DC Watson examines CAIR’s request that the US deny Israel any aid for those evicted from Gaza.
August 16, 2005: The Council on American Islamic Relations calls on the Bush Administration to deny Israel’s request for financial aid, which would assist in paying for the “withdrawal of illegal settlements on Palestinian territory in Gaza.”
News Releases
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
CAIR: No U.S. Tax Dollars for Israeli SettlersTheir statement reads as follows: “American taxpayers should not be forced to pay for the relocation of settlers who, supported and defended by successive Israeli governments, chose to live illegally on land that was not their own. Such funds could be better used to improve conditions for ordinary Palestinians whose lives have been devastated by decades of brutal occupation.”
First, I’d like to make it crystal clear to the Council on American Islamic Relations that as an American citizen and taxpayer, I do not, and will not ever, need an organization with a record like theirs to speak for me. If the government wants to use my tax dollars to help these people who have been uprooted, I’m OK with that. If all of this bothers them, then I like the idea even more. It seems that nearly every day this organization is “calling on” someone to act upon their concerns.
Regarding this claim of Israel’s “illegal occupation” of Gaza: U.N. Resolution 242 never called for Israel to withdraw from all of the territories that it won, and to return to the 1967 borders. Although Israel wasn’t required by this resolution to hand over all the land it won when it easily defeated Muslim aggression during the Six Day War, it did hand over most of it when it withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula. That just wasn’t good enough for the Muslims, however, was it?
Who started the Six Day War? It appears that although Israel launched a preemptive strike on Egypt, it was Egypt — which had a military pact with Jordan and Syria, and which before the war had blocked two of Israel’s major shipping ports. Before this war began, Israel was being surrounded by Muslim militarization.
Once again, the Muslim sect has turned this situation back to front, portraying themselves as the poor victims of Israeli aggression and occupation. In truth, it was Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser who was pushing the buttons that escalated a minor border skirmish into the Six Day War. Before the Six Day War ever came to pass, Nasser had made his intentions clear with this statement:
“Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight.”
Well, they wanted to fight, they got their chance, and their defeat was resounding.
“The Meaning of 242” – June 10, 1977
Lord Caradon, author of the draft resolution that was adopted as U.N. Resolution 242, U.K. Ambassador to the United Nations (1964-1970):
“We didn’t say there should be a withdrawal to the ’67 line; we did not put the ‘the’ in, we did not say all the territories, deliberately.. We all knew that the boundaries of ’67 were not drawn as permanent frontiers, they were a cease-fire line of a couple of decades earlier… We did not say that the ’67 boundaries must be forever.” MacNeil/Lehrer Report – March 30, 1978
Additional comments include: Eugene V. Rostow, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs (1966-1969):
“Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338… rest on two principles, Israel may administer the territory until its Arab neighbors make peace; and when peace is made, Israel should withdraw to ‘secure and recognized borders’, which need not be the same as the Armistice Demarcation Lines of 1949.”
“The Truth About 242” – November 5, 1990 Lyndon B. Johnson, U.S. President (1963-1969):
Read all about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinai
If the 242 Resolution rested on Israel’s Arab neighbors making peace, then Israel’s Arab neighbors have failed to fulfill their responsibility. In fact, since late 2000, Israelis have been the victims of over 25,300 Islamic terrorist attacks.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/337862p-288516c.htmlThirty-eight years later, in yet another attempt at peace, Israel has agreed to uproot its people from Gaza. Now along comes CAIR, “urging” the government not to provide financial aid to help pay for the Israeli withdrawal from an “illegal occupation.”
Again, from their statement: “Such funds could be better used to improve conditions for ordinary Palestinians whose lives have been devastated by decades of brutal occupation.”
Earth to CAIR: The G8 has already pledged at least $3 billion to the Palestinians.
That pledge will, at least in part, be fulfilled with American tax dollars. Everyone has a right to an opinion, even the members of CAIR. However, they have never been, and never will be the voice of reason. Israel has now offered peace, again. If the Muslims in this part of the world attack them again, should Israel not then be allowed to do what it should have done long ago to secure its own existence?