The Black Radical Congress condemns the House Resolution Concerning the Violence in the Middle East (H.Con. Res. 426), enacted by the 106th Congress of the United States on Tuesday, October 24. This absurd resolution, which supports the behavior of the State of Israel without qualification or criticism and absolves the Israeli government of any responsibility in fomenting the current violence, totally ignores the reality of Israel's illegal, armed occupation of Palestinian lands. For as along as it persists, that occupation -- which continues in defiance of United Nations Resolution 242 -- constitutes a violent assault on the persons, property, national rights and human rights of the Palestinian people. To assign to the victims of an inherently provocative military occupation even primary, much less sole, responsibility for an episode of violence in which agents of the occupying force played a further provocative role, defies logic and history. [Please see attached statement of the Black Radical Congress, issued October 7, 2000: /pressrelease/release100700.html]
The Fifth Special Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights declared that "Israeli occupation [of Palestinian lands] in itself constitutes a grave violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people," and that the deliberate and systematic killing of civilians and children by Israel constituted "a flagrant and grave violation of the right to life and a crime against humanity."
We commend the handful of Representatives who took the principled stand of voting against House Resolution 426. Out of a congress of 432 members, 365 voted "yes" on the Resolution -- including 21 members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). Only 30 were opposed, including 12 CBC members. In particular, we are ashamed and outraged that so many members of the CBC could not discern through the propaganda veil the similarities to Black history: a state suppressing by violent means a people demanding fundamental democratic rights. Tanks against children in Palestine cannot but remind us of hoses turned on Black youth in Birmingham in our own struggle against white supremacy. The struggle of the Palestinian people to rid their homeland of an illegal foreign occupation recalls struggles over the centuries by many peoples, and the Palestinian fight is no less righteous than those that have gone before. Thus, we salute the 11 courageous members of the CBC who stood up to anti-Arab hysteria and did the right thing.
With its ill-conceived action, the U.S. Congress has contributed to perpetuating the problem instead of working to bring about a solution. The Black Radical Congress, representing people of African descent who support the Palestinian intifada's goal of justice and equality, calls on the House of Representatives to rescind its resolution #426 and, instead, add its voice to the call of nations around the world for a just peace in the Middle East.
Movement toward a just peace requires that:
(1) Israel cease immediately its murderous suppression of Palestinian protests, including its assassinations of grass roots leaders in Palestinian communities;
(2) Israel end its occupation of Palestine by withdrawing its troops from the Occupied Territories, in compliance with UN Resolution 242, and by dismantling all Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands;
(3) the United States end all aid to the State of Israel, aid which enables Israeli defiance of UN mandates and world opinion;
(4) the United States support the initiation of a new peace process, a process that goes beyond the flawed Oslo accords, one that is supervised by the United Nations and founded on UN Resolution 242, a process that establishes the right of return for all Palestinian refugees and exiles, equal to the right of return enjoyed by members of the Jewish diaspora.
Black
Radical Congress
National Office
Columbia University Station
P.O. Box 250791
New York, NY 10025-1509
Phone: (212) 969-0348
blackradicalcongress@email.com