.

Maybe the PA could fund itself if it was allowed to form a functioning country with a government. Or maybe the US should split the money it give Israel every year and give half to the PA and half to Israel.

And why would the US want to stop funding the UNRWA?

Please be a little more specific. I welcome constructive criticism.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Violet_Crumble]

13. I don't think calling for the destruction or dismantling of any state is acceptable here...

I did alert on the post in question, as it was clear and unambiguous. Y'know, if that was said about the Palestinians, I would hope it would be dealt with in the same way. I haven't read the guidelines for a while, but I'm pretty sure they cover extreme statements like that.

Also, while the guidelines for the forum haven't been updated and aren't a definitive list, 'ifamericansknew' is not allowed to be used as a source here. Just thought I'd let you know so you don't sit there wondering why yr post ends up deleted if someone else alerts on it...

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[oberliner]

16. A confab with the mods

What would you have in mind?

[Violet_Crumble]

17. I'm not alerting on yr post. I was just giving you a head's up...

I'm not a mod. I don't get to make the decisions round here or deal with issues like what's allowed or what's not. What I've found from experience is it's best to PM the mods to raise any issues about moderation, and not get into it with other participants in the forum, because yr posts will more than likely end up deleted, as are most posts that question the moderators. It's just the way things are and I've found it's kind of pointless to lose too much sleep over decisions the mods make...

[oberliner]

18. Don't be piut off by that little lecture from that other poster

That poster is way off base on numerous points. The way that your posts get deleted is by people like that poster alerting on them so I would take their suggestions with a grain of salt.

Post what you feel is right, follow the guidelines laid out for the forum, and you won't have any problems at all.

The whole point of the forum, after all, is to get into it with other participants. That is what makes this forum so vibrant, in spite of the best efforts of the poster who is attempting to lecture you on the rules.

[mudplanet]

22. ifamericansknew isn't prohibited on this site and the citation is to

a btselem web site.

http://www.btselem.org/English/index.asp

[oberliner]

15. If Americans Knew?

Is that a website you trust?

[mudplanet]

23. More that I trust AIPAC propaganda, the NYT (on the Isreal/Palestine conflict)

and the information I cited was sourced/linked to B'Tselem http://www.btselem.org/English/index.asp

so yes, the information was solidly credible.

And while I haven't spent more that a couple of hours on it, I find it to be very credible.

[aranthus]

20. How is this resolution helpful?

It interferes with the President's ability to make foreign policy, unnecessarily antagonizes one of the sides in the dispute without doing anything to advance the position of the Israelis (who are presumably our allies), and seems to be nothing more than a knee jerk litmus test.

Suppose the Palestinians (through Abbas, or better yet, the National Council) made a declaration along the following lines:

1. They declare a State of Palestine in the territory they now control.
2. They declare that Israel is the State of the Jewish people contingent on Israel recognizing Palestine.
3. They maintain their claim to the remainder of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, said claims to be settled by negotiations with Israel, along with all other issues.

Would such a declaration be helpful or not? Why? Would you want your government to recognize the new state or not? Why?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

24. Easy: it makes it easier for the Israeli government to resist pressure to make concessions. N.T.

[kayecy]

25. Did Congress approve Israel's unilateral declaration of statehood in 1948?.........n/t