This is the text of House Resolution 34, the Gaza resolution passed on Friday, into which I have inserted contradictory (Hamas oriented) remarks in italics.
I do not intend my interjections as balanced statements in themselves, but as antidotes to the one-sided thinking that tends to dominate American political establishment thinking on the Palestine/Israel conflict.
I think that a proper text would try to strike a balance between the two sides of the story.
(Note: I'm not quite sure if this is the final text, but that's not material to my intent.)
H. Res. 34
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,
January 9, 2009.
Whereas Hamas was founded with the stated goal of destroying the State of Israel;
Whereas Hamas leaders have stated that they are willing to make peace with Israel and to recognize past agreements...
Whereas Hamas has been designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization;
Whereas Israeli leaders such as Begin and Sharon have demonstrated that it is possible for former terrorists to enter the political process ...
Whereas Hamas has refused to comply with the Quartet’s (the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations) requirements that Hamas recognize Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence, and agree to accept previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinians;
Whereas Hamas has stated that it would be willing to adhere to these demands in the course of peace negotiations, and whereas the Quartet did not make a sustained and fair effort to negotiate with Hamas after it won free and fair elections, and whereas the US and Israel actively fomented civil war between Fatah and Hamas...
Whereas in June 2006, Hamas illegally crossed into Israel, attacked Israeli forces, and kidnaped Corporal Gilad Shalit, whom they continue to hold today;
Whereas Israel has constantly crossed into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza, killing and kidnapping, and whereas Israel currently holds some 10,000 Palestinians without due process, or with unreasonable due process, and subject to torture...
Whereas Hamas has launched thousands of rockets and mortars against Israeli population centers since 2001, and has launched more than 6,000 such rockets and mortars since Israel withdrew its civilian population and its military from Gaza in 2005;
Whereas Israel has subjected the West Bank and Gaza to countless projectiles, missiles, bombs and other forms of fire...
Whereas Hamas has increased the range and payload of its rockets, reportedly with support from Iran and others, putting hundreds of thousands of Israelis in danger of rocket attacks from Gaza;
Whereas Israel has constantly increased the power of its weaponry and now has the 4th strongest military in the world, all arrayed against perhaps the most vulnerable population in the world, the Palestinians...
Whereas Hamas locates elements of its terrorist infrastructure in civilian population centers, thus using innocent civilians as human shields;
Whereas Israel chooses to attack Hamas in population centers and even in homes, in places where civilians are inevitably killed, maimed, etc....
Whereas Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement on December 27, 2008, that ‘We strongly condemn the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and hold Hamas responsible for breaking the cease-fire and for the renewal of violence there’;
Whereas Israel never fullfilled its ceasefire obligation to lift its siege over Gaza, and broke the siege by attacking Gaza...
Whereas on December 27, 2008, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, ‘For approximately seven years, hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens in the south have been suffering from missiles being fired at them . . . In such a situation we had no alternative but to respond. We do not rejoice in battle but neither will we be deterred from it. . . .The operation in the Gaza Strip is designed, first and foremost, to bring about an improvement in the security reality for the residents of the south of the country’;
Whereas Ehud Olmert chose to attack Gaza even though negotiations with Hamas had been shown to be effective and even though Hamas was willing to re-establish the truce agreement between itself and Israel...
Whereas the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including shortages of food, water, electricity, and adequate medical care, is becoming more acute;
Whereas Israel has facilitated humanitarian aid to Gaza with hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian assistance and numerous ambulances entering the Gaza Strip since the current round of fighting began on December 27, 2008;
Whereas Israel has deliberately starved and otherwise inflicted illegal collective punishment, amounting to a siege, on the people of Gaza, even to the point of attacking fishing boats from Gaza, and whereas Israel has repeatedly refused to lift this siege and has continued to restrict or bar help of all kinds from Gaza during its attacks, including Red Cross observers and medical assistance...
Whereas on January 6, 2009, before the United Nations Security Council, Secretary Rice stated that: ‘The situation before the current events in Gaza was clearly not sustainable. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis lived under the daily threat of rocket attack, and frankly, no country, none of our countries, would have been willing to tolerate such a circumstance. Moreover, the people of Gaza watched as insecurity and lawlessness increased and as their living conditions grew more dire because of Hamas’s actions which began with the illegal coup against the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. . .A ceasefire that returns to those circumstances is unacceptable and it will not last’; and
Whereas a ceasefire in which Israel continues to maintain a siege against Gaza, inflicting collective punishment on the people of Gaza, against international law, is not sustainable or acceptable, and whereas the people of Palestine cannot attain a unity government so long as Israel maintains a state of hostility between itself and Hamas...
