House Vote Harms Palestine, Israel, US

Jimmy Carter has been blunt: Despite the fact of a Palestinian election result that was not to their liking, the former president says, "it is unconscionable for Israel, the United States and others under their influence to continue punishing the innocent and already persecuted people of Palestine."

Since the political wing of the militant group Hamas swept parliamentary elections in Palestine, the U.S. and Israel have been trying to use economic pressure to force a change of course. Disregarding the democracy that President Bush says he wants to promote in the Middle East, the U.S. has sanctioned policies that have fostered chaos on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and created increasingly harsh conditions for people who have known more than their share of suffering.

"Innocent Palestinian people are being treated like animals, with the presumption that they are guilty of some crime," argues Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner whose involvement in the Middle East peace process has extended across three decades. "Because they voted for candidates who are members of Hamas, the United States government has become the driving force behind an apparently effective scheme of depriving the general public of income, access to the outside world and the necessities of life."

Instead of checking and balancing the president's misguided approach to an election result that displeased him, Congress has added fuel to the fire.

By a lopsided vote of 361 to 37, the House voted Tuesday for the so-called "Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act," a measure so draconian that even the Bush administration has opposed it.

The legislation, which still must be reconciled with a similar measure passed by the Senate, would cut off all assistance to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, and place conditions on humanitarian assistance delivered directly to the Palestinians by non-government organizations. Presidential spokesman Tony Snow, in restating the White House's opposition to the measure says that it "unnecessarily constrains" the flow of essential assistance – food, fresh water, medicine – in a manner that does, indeed, "tie the president's hand" when it comes to providing humanitarian aid.

It also has the potential to encourage, rather than restrain, violence.

Representative Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat who was one of the few members of the House to argue against the legislation, correctly explained that the approach endorsed by most of his colleagues will strengthen the hand of Palestinian extremists.

"It does little to prioritize on the basis of our strategic interests, and provides no prospect for Palestinian reform coming through the process of negotiations," Blumenauer said of the legislation. "In so doing, it weakens the hands of those who advocate for peace negotiations, and supports those extremists who believe in violence."

Debra DeLee, President and CEO of Americans for Peace Now, which works closely with Israeli groups seeking a peaceful settlement of tensions with the Palestinians, calls the bill "an exercise in overreaching that will undercut American national security needs, Israeli interests, and hope for the Palestinian people, if it's ever signed into law."

"We urged the House to craft legislation that was focused and flexible enough to allow the U.S. to respond to Hamas' election victory in a firm, yet responsible, manner," explained a frustrated DeLee. "But by failing to provide the president with a real national security waiver, by failing to include a sunset clause for draconian performance requirements that will stay on the books regardless of who is running the Palestinian Authority, and by failing to distinguish between Hamas and Palestinians who support a two-state solution, the supporters of this bill have missed that opportunity for now."

Despite its dramatic flaws, the bill drew bipartisan support, with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, and Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, lining up their respective caucuses behind it.

Of the 37 "no" votes, 31 came from Democrats, including senior members such as Michigan's John Conyers and John Dingell, Californians George Miller and Pete Stark and Wisconsin's David Obey. Ohio's Dennis Kucinich, a contender for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, also opposed the measure, as did California's Barbara Lee, a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus

The six Republican "no" votes came from Maryland's Wayne Gilchrest, North Carolina's Walter Jones, Arizona's Jim Kolbe, Illinois' Ray LaHood and Texans Ron Paul and Mac Thornberry.

As is frequently the case on votes involving Israel and Palestine, dozens of members did not participate. Nine House members, all of them Democrats, voted "present" Tuesday. Twenty-five members, eleven of them Democrats, fourteen of them Republicans, registered no vote.

Americans for Peace Now's DeLee says that, as the House and Senate seek to reconcile differing bills, her group will continue to work to alter the legislation so that it will not encourage extremism or worsen a humanitarian crisis. But there is no question that the task has been made more difficult by the overwhelming House vote in favor of this misguided measure.

Comments (29)

1. You know this is the same basic plan the have for iraq. The foundation of any blossoming democracy should be an economy that is a basket case.

   it gives each and every citizen the rags part of the rags to riches story. Next ol Gee Dubya will be sending country music advisors, and... dare I say it... banjos...

   each to find a home on a palistinian knee.

   can line dancing be all that far behind?

