Appeal to President Obama

To:  American public

Dear President Obama,

We appeal to you to promptly recognize an independent state of Palestine.

We wish to express our congratulations to you on assuming the presidency of this great nation, and to add our names to the long list of citizens who are looking to your leadership to bring a fresh and conciliatory approach to the incendiary issues that are immediately threatening in the Middle East. Of particular concern to us will be your stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict; we implore you to make its fair and equitable resolution a top priority during these first few months of 2009.

Early in President Bush’s first term of office, he formally endorsed the creation of two sovereign states, Israel and Palestine, side by side, delineated by the borders that existed at the time of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, with Jerusalem as the shared capital. This plan has been accepted by the Quartet, the Arab governments, the Palestinians under the PLO and even the Hamas organization; Israel’s president Ehud Olmert has recently acknowledged the US plan for the Two State Solution within 1967 borders and with Jerusalem as the shared capital of the two states. Many Israeli and Jewish American intellectuals and peace activists recognize the immediate need for, and advocate, the US proposed Two State Solution.

This Two State Solution is certainly not a new concept, and has in fact been implicit in America’s position on the state of Israel since its inception during the presidency of Truman; although the US has consistently been a staunch supporter of Israel and its right to exist, no administration, since Israel’s founding, has taken a position that the state of Israel should expand to encompass the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza. Rather, the vision for 2 sovereign states has been the direction toward which our policies have persistently been aimed. Negotiations between a recalcitrant and powerful Israel, unwilling to relinquish what, through a 40+ year illegal occupation, they have tightly controlled and relentlessly encroached upon, and Palestinians, who have been subject to extraneous forces working against them, have made the negotiation process impossible, and a final agreement out of reach. Each time negotiations have seemed close to achieving success, the last time just a couple of months ago, something derails them, most recently the war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.

There are hardliners on both sides, whether they be from the US, Israel, Palestine, or the broader Middle East, who surreptitiously, if not openly, feel entitled to the entire area of historic Palestine under their own hegemony. They do not represent the majority of the people in either Palestine or Israel; they should not be allowed to dictate the fate of all, but that is what happens. This is an injustice, and not only does not serve the best interests of Palestinians and Israelis, but not of Americans, either, who are unwittingly cast as perpetrators. Both states have the right to exist in freedom and security.

The fighting in Gaza doesn’t have to mean the end, or even a significant delay, in achieving a final settlement for two states; we beseech you to stymie the despair, and upend the tactics whose purpose is to derail the 2 state settlement and peace, by immediately recognizing a democratic state of Palestine. With a Palestinian state declared and recognized by the US, much as Truman recognized the state of Israel in 1948 during a time of conflict and instability, accompanied by an international peace keeping force until the hostilities abate, the festering situation between Palestine and Israel could be quickly turned around. The world will surely follow the US in recognition of the Palestinian state, and the reasons for extremism will be dissipated. All would be held to the rules of the new game, with no place for militant contingents on either side. Those who elect to live in the Palestinian state- the West Bank and Gaza - would live as Palestinian citizens subject to Palestine’s constitutional laws, and those who choose to live in the Jewish state of Israel would similarly be subject to its laws and stipulations.

The US, and only the US, with its founding principles of democracy and freedom for all, and its military, economic and diplomatic clout, can make it happen; timing could make it the first major foreign policy act of your administration, delivering a message to the rest of the world, the Middle East in particular, that your commitment for positive change is real. Supporting the building of a new order built on fairness, justice, and collaboration, rather than one based on continuing destruction, with all of the hatred, fear, and rage that that engenders, will be an important step toward regaining the credibility that America has lost in the eyes of the international community in recent years.

In the US, as a country of freedom and democracy, special interest groups, fundamentalists and radicals, and those who represent interests of foreign governments, all have a political role to play, but not at the expense of sacrificing the wellbeing, safety and security of the majority of American citizens, and the country’s moral standing in the world. Once a President is in office, he becomes the senior statesman and leader of ALL American people, representing their best interests both at home and abroad. An immediate resolution to the Palestine-Israel conflict that has dragged on for many decades- 2 sovereign states with pre-1967 borders, and Jerusalem as the shared capital- will be proof of that strong and far sighted leadership.

Abraham Lincoln once counseled “I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts”. Muting of the full truth in this country on the Israel-Palestine situation has too long warped opinions, and lead us down a path ever more dangerous. We implore you to act quickly, to not waste any time, in setting it to rights.
We support you in taking this daring step, and beseech you to garner the support of all of those who elected you, and believe in your judgment and leadership, to support your recognition of a sovereign, independent, democratic Palestinian state within the Two State solution. The time is ripe.

The American Palestine Public Affairs Forum

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Appeal to President Obama Petition to American public was created by and written by Elisabeth Y. Clark (appaf_org1@yahoo.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.