Action Alert: AMP condemns Romney’s comments; Demands immediate apology

(CHICAGO 08/02/2012) -- The American Muslims for Palestine, a national, grassroots organization, sharply denounces comments made by presumed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, during his recent visit to Jerusalem that effectively blamed Palestinians for the weak and impoverished economic conditions in which they live.

Completely ignoring Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestine, which has brought Gaza’s economy to standstill and all but choked economic opportunities for Palestinians in the West Bank, Romney insinuated Palestinians are culturally inferior to Israelis, and therefore responsible for their own poverty. Romney made his remarks at a $25,000-per-head fundraiser.

"If you could learn anything from the economic history of the world, it's this: Culture makes all the difference," Romney said. "And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things," including the “hand of Providence.” He also referred to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, denying Palestinians their rights to the holy city.

Romney said Jewish culture, which has overcome many obstacles throughout its history, is the reason why Israeli GDP is double that of Palestinians’. Besides the inherent racism in that statement, Romney got his facts wrong. According to the World Bank, Israel's per-capita GDP was about $31,000 in 2011, while the West Bank and Gaza's was just over $1,500, the Guardian reported. And a United Nations report to the UN General Assembly in February 2012 said the total cost of Israel’s occupation to the Palestinian economy was about $7 billion in 2010, almost 85 percent of the gross domestic product, according to the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy and the Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem.

Even the CIA World Factbook attributes the poor economic capacity in the West Bank to “Israeli closure policies [that] continue to disrupt labor and trade flows…and basic commerce.”

TAKE ACTION

Call or Tweet the Romney national headquarters on Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. EST.

Romney’s remarks are racist, uniformed, inaccurate, and unbecoming of a man seeking the highest office in the United States.

While it is troubling that a presumed presidential candidate would be holding a fundraiser in a foreign country, it is more alarming that the man who could become the next President of the United States could have such a poor grasp of the situation in the Middle East.

To ignore Palestinian rights to self-determination; to promote Jerusalem as Israel’s capital when the entire international community refuses to do so; and to ignore the vestiges of Israel’s decades-long occupation is beyond irresponsible. Such unilateral support for the apartheid state of Israel weakens the stance of the United States throughout the world; threatens our national security and calls into question our moral stance on global human rights.

AMP calls on all people of conscience to contact Mr. Romney’s campaign headquarters and demand he issue an immediate apology to the Palestinian people.

TALKING POINTS

Mr. Romney’s remarks about Israel’s “superior” culture were racist and inaccurate and not befitting a presumed candidate for the nation’s highest office.
Pandering for votes at the expense of an entire nation of people does nothing to help forward peace in the Middle East or the status of the United States throughout the world.
The Palestinian economy is weak because of Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land. The lack of freedom of movement, the siege on Gaza, more than 600 checkpoints in the West Bank and the Apartheid Wall make it impossible for most Palestinians to find steady work and has cut off viable markets for the export of Palestinian goods.
Mr. Romney must issue an immediate policy and admit publicly that Palestinians deserve self-determination and their basic human rights and that Palestinians have a right to their holy city of Jerusalem.

CONTACT INFO

Phone: Call Mr. Romney’s national campaign headquarters at 857.288.3500. Leave a message after the beep. When you are finished recording, hit the pound sign (#) for more options. Then press the number 3 to mark the message ‘urgent.’

Twitter: Send Tweets to the Romney campaign at @MittRomney and use the hastag #ApologizeNow.