   Posted by Will C. at 05/24/2006 @ 11:19pm

2. correction... they have

   Posted by Will C. at 05/24/2006 @ 11:28pm

3. damn nicholson - your a blog entering demon! in regard to recent blog entry... ha ha ha

   just saw on morning news....

   HASTERT IS TARGET OF INVESTIGATION! how did i guess????

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/25/2006 @ 06:35am

4. watch out guys - never say anything unflattering about israel or us support of anything israel does...or you are an anti-semite! funny, arabs are also techically semites, but u know what i mean...

   nazis!

   side note - next presidential election - lets get them out on stage on american idol and have 'em warble out some songs...ah - american idol nation! get out the vote!

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/25/2006 @ 07:19am

5. Rumsfeld and Zakheim stole over $2 trillion from the Defense Department Budget in the days prior to 9/11.

   They can buy ANYONE to do ANYTHING.

   Israel has all US phones tapped to enable blackmail in the event bribery doesn't work.

   If both fail, there's always the "Wellstone Option" or the "Anthrax Option."

   GOT FACISM?

   Missing Trillions Rumsfeld Buries Admission of Missing 2+ Trillion Dollars in 9/10/01 Press Conference

   On September 10, 2001, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld held a press conference to disclose that over $2,000,000,000,000 in Pentagon funds could not be accounted for. Rumsfeld stated: "According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions."

   Such a disclosure normally would have sparked a huge scandal. However, the commencement of the attack on New York City and Washington in the morning would assure that the story remained buried. To the trillions already missing from the coffers, an obedient Congress terrorized by anthrax attacks would add billions more in appropriations to fight the "War on Terror."

   The Comptroller of the Pentagon at the time of the attack was Dov Zakheim, who was appointed in May of 2001. Before becoming the Pentagon's money-manager, he was an executive at System Planning Corporation, a defense contractor specializing in electronic warfare technologies including remote-controlled aircraft systems. Zakheim is a member of the Project for a New American Century and participated in the creation of its 2000 position paper Rebuilding America's Defenses which called for "a New Pearl Harbor."

   http://911research.wtc7.net/sept11/trillions.html...

   Why is it that General Tommy Franks is a rich man?

   How did he become rich?

   Why was it that his wife is flown on private jets every week to shopping sprees?

   Where did the money come from?

   What service was performed, and rewarded?

   Why are US taxpayers footing the bill?

   Tommy and Cathy Franks confirmed this week that they have settled on Harbour Island after zeroing in on South Tampa. They were due to close on a home Friday, Cathy Franks said.

   Cathy Franks said security on the island clinched the decision.

   And they are not alone. The Franks family joins a host of Tampa Bay sports and political celebrities.

   The roll call includes Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive back John Lynch, his teammate Kenyatta Walker, their bosses Bryan and Joel Glazer, former Buc Chidi Ahanotu and current Tampa Bay Lightning hockey player Vinny Lecavalier.

   Former Tampa Mayor Dick Greco feeds the ducks at a pond near his home on the island. City Attorney Fred Karl can be seen there, as can the daughter of one of Franks' predecessors, retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf.

   http://www.sptimes.com/2003/08/03/Tampabay/A_homeland_security_h.sh...

   Where did the money come from?

   Was it from the money stolen by Rumsfeld and Zakheim?

   Payments by Israel perhaps?

   What possible motive might Tommy Franks have to rush to Rumsfeld's defense? Can you say Quid Pro Quo?

   http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/05/franks.wife/...

   2/5/2003

   Sources have told CNN that Franks, the man who would lead U.S. forces in the event of a military strike on Iraq, faces several allegations -- including one that he allowed his wife, Cathy, to be present during discussions of highly classified material.

   The sources also said questions have been raised about whether Franks properly repaid the U.S. government for his wife's travel on military aircraft.

   Franks, the head of U.S. Central Command, has been under investigation for weeks by the Pentagon inspector general's office.

   "I am aware of the investigation and am cooperating with it," Franks said in a brief written statement. "It would not be appropriate to comment on the investigation until it is complete."

   U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- who would decide what, if any, disciplinary action Franks would face if any wrongdoing is found -- has taken the unusual step of expressing support for the general before the investigation was completed.

   Daschle: Congress Denied Bush War Powers in U.S.

   By Barton Gellman Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, December 23, 2005; Page A04

   The Bush administration requested, and Congress rejected, war-making authority "in the United States" in negotiations over the joint resolution passed days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to an opinion article by former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) in today's Washington Post.

