Encouraging ethnic cleansing in Congress

20 Saturday Feb 2016

Posted by Nicolas Sawaya in American Politics, Palestine, Zionism

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Ethnic Cleansing, Palestine, US Congress

Palestinian refugees flee Galilee in the fall of 1948 (Fred Csasznik)

How many of us know that as recently as Nov 2014, a US Congressman in the House introduced legislation that calls on Israel to formally annex all the Palestinian Occupied Territories (West Bank / Gaza / East Jerusalem) and encourages the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from these territories?

The bill was introduced by Steve Stockman (Texas, 36th district) and was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, where it (thankfully) died. Stockman isn’t in Congress anymore, but the fact that this shit even gets introduced by these people is mind-bending. The best part of this bill is that it was pitched as a service for Palestinians to “increase their standards of living” and is dubbed “The Right of Return Act”. To where you might ask? Jordan. You really can’t make this stuff up.

H.R. 5734 (113th): Right of Return Act

Excerpt: […]

“The Congress of the United States shall take the following course of action:

(1) The Secretary of State shall call for the State of Israel to increase the standard of living of those living in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza by extending its sovereignty over those territories, and for the Palestinian Arab residents currently residing in those areas to be granted citizenship in the countries that controlled those territories from 1949 to 1967 and have a right of return to those countries.

(2) As long as part of the unity government of the Palestinian Authority refuses to allow the right of return to the countries that controlled Judea, Samaria, and Gaza from 1949 to 1967, no funds appropriated by Congress under any Act may be obligated or expended to provide any United States assistance, loan guarantee, or debt relief to the Palestinian Authority.

(3) The Secretary of State of the United States shall take such action as will ensure that refugees are allowed to be properly allowed to return into their host countries in accordance with the regulations set forth by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

(4) All United States assistance, loan guarantee, and debt relief that currently goes to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) shall instead be used to assist those who exercise their right of return to the countries who controlled Judea, Samaria, and Gaza from 1949 to 1967”

American vs. Lebanese Democracy

04 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by Nicolas Sawaya in American Politics, Lebanon

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Democracy, Lebanon

Activists threw tomatoes at banner bearing pictures of members of parliament and marked ‘You have failed’ [EPA; Al Jazeera]

Today, American citizens go to vote in their mid-term elections that will likely result in a different Congress. In a couple of days, Lebanese parliamentarians go to vote for themselves to extend their already illegal mandate.

In my more cynical moments, I ask myself whether the former is better than the latter. Is it better to engage in an illusion of democracy, where research has shown that the average American voter has essentially no impact of policy in this country, or is it better to simply not delude oneself in thinking that voting makes a difference within the context of a dysfunctional system (whether of the American or Lebanese variety) by simply not having that ability to vote (and until the system is fixed).

Is it better to derive satisfaction from casting a vote for an elephant or a donkey that both turn into lap dogs beholden to special interest groups once in power and whose positions are almost identical on most topics (minus details), or is it better to rip that veneer of respectability and that veil of deceit by publically giving the middle finger to your people and saying fuck it: you all knew this was a charade anyway, and now we’re making it official; no vote for you.

Unless the outcome of voting is a reflection of the will of the people (on policy issues), what’s the point in engaging in this meaningless exercise every 2 or 4 years? Perhaps the system needs to descend into levels of Lebanese dysfunctionality in order to have an honest conversation about fixing a Democracy with no clothes.