May 16, 2011

The Honorable Barack H. Obama

President of the United States

The White House

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President,

As an American who is deeply concerned about the continued lack of a just peace in Palestine and Israel, I write today to ask that you do two things:

1.  In your expected speech on the Middle East this Thursday, outline a United States proposal that will bring justice for the Palestinian people and lasting security for Jewish people living in the State of Israel; and

2.  Demand that the Israeli government immediately release Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, a Palestinian-born American citizen who was arrested yesterday during a peaceful, nonviolent demonstration in the village of Al Walaja in the Occupied Territories.  As the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem is aware, Dr. Qumsiyeh (a geneticist who formally taught at Duke University and Yale University) is being held in Ofer Prison.

I write to you as (among other things) an Episcopalian, a graduate of Occidental College, a holder of a Master’s degree in International Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, a onetime employee of Business International, and a former government relations manager for a large Midwestern manufacturing company.

The coming days will be eventful—perhaps crucial--for the Israeli-Palestinian issue.  Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to Washington will be accompanied by a barrage of Israeli government propaganda, both from Israeli diplomats and spokespersons and their American support network, designed once again to portray Israel as an “innocent victim” and to vilify the Palestinian people as “terrorists.”  Your political opponents in Congress will give Mr. Netanyahu the opportunity to directly address the American people.  If past experience is any guide, he will repeat the old myths, exaggerations, and lies designed to prevent a just peace while Israel continues to drive Palestinians from their lands and homes and to deprive them of their human rights.

I recently returned from three weeks in Palestine and Israel.  I arrived there a few days after the United States vetoed the United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories.  One day I delivered some books to a children’s library in a Palestinian town west of Ramallah.  Signs outside the building announced that the community center housing the library and a surrounding park were built with U.S. AID funds.  They were all defaced with the word “VETO” in red spray paint.  The town’s mayor, who showed up to thank me for my donation, pointed to the defaced signs and said to me—more in sorrow than in anger—“How do you expect us to keep our people from turning to violence when your government does things like that?”

Mr. President, I believe that you really want to bring a real and lasting peace to Palestine and Israel.  But the approach you have pursued so far has not brought us any closer to such a peace.  Now—before Mr. Netanyahu takes the stage in this country--is the time to make a bold break with past United States policy and to propose a solution that will achieve your objectives.  Such a proposal should be based on the following principles:

1. Rather than an illusory “security” based on military power alone, a fundamental respect for the human rights of all peoples, in line with the foundational principles of the United States of America;
2. Full equality under the law and in practice for all citizens of the State of Israel, regardless of ethnicity or religion; and
3. Full compliance with international law (such as United Nations resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention), including recognition of the right of all Palestinians to return to the historic land of Palestine or to be compensated by Israel for the loss of their homes, land, and possessions.

For too long, United States policy in Palestine/Israel has been carried out within a frame of reference defined by the Israeli government, a frame of reference designed to foreclose all opportunities for Palestinian rights and sovereignty.  Israel has never acknowledged its responsibility for the dispossession of the Palestinian people and for more than 60 years has relied on superior military power to have its way.  For many years, this military superiority has been undergirded by generous American military aid and Israel’s “might makes right” approach has had American diplomatic support.

The spontaneous wave of nonviolent demonstrations and protests sweeping the Middle East will not bypass Palestine.  These protests echo and evoke classic American principles of democracy and human rights for all people.  You have the opportunity to bring our country back into alignment with history.  Please don’t pass it up!

Respectfully yours,

Thomas L. Trueblood

5511 Cascade Drive

Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Trueblood.tom@gmail.com