   Daschle's disclosure challenges a central legal argument offered by the White House in defense of the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. It suggests that Congress refused explicitly to grant authority that the Bush administration now asserts is implicit in the resolution.

   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR200512 2202119.html

   And then…a few weeks later…

   W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 1 A group of military scientists is feverishly examining the microscopic spores of anthrax sent to Sen. Tom Daschle for clues to a mystery that could have profound implications for the United States and its ongoing war on terror: Who made it?

   http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92006&page=1

   Israeli Company Provides U.S. Wiretaps

   One company reported to be under investigation is Comverse Infosys, a subsidiary of an Israeli-run private telecommunications firm. Comverse provides almost all the wiretapping equipment and software for U.S. law enforcement.

   Custom computers and software made by Comverse are tied into the U.S. phone network in order to intercept, record and store wiretapped calls, and at the same time transmit them to investigators.

   The penetration of Comverse reportedly allowed criminals to wiretap law enforcement communications in reverse and foil authorized wiretaps with advance warning. One major drug bust operation planned by the Los Angeles police was foiled by what now appear to be reverse wiretaps placed on law enforcement phones by the criminal spy ring.

   http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/12/18/224826.shtml

   In a promotion for speaker John Fulton, a CIA officer assigned as chief of NRO's strategic gaming division, the announcement says, "On the morning of September 11th 2001, Mr. Fulton and his team … were running a pre-planned simulation to explore the emergency response issues that would be created if a plane were to strike a building. Little did they know that the scenario would come true in a dramatic way that day."

   GOT PROBABLE CAUSE?

   http://w3ar.com/a.php?k=1065

   Wiretaps?

   http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j121701.html

   INVESTIGATE THE ISRAELI CONNECTION

   At the end of his second report, Carl Cameron remarked to Brit Hume that the question of the Israeli connection to 9/11 "came up in the select intelligence committee on Capitol Hill today," and "they intend to look into what we reported last night." Naturally, all this is occurring in secret, with the likelihood of a cover-up all but certain. What is needed is a public investigation, and full disclosure of the Israeli role, if any, in 9/11.

   I was told specifically by someone in a position to know:

   "There is no Bin Laden…I mean there is a guy named Osama Bin Laden - but there is no Osama Bin Laden…he's a 6'6" Algerian for Chris-sakes…I mean get real!"

   If you can just get your head around that, and then look at everything else in that context, it changes EVERYTHING. Al Qaeda is a CIA invention. How it may have been manipulated or used following the prior war in Afghanistan using agents provacateur as enablers and directors is becoming more clear every day.

   Nearly 200 Mossad Agents were mirroring the movements of the purported hijackers on US soil in the months preceeding 9/11. They were arrested and deported. They claimed to have warned "FBI Authorities" of a pending attack in the days prior to 9/11. They said it was a "warning." Was it merely final planning? Did they "warn" a mole who simply buried the information?

   Why don't we have a right to know these answers?

   What are we to make of the 60 page DEA report detailing the movements of these Israeli spies?

   Why are the stories of the Israeli Art Student Spy Ring and the Dancing Israelis all spiked? Why is there a total US Media Blackout on these stories?

   These questions seem to answer themselves.

   IS ISRAEL BLACKMAILING AMERICA? FOX NEWS SPIKES FOUR PART STORY ON PHONE TAPPING SCANDAL

   There is one more aspect to this issue that needs to be looked at. If indeed Israel is blackmailing our officials and media icons, it is because those who are being blackmailed ARE blackmailable. If we elect a government of criminals, we elect a government subject to blackmail. Finally, given the fact that blackmail may be assumed to be as widespread as the collection system itself is, those who persist in trying to defend Israel may no longer be assumed to be operating from the purest of motives. After all, who will defend a blackmailer more staunchly than those who are the blackmailer's victims?

   http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/blackmail.html

   EVERYONE IN WASHINGTON AND THE PENTAGON KNOWS THAT 9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB.

   EVEN JOHN CONYERS.

   EVERYONE.

   Posted by plunger at 05/25/2006 @ 07:39am

6. It occurs to me that the money that was "disappeared" from the Pentagon budget by one Dov Zakheim in the days just prior to 9/11 (over $2 TRILLION) was partially used to buy-off the insurers who would take the hit on 9/11. By covering their losses AND allowing them to raise the rates exponentially in the aftermath of 9/11, the insurance industry profitted enormously from 9/11 and all that has followed.

