Speech at Palestinian Right to Return Rally, Sept. 16, 2000, Washington, D.C. By Richard Becker, Western Region Coordinator, International Action Center
The march and rally was a big success with 4,000 people participating. Most of the crowd was youth and students, but there were people of all ages, including Palestinian refugees from 1948 and 1967.
On behalf of the International Action Center, I want to express our solidarity with the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition for organizing today's historic demonstration.
The United States government poses as the great defender of human rights, but its record from Vietnam to South Africa to Chile to the genocidal sanctions against Iraq show that this pose is nothing but a fraud and that there is no greater violator of human rights in the world than Washington. This same government claims to be a neutral, "honest broker" in what is called the Middle East "peace process." But is the U.S. an "honest broker?"
It has given one side - Israel - hundreds of billions in aid over the past half-century It has turned the same country into one of the world's leading military powers armed with nuclear weapons. The U.S. shields Israel from any international sanction despite the fact that Israel has violated and continues to violate dozens of UN resolution. Without the support it has received from the U.S., there would be no Israel.
The U.S. and Israel are acting in alliance in saying NO to any Palestinian sovereignty over Jerusalem, in saying NO to the right of 5 million dispossessed Palestinian to return to their homeland, NO to a truly independent Palestinian state. And then Clinton blames the Palestinians for the break down of talks at Camp David.
Why does Washington lavish such extravagant support on Israel, more than all of its combined aid to Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America combined? Is it based on sympathy or sentimentality? No, they have none.
The real reason is that Israel plays a key role in the U.S. imperial system, particularly in the Middle East, which due to its vast oil resources and strategic geo-political position is considered absolutely crucial by Corporate America. Domination of this key region is what drives the policy of blockade against Iraq and the continued dispossession of the Palestinian people, both crimes against humanity.
Fifty years ago, imperialism attempted to erase the name of Palestine from the map of the world and to deny that there were any such people as the Palestinians. But through a struggle marked by indescribable sacrifice, determination and heroism, the Palestinian people not only refused to disappear, but instead have made their cause one which even the most powerful cannot ignore. By their courageous and steadfast resistance the Palestinian people have won the admiration of all who stand for justice world-wide, including growing numbers of people here in the U.S.
The enemy that the Palestinian people face - the military-industrial-oil-banking complex - is in fact also the enemy of the American people and all of humanity. We must stand together with all those who are resisting the empire from Iraq to Cuba to Mumia Abu-Jamal to Palestine. This is not just a matter of sympathy but of solidarity. Our struggles and our fate are linked together. It is the very survival of humanity that it is at stake in this great struggle.
No Return - No Peace!
No Independent Palestinian State - No Peace
No Justice - No Peace!
U.S. Out of the Middle East!
Long Live Palestine!
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