Whereas the ultimate goal of the United States is a sustainable resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that will ensure the welfare, security, and survival of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders, and a viable, independent, and democratic Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with the State of Israel:
Ditto...
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) expresses vigorous support and unwavering commitment to the welfare, security, and survival of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders, and recognizes its right to act in self-defense to protect its citizens against Hamas’s unceasing aggression, as enshrined in the United Nations Charter;
expresses vigorous support and unwavering commitment to the welfare, security and survival of the State of Palestine as a Palestinian and Democratic state with secure borders and recognizes its right to act in self-defense to protect its citizens against Israel's unceasing aggression, as enshrined in the United Nations Charter;
(2) reiterates that Hamas must end the rocket and mortar attacks against Israel, recognize Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence, agree to accept previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, and verifiably dismantle its terrorist infrastructure;
reiterates that Israel must end the bombing and ground assault against Gaza while opening the borders to Gaza, demonstrably recognize Palestine's right to exist, renounce violence, agree to accept previous agreements between the Palestinians and Israel, and verifiably dismantle it's occupations against Palestine;
(3) encourages the Administration to work actively to support a durable and sustainable cease-fire in Gaza , as soon as possible, that prevents Hamas from retaining or rebuilding its terrorist infrastructure, including the capability to launch rockets and mortars against Israel, and thereby allowing for the long-term improvement of daily living conditions for the people of Gaza;
encourages the Administration to work actively to support a durable and sustainable cease-fire in Gaza, as soon as possible, that prevents Israel from retaining or rebuilding its walls and other occupational infrastructures, including the capability to launch bombs, artillery and missiles into the West Bank and Gaza, and thereby allowing for the long-term improvement of daily living conditions for the people of Israel;
(4) believes strongly that the lives of innocent civilians must be protected to the maximum extent possible, expresses condolences to innocent Palestinian and Israeli victims and their families, and reiterates that humanitarian needs in Gaza should be addressed promptly and responsibly;
ditto
(5) calls on all nations--
(A) to condemn Hamas for deliberately embedding its fighters, leaders, and weapons in private homes, schools, mosques, hospitals, and otherwise using Palestinian civilians as human shields, while simultaneously targeting Israeli civilians; and
(B) to lay blame both for the breaking of the ‘calm’ and for subsequent civilian casualties in Gaza precisely where blame belongs, that is, on Hamas;
to condemn Israel for deliberately attacking the infrastructure of Gaza and civilian targets of all kinds, including safe houses and medical personnel/vehicles...
to lay blame both for the breaking of the 'calm' and for the subsequent civilian casualties in Gaza precisely where the blame belongs, that is, on Israel;
(6) supports and encourages efforts to diminish the appeal and influence of extremists in the Palestinian territories, and strengthen moderate Palestinians who are committed to a secure and lasting peace with Israel;
supports and encourages efforts to diminish the appeal and influence of hardliners in Israel, and strengthen moderate Israelis who are committed to a secure and lasting peace with Palestine;
(7) calls on Egypt to intensify its efforts to halt smuggling between Gaza and Egypt and affirms the willingness of the United States to continue to assist Egypt in these efforts;
calls on the United States to cease shipping arms to Israel
in defiance of US law which requires that US arms only be used as genuinely required by self defense and that they not be used to escalate conflict;
(8) calls for the immediate release of the kidnaped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been illegally held in Gaza since June 2006; and
calls for the immediate release of the thousands of Palestinians held by Israel;
(9) reiterates its strong support for a just and sustainable resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict achieved through negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in order to ensure the welfare, security, and survival of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders, and a viable, independent, and democratic Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with the State of Israel.
reiterates its strong support for a just and sustainable resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict achieved through negotiations between Israel and the elected government of Palestine in order to ensure the welfare, security and survival of the State of Israel and the State of Palestine living side by side in peace and security.
H.Res. 34 is critiqued in more detail here:
http://pulsemedia.org/...
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Update
It seems that Dennis Kucinich (natch!) is working on a resolution (not numbered yet) that focuses on the carnage and condititions in Gaza and calls on both sides to cease fire immediately. This could be just what the doctor ordered. Text:
http://endtheoccupation.org/...