AMP asks US to uphold Cairo promise to support Palestinian statehood

(CHICAGO 09/20/2011) -- The American Muslims for Palestine stands in solidarity with all Palestinians – the millions of refugees in Diaspora and in refugee camps, the Palestinians of Gaza who are besieged almost beyond human endurance, the Palestinians of the West Bank who must fight every day for the simple act of moving freely about in their own country, and the Palestinian citizens of Israel, who are discriminated against and are forced to live as second- and third-class residents in a racist and apartheid state.

We stand solidly for the basic human and civil rights of all Palestinians, for the right of all refugees to return to the homes from which they were so brutally forced, and for the right of all Palestinians everywhere to seek self-determination. 

The Palestinian Authority will be bringing this week a petition for statehood before the United Nations Security Council, a move the United States has said it will veto. 

This move is in direct contradiction to the promises President Barack Obama made in his 2009 speech in Cairo – that “America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.” Now, the president is saying to the Palestinians the only viable path toward statehood is through prolonged negotiations with Israel. 

After 20 years, it is clear that Israel is not negotiating in good faith and, in fact, uses the ‘peace process’ as a means to expropriate more and more Palestinian land. In light of this fact, AMP asks President Obama to keep his word and to support Palestinians as they peacefully utilize diplomatic channels to seek statehood. AMP asks the United States to not stand in the way of Palestinian self-determination by vetoing the statehood proposal in the United Nations Security Council.

A U.S. veto will further reinforce the perception of the U.S. in the world – especially to the Arab and Muslim world where waves of democratic change are sweeping the landscape – that the United States believes in democracy for only a chosen few. It will send the strong signal again that the United States unconditionally supports Israel and its continuous violations of international law and denial of Palestinians’ human rights.

Continuing to side with Israel in its defiance of international law, United Nations resolutions, and the declared U.S. official stand vis-à-vis the occupation of Palestine is not in the best interest of the United States or its citizens because it weakens our national security and delegitimizes the U.S. as an honest broker in the Middle East.

No matter what happens with the PA bid at the United Nations, even if the statehood bid somehow passes, it is paramount to remember that Palestine will still be under occupation. 

AMP has been working tirelessly to educate people and the media about the occupation. We are working to build a grassroots movement to put pressure to bear upon elected officials to oppose U.S. unconditional military, financial and diplomatic support of Israel. And AMP is continuing to pressure the international community to oppose the occupation; to end the siege on Gaza; to tear down the Apartheid Wall; to stop the indiscriminate and random arrests, detentions and killings of innocent Palestinians; and to release the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners languishing in Israeli prisons. 

All Palestinians have a right to be heard and to determine the course of their future; and Israel must be held to account for its actions. AMP calls on Congress to use our $3 billion in unconditional military aid to pressure Israel to abide by international law and end the siege on the Palestinians of Gaza and the occupation of Palestine.