U.S. response to IOF violence in Golan Heights exposes hypocrisy in U.S. foreign policy

(CHICAGO 06/06/2011) – The American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) is sharply criticizing the United State’s reaction to Israel Occupation Forces' killing of several unarmed civilians in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights on Sunday, and is calling upon President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to hold Israel accountable for the deaths.

Saying it was “hypocritical” and that it absolved Israel from any responsibility for the deaths, AMP criticized a tepidly worded statement issued by the U.S. State Department in response to Israeli Occupation Forces’ fatal shooting of at least 20 unarmed civilians – including one woman and child -- and the wounding of hundreds more. The statement said the U.S. was “troubled” by the “loss of life.” It went on to lay the blame for the deaths and injuries on the Palestinian and Syrian demonstrators, who were walking toward the border to protest decades of Israeli occupation, by saying “provocative actions like this should be avoided.”

(CHICAGO 06/06/2011) – The American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) is sharply criticizing the United State’s reaction to Israel Occupation Forces' killing of several unarmed civilians in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights on Sunday, and is calling upon President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to hold Israel accountable for the deaths.

Saying it was “hypocritical” and that it absolved Israel from any responsibility for the deaths, AMP criticized a tepidly worded statement issued by the U.S. State Department in response to Israeli Occupation Forces’ fatal shooting of at least 20 unarmed civilians – including one woman and child -- and the wounding of hundreds more. The statement said the U.S. was “troubled” by the “loss of life.” It went on to lay the blame for the deaths and injuries on the Palestinian and Syrian demonstrators, who were walking toward the border to protest decades of Israeli occupation, by saying “provocative actions like this should be avoided.”

“The United State’s stance on the events that transpired in the occupied Golan Heights is extremely hypocritical when viewed in relation to our reaction to other acts of aggression and human rights violations elsewhere,” said Dr. Hatem Bazian, AMP chairman and professor of Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. “In other cases, say with Iran or China, the United States has enacted or supported sanctions and the withholding of foreign aid. It is time for the United States to hold Israel to the same human rights standards to which we hold other countries.”

AMP calls on President Barak Obama and Secretary of State to hold Israel and the Israeli Occupation Forces accountable for its disproportionate use of force on Sunday and for its continued violations of international law.

In direct contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention and UN resolutions, Israel continues to occupy land it acquired through war, continues to displace indigenous populations and to place its own population into the occupied areas. Article 11 of UN Resolution 194, issued on Dec. 11, 1948, gives the Palestinian refugees who were forced into exile during the Zionist aggressions surrounding the creation of the State of Israel the right to return to their homeland. It also gives them the right to remuneration for their lost land and property. UN Resolution 242, passed in November 1967 as a result of Israel’s Six-Day War, condemned the acquisition of territory through war and demanded Israel withdraw from all occupied territories, while UN Resolution 497 condemned Israel’s annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights in 1981 and declared its “administration [there] null and void and without international legal effect."  

Furthermore, the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulates that the occupier must protect the people it occupies. And in the case of warfare, the Principles of Distinction prohibit soldiers from firing upon civilians.

AMP also demands the United States condemn Israeli military and security forces’ disproportionate use of force on Sunday against peaceful civilian protestors throughout the West Bank and Gaza who were commemorating 44 years since Israel’s Six-Day War, which resulted in its occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula. 

“The Palestinians’ non-violent actions aimed at achieving self-determination and liberty are no different than the Arab Spring actions of the Egyptian people, which President Obama and Secretary Clinton praised several times. By allowing Israel to continue to violate international law with impunity and not holding it to the same standards as other regimes that violate human rights, the hypocrisy in U.S. foreign policy is glaringly apparent and weakens our moral authority in the rest of the world – especially with the Arab and Muslim world,” Dr. Bazian said. “Furthermore, just last month, the president called for a Palestinian state based upon the 1967 borders, which is in line with U.S. and international non-recognition of Israel’s occupation. How then, can the U.S. fault the Palestinians for demonstrating against the inhumane and abusive policies of an illegal occupation?”

AMP also calls on the president and secretary of state to review U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East to find a more equitable and just alternative to the payment of more than $3 billion per year in unconditional military aid. As the United States has supported the Egyptian and Libyan peoples’ struggle for self-determination, democracy, justice and liberty, AMP appeals to President Obama and Secretary Clinton to support the Palestinians who are peacefully struggling for their legally guaranteed rights to return to their homeland and their inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.