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Written by AUPHR AUPHR
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Category: News News
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Published: 30 November -0001 30 November -0001
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Last Updated: 16 October 2008 16 October 2008
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Created: 16 October 2008 16 October 2008
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Hits: 4608 4608
The keynote speaker, AIPAC member and Fox News analyst Marc Ginsberg
clearly is promoting military action with Iran. He also was imploring
his audience, which includes you, to help convince the American people
of the necessity of the use of military force.
We are also concerned by the complete mischaracterization of the views
of such Americans as former President Jimmy Carter as presented by AIPAC
officer Brandt. We believe President Carter and others are absolutely
correct in their criticism of Israel's ongoing policies of occupation
and oppression of the Palestinians, and the ongoing theft and
colonization of Palestinian lands. We believe that President Carter is
correct in his characterization of Israel's domination of Palestinians
as the creation of a system of Apartheid. Brandt is simply incorrect as
characterizing Carter's motivation as one simply of not believing in
America's relationship with Israel as Brandt suggested. Instead, Carter
is acting out of sincere concern for the human rights of Palestinians
and the prospect for peace for both Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs.
President Carter is the man who brought peace between Egypt and Israel
and has worked tirelessly to foster democratic institutions around the
world (without, like Bush, using violence and force). It should be noted
that Egypt recently brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. This
would not have been possible without President Jimmy Carter's earlier
peace making.
Israel already gets over $3 billion in U.S. military assistance each
year, much of which is used to support the illegal occupation and
colonization of Palestinian lands. We are further concerned that, at a
time when we believe Israel needs to be held to account for its policies
against the Palestinians, Oregon Democrats are seeking to enhance
economic ties to the state of Israel. Governor Kulongoski obviously is
trying to make these ties a reality with his recent trade mission to
Israel and we question the morality of these ties given the oppression
experienced by the Palestinians at the hands of Israel. We are not
opposed to economic ties to Israel that also helps the Palestinian
economy or when relations between Israel and her neighbors are
normalized in accordance with human rights and international law.
We would like an opportunity for representatives of AUPHR (Americans
United for Palestinian Human Rights) and members of the Oregon Peace and
Justice community meet with you to discuss our views on these critical
issues. We do not want the Democratic Party to be leading the charge for
yet another war against people in the Middle East. Nor do we want Oregon
Democrats to implicate our great state with Israel's Apartheid policies
while they continue to illegally take more Palestinian lands. We are
concerned that the Democratic Party's enmeshment with AIPAC raises these
very dangers.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned