After 42 of Al Naksa … Jerusalem still under occupation

Today marks the 42^nd year since Israel invaded and illegally occupied what was left of historical Palestine. While the world tells us we must move on and accept the deplorable conditions under which Palestinians live on a daily basis, we as Muslims must continue to strive to bring justice to our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land.

President Barack Obama is touring the Middle East this week outlining his administration’s plans for peace in that region.  It’s ironic that his speech to the Muslim world on Thursday in Egypt occurred on the eve of the 1967 Six Day War.

Obama has been leaning on Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu recently to cease settlement expansion in the West Bank.  It’s a promising stance, but it doesn’t go far enough to address the suffering and humiliation Palestinians face on a daily basis.

The IDF, on several occasions, has waged indiscriminate attacks as a form of collective punishment against innocent civilians, such as in the 2002 massacres in Jenin and Beit Hanoun and most recently in Gaza, where more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed and more than 5,300 were wounded.  For nearly three years, Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza, bringing the region’s economy to a standstill and causing major food and medicine shortages. More than 400,000 people have no access to potable water.

A May 27 report, “West Bank Movement and Access Update,” by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, offers other grim statistics about the realities about the occupation:

• Since 1967, Israeli authorities closed more than 30 percent – 676 square miles – of the West Bank – declaring the land military zones or nature preserves and prohibiting access to Palestinians.
• Checkpoints and other obstacles block Palestinians from moving freely. UN officials counted 634 checkpoints and other obstacles in the West Bank, which is smaller than the Chicagoland area. (Chicago and the collar counties)
• Since 1967, 150 Israeli settlements have been constructed on 3 percent of the West Bank. In the last quarter of 2008, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reported construction had begun or is continuing on nearly 4,000 new housing units in the illegal colonies in the West Bank. More troubling is the Israeli Ministry of Housing’s plans for an additional 73,000 settlement units.
• The majority – 87 percent - of the Apartheid Wall snakes through the West Bank. Furthermore, Israel has closed to Palestinians the land between the Wall and the Green Line (1948 boundaries). Palestinians, whose homes lie in the newly closed areas, must obtain permits from the IDF in order to remain. The permits are largely denied.
• The trends seen in the last year alone have “resulted in a contraction of the overall space available for Palestinian development and a decrease in the degree of control that Palestinians have over that space,” the UN report concluded. “The movement of Palestinians within the West Bank remains highly constrained.”

Obama is urging Israel to freeze settlements, because "part of being a good friend is being honest,” he said this week. The American Muslims for Palestine applaud Obama for his stance on settlements. However, AMP believes honest dialogue must also include heavy pressure on Israel to end the occupation or risk losing their U.S. funding. Without the financial incentive, Israel will continue to ignore Obama’s requests as it has ignored international law for the past 42 years.

It is our duty as Muslims and Americans to make sure we continue to remind people about the illegal and unjust occupation of the Holy Land. Please remember our brothers and sisters in Palestine, pray for them and ask Allah SWT to bring them faith, constancy and an ease to their suffering.

AMP is calling on our administration to:

• Stop sending to Israel military aid, which supports and funds the occupation;
• Work with the United Nations and the international community to bring down the Apartheid Wall;
• Work with the UN and the international community to enforce UN resolutions that give Palestinian Refugees the right to go back to their villages and towns;
• Pressure Israel to stop the expansion and dismantle all settlements; and most important
• Work with the UN and the international community to end the occupation.