Why should the U.S. stop its military aid to Israel?

October 2, 2005

The U.S. congress has been approving an annual foreign aid bill totaling an average of $3 billion, 1.2 billion in economical aid, and $1.8 billion in military aid, to Israel since 1987.

But after the 1991 gulf war, Washington started giving Israel additional $2 billion annually in federal loan guarantees, which brings the total U.S. foreign aid to Israel to about $5 billion; that constitutes over 30% of the total amount of U.S. foreign aid budget.

The UN Resolution 242 demands Israel to withdraw from all the territories occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem.

Many are questioning why despite the UN General Assembly's repetitive condemnation to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands, Washington maintains its military, financial, and diplomatic support for the Jewish state, ignoring the hideous violations of international law and human rights. Israel's continued aggression against the Palestinian people, supported by the U.S. government, is one of the most serious obstructions to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

The Israeli forces have repeatedly violated articles of the 4th Geneva Convention on Human Rights, an agreement that governs wartime rules of engagement and to which Israel is a signatory. Hundreds of Palestinian homes and agriculture fields have been demolished to make way for illegal Israeli settlements. Also Palestinians get arrested and jailed by the Israeli forces without charges. Amnesty International says that the Israeli security forces regularly use torture and prolonged incommunicado detention against the Palestinians. Here we enlist several reasons why the International community should intervene and stop the U.S. aid to Israel, which helps it continue its brutal and vicious actions against the Palestinians; Israel has been pursuing an elaborate system of racial discrimination, embedded in its legal system, including the Law of Entry, the Law of Return, the Citizenship Law, and the Military Service Law. Palestinians have been denied access to many jobs and various welfare benefits. And while, the Israelis are granted easy access to electricity, sewerage, and roads, Palestinian communities in Israel, and especially in the Occupied Territories, existed for decades without adequate services.

Also the laws governing land ownership are even more unjust than it was in South Africa, where at the height of apartheid, black people nominally `controlled' 13 percent of the land. In Israel, the Palestinians control only 2 percent of the land.

Law of Acquisition of Absentee Property and the Law for Acquisition of Land blatantly discriminate against Palestinians.

Moreover, no significant industry has been permitted to develop in the West Bank or Gaza, and thus the Palestinians are concentrated in the lowest paying jobs.

The occupied Palestinian territories import 93% of goods, while export a mere 7% of what they produce. Also the Palestinians are barred from exporting their products to Western Europe so as not to compete with Israeli exports. And so, 90% of Palestinian workers must travel to Jewish towns for employment.

According to the U.S. Arms Export Control Act (AECA) the government shouldn’t give military assistance to any country that violates international laws or human rights. The State Department's 2001 human rights report states: "Israeli security units often used excessive force against Palestinian demonstrators including live fire ... impeded the provision of medical assistance to Palestinian civilians by their strict enforcement of internal closures, which reportedly contributed to at least 32 deaths. The Israeli security forces harassed and abused Palestinian pedestrians and drivers who were attempting to pass through the more than 130 Israeli- controlled checkpoints ..." Under the AECA, "the President is required to report to Congress promptly upon the receipt of information that a substantial violation of AECA may have occurred."

U.S. is indirectly involved in Israel's human rights abuses by providing political, diplomatic and material means for the Israeli occupation to continue.
The tight relationship U.S. Israeli relationship has been one of the most salient features in U.S. foreign policy for nearly three and a half decades. The generous U.S. aid poured annually on Israel was never questioned in Congress, even by liberals challenging U.S. aid to governments involved in widespread violations of human rights.

Source: GlobalExchange.org