With international recognition of a Palestinian state the Israeli occupation must end

(CHICAGO 11/28/2012) -- By the end of this week, the United Nations General Assembly is poised to vote on the Palestinian Authority's (PA) request to grant Palestinians a non-member observer status to the United Nations. To date, at least 132 countries have recognized Palestine as a state and many believe the petition before the General Assembly will pass. 

The American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about Palestine, believes that international recognition within the international body is a positive development for Palestinians, and we expect action and protection for Palestinians under occupation. However, AMP asserts the PA's petition is fraught with weaknesses, which highlight the inherent problems Palestinians face because of Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestine and American unconditional support afforded the occupying power.

International law guarantees Palestinians the right of self-determination and the right for refugees to return to their homes and to be compensated for the property and land confiscated by Israel. When the PA forwarded its petition for state status last year in the Security Council, the international community, lead by the United States, punished the Palestinians by withholding aid; the Security Council tabled the petition without taking action. This, coupled with the fact the PA is now asking for non-member status, signifies how the international community continues to deny Palestinians their individual and collective rights for self-determination and right of return. That the Palestinians have been seeking self-determination since 1948 is unconscionable.

"This step of an observer-state status is not sufficient and should not be pursued at the expense of the complete realization of Palestinians rights, including the right of return," said Dr. Hatem Bazian, AMP chairman and professor of Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. "Furthermore, the fact the US again is working against this new petition, despite the fact that more than 130 nations already recognize Palestine as a state, shows how out of touch American foreign policy is with the rest of the world. Our continued support for Israel and its occupation policies tarnishes the image of the US in the global community."

AMP also asserts that Israel, as the occupier of the Palestinian people, should be prohibited from participating in any capacity in this issue because it has a vested interest to continue to deny Palestinians their rights. AMP also asserts that the US demand for Palestinians to seek statehood through continued negotiations with Israel is disingenuous. After 20 years of negotiations, the situation of the Palestinians is far worse than before; Israel has confiscated increasingly more Palestinian land through the construction of thousands of settlement units within the already illegal settlement colonies and the construction of the Apartheid Wall; thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of children, languish as political prisoners in Israeli prisons; the Palestinians in Gaza are still under total blockade and the Palestinians there and in the West Bank have no freedom of movement.  

AMP believes that ending unconditional US financial, political and diplomatic support for Israel as well as ending the occupation itself is the only viable solution to bring peace and justice to the Palestinians and equal rights for all living in the Holy Land.