What i thought i would never do. Write a thank you letter to Hillary Clinton. Hillary and I still have our considerable differences, but i wanted to thank her on this specific action. I always think it's a good idea to tell any politician that they have done something you appreciate, as that increases the chances they will repeat the action.
So here's my thank you letter to Hillary.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now in the Middle East in order to re-start the "peace process". I can go on about why i think the peace process, as currently constituted, is doomed to fail, but that is not the point of this thank you letter.
I wanted to thank her for standing up for international law and against the demolition of Palestinian homes.
Clinton Slams Israel on Jerusalem House Demolitions
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton slammed Israel on Wednesday for its plan to demolish 88 Palestinian homes in Occupied East Jerusalem, calling it a violation of the Roadmap for Israeli-Palestinian peace. She said after meeting Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, "Clearly this kind of activity is unhelpful and not in keeping with the obligations entered into under the 'road-map'... It is an issue that we intend to raise with the government of Israel and the government at the municipal level in Jerusalem."
Clinton will get lots of critical emails from a tightly organized network of far rightwing Revisionist-Zionists for her comment. Please consider sending her a supportive message for daring speak out on the issue. In fact, urge her to use a stronger word than "unhelpful" the next time. And, other bloggers: Please send your readers to make such comments, as well. The left blogosphere that cares about these things is bigger than the Jabotinskyites, but we don't bother to network or write or contribute specifically on this issue, and so we are always being out-organized and outflanked and marginalized.
From Juan Cole -Informed Comment.
You hear that Kossacks! We are bigger than the group of rightist anti-Palestinians who will write Hillary to complain (some of whom post in these parts, but they are a small minority). So let's show it. Let this be your Thank You letter too.
We must remember that the cost of demolishing these homes is subsidized by US taxpayer dollars. The US sends over 3 billion each year to Israel, we must start speaking out. This is what every Palestinian knows, and what every US citizen should ponder. Why are we funding the demolition of homes in East Jerusalem and not instead funding the building of homes in West Oakland, California or the Southside of Chicago? What is being done in our names?
I wrote about the story of Mohammed al-Kurd on November 29th (as it happens, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people).
The al-Kurds' house is part of a project that the Jordanian government built with the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, to house 28 families who were forced to flee their original homes in 1948, after the Nakba, the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland. Abu Kamel's family was forced to flee West Jerusalem during the ethnic cleansing, and settled in the house in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. All of the parties involved agreed then that ownership of the houses would be transferred to the families within three years.
There they lived in peace until shortly after the June War in 1967, when two groups of Jewish settlers claimed ownership of the land, despite the earlier, documented agreement between Jordan and UNRWA. The struggle that followed took both parties into the courts, then escalated dramatically in 2001. When Abu Kamel suffered a heart attack and his family left the house to take him to medical treatment elsewhere, one of the settler families took advantage of his ill health. They moved in and occupied an extension to the home that the al-Kurds had renovated for one of their sons. When they returned, the al-Kurds faced the agonizing choice of abandoning their longtime home or living side-by-side with the representatives of a group that was trying to force them out. Despite Abu Kamel's fragile health, they chose to stay and fight.
From Electronic Intifadah.
Mohammed al-Kurd lost that fight. His home was demolished. Then Mohammed al-Kurd's heart lost its battle too, and we lost a brother for peace. But our struggle continues.
We got a little help from Hillary Clinton this week, and for that, again, i want to make this very public thank you to her. This is also a thank you to the Obama administration for making that action possible. I do wish they would do much more. But i don't want them to think that the good stuff is being ignored.
Thank You Hillary Clinton.
Want to make sure stuff like this happens again? Organize. Join the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
Update! Thanks for the Recs. and thanks for the nearly 800 so far who have stood by sanity and peace by opposing the insane home demolitions policy of the Israeli government. Be sure to get on the US Campaign email list.