The National Council of Arab Americans/NCA Position on Israeli Colonial Conquest
The Sun Rises from the South
UNITED STATES, JULY 14, 2006 – Once again, Israeli colonial policies have engulfed the Palestinian and Lebanese people with massive destruction and mayhem. Through shocking actions that are clearly Crimes Against Humanity, the Israeli polity is continuing the Zionist project that it started nearly six decades ago. The Palestinian Catastrophe (Nakba) of 1948 is yet to see justice, refugees are yet to return, thousands remain imprisoned, and the systematic atrocities committed against the people of Lebanon are relived over and over again – all as the world watches. US Destabilization of the Arab World
Fully supported by the United States, the current Israeli war against the people of Lebanon aims to destroy the popular resistance movement and ignite an internal confessional strife within Lebanon with the ultimate goal of creating a proxy state buffered with a “colonized zone” and severed from its Arab surrounding, particularly Syria and Palestine. Such has been the US-Israeli design for Lebanon for decades.
In its veto on July 12 of the United Nations resolution condemning the Israeli actions in Gaza, the Bush administration is sending a clear message that Israeli conquests complement US policies for the region, as manifested in the occupation and destruction of Iraq. Effectively, three Arab states (Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon) are now simultaneously under a violent siege and are being drawn into internal strives.
Remaining in the cross-hairs of destabilization are Syria and Iran. Pretenses have long been put forward as a prelude to various forms of action against these two states. In both cases, there are plans underway to plant US proxy forces within the political fabric of the society to function in sync with the overall plan of conquest for the area. US-Israeli strategists hope to ultimately control the remaining contiguous anchor of resistance to empire: Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran. With that control, US-Israeli hegemony over the Middle East would be complete.
The Role of Arab Regimes
Given that nearly all Arab regimes have already been transformed into proxy status, they are incapable of affecting any change in the political process, even if they chose. The roles for these regimes have been well defined and choreographed, hence their deafening silence and shameless complacency. Arab states would, at the very least, be expected to immediately severe all Israeli diplomatic relations and the economic exchanges they have fostered and to stand in support of the popular resistance movement. On the contrary, Arab regimes are striking with an iron fist against the Arab people who dare to rise against injustice.
The most atrocious of Arab positions thus far came from Saudi Arabia who shamelessly entered the conflict on the side of the colonizer. The Saudi monarchy is overtly blaming the resistance movement in Lebanon and Palestine and is holding it accountable for the ongoing Israeli destruction and mayhem. Fully supported by the Egyptian and Jordanian regimes, the Saudi position appears to be an attempt to provide an “Arab voice”, albeit a token one, that would isolate the resistance in South Lebanon and Palestine as “illegitimate” and “adventurous” forces outside “acceptable behavior”. This is a dangerous destabilizing role played on behalf of the US-Israeli alliance. It serves to open the gates for what is expected to come – widening the attacks to include Syria and Iran in some form or another.
In the same context, and in yet another serious development, President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmud Abbas, has attempted to disassociate the Palestinian flank from the Lebanese, hoping to strike a deal and exit the ongoing anti- colonial struggle. Abbas has stated that the Palestinian decision regarding the captured Israeli soldier is independent from developments in Lebanon and its forces, in a clear reference to the popular Lebanese resistance. This is a blow to the Palestinian-Lebanese solidarity and must be opposed.
Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq ˆ Inseparable
The coming period is critical. Attempts to destabilize Iran and Syria are likely to escalate, along with an even larger attack on the resistance in South Lebanon and Palestine. The confluence of these policies with US designs in Iraq constitutes the overall defining strategy for the US-controlled “New Middle East”. In this “New Middle East”, the US hopes that natural resources, land and sea access, and political servitude would be at will.
The Arab American community and allies in the peace and justice movement can’t afford to turn a blind eye to any of the elements of these colonial policies. It is vital that the support for boycott and divestment campaigns expand. We must jointly call for an end to the war on Iraq and an end to US funding of Israeli atrocities. Naiveté in the understanding of geopolitics is a hindrance to peace and justice – Iraq is inseparable from Palestine and Lebanon.
And as we build a movement to oppose war and occupations, it is also critical that we prevent any attempt to corrupt this movement from within by means introduced by US proxy regimes and institutions. These attempts are well under way, particularly within the Arab community. Millions of dollars are being offered to set up functionary think tanks and centers, all to introduce, or worse yet, to purchase defeatism. These attempts must be challenged.
We call on our community and the movement at large to join the NCA, MAS Freedom Foundation and the A.N.S.W.E.R Coalition in a national emergency mobilization on August 12
NATIONAL EMERGENCY MARCH WASHINGTON D.C. SATURDAY, AUGUST 12 Noon at the White House
Defend the People of Palestine and Lebanon Stop the U.S.-Israeli War
From Iraq to Lebanon to Palestine: Occupation is a Crime
Support the Palestinian Peoples Right to Return
Money for Jobs and Education, Not War and Occupation