   Warren Buffett plays a role in this...big time. GW Bush flew to meet with Buffett at an Air Force base on 9/11. With Buffett that day was a woman who runs one of his companies, who just happened to office in the WTC at the precise point that one of the jets slammed into the building.

   You couldn't make this up.

   Posted by plunger at 05/25/2006 @ 07:40am

7. EVIDENCE OF MASS CRIMINALITY IN CONGRESS:

   House leaders tell FBI to return papers But Jefferson is urged to quit key committee Thursday, May 25, 2006 By Bruce Alpert Washington bureau

   WASHINGTON -- In a rare instance of election-year bipartisanship, the House Republican and Democratic leaders on Wednesday called on the Justice Department to immediately return any material obtained during what they called an unconstitutional raid of Rep. William Jefferson's House congressional office over the weekend.

   http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1148554049 72910.xml

   If they weren't ALL GUILTY, there is NO WAY they would be taking this position.

   Posted by plunger at 05/25/2006 @ 07:49am

8. If you send your children on buses with bombs and then celebrate with a party after detination, I am not sure how you negoitate with that much less trust...I can't see funding anything over there unless the newly elected government renounces this type of activity as unacceptable behavior(something the Palistinian has not rejected)or acknowledges Israel right to exist, then there is nothing left to say...

   Posted by john maasch at 05/25/2006 @ 08:26am

9. they don't send their children maasch

   their children sneak off and do it themselves

   Posted by Will C. at 05/25/2006 @ 08:37am

10. Isn't the "logic" behind this, the same kind that said (back in the 70s and 80s) that we should "not embargo the Soviets, because it only hurt the Russian people...we should trade with them, help their economy, and then they'd like us and stop being so bad"...

    despite the fact that it would have propped up the Politburo and kept Sovietism alive.

    Posted by Mask at 05/25/2006 @ 08:48am

11. and of course the west bank and gaza is analogous to the soviet union

    Posted by Will C. at 05/25/2006 @ 08:51am

12. if think the multi party elections te palastinians just had would have set off your own bullshit alarm reguarding your statement.

    Perhaps you disabled it

    Posted by Will C. at 05/25/2006 @ 08:53am

13. ZERO--"nice to see that idiocy enjoys broad bi-partisan in the house of representatives-who-never-seem-to-represent-anyone-like-me"

    Zero, there is no one like you ! :)

    Posted by Len Mosse at 05/25/2006 @ 09:43am

14. Posted by WILL C. 05/25/2006 @ 08:51am | ignore this person

    No...except for being party dictatorships (any REAL difference between the old Arafat government and Hamas?), an oppressed people living under the machinations of self-interested thugs posing as idealists, who excuse all failures with "outside agitation", and NO history of democratic traditions.

    Plus an American Left willing to give them (the regime) endless benefit of the doubt, and any American ally threatened by them a doublely suspicious look.

    Posted by Mask at 05/25/2006 @ 10:14am

15. I see the election of Hamas as a positive development. the israeli gov't and their amen corner, the Bush mis-adminisration want to continue to negotiate with those who have no power, and refuse to negotiate with those that do. you have to negotiate with your enemy, only that will pay off. before they negotiated with the PLO, which could not control the suicide bombers, and didn't want to either. now they could negotiate with those that send the violence to Israel.

    Posted by johannesrolf at 05/25/2006 @ 10:23am

16. Israel is unable to make peace with a nation far, far, smaller than itself. The Conservatives, as has been said, want to encourage extremism on the other side. The nation of the Palestinians is electing Hamas because Israel is annexing territory, setting checkpoints, stealing water, and killing people - right there in Bethlehem, Christians.

    Posted by conshame at 05/25/2006 @ 10:30am

17. Israeli settlers who live on Palestinian land, many of them make their young children live there, despite the danger. While living there, there is danger, the parents know that - they make their kids live there anyway.

    Posted by conshame at 05/25/2006 @ 10:35am

18. The Palestineans have the right ot elect who ever they wish to represent them.

    We have the right to not give money to that govt, especially when it supports terrorists and doesnt even recognize Israels right to exsist.

    Posted by CPT at 05/25/2006 @ 11:31am

19. MAASCH:

    Iran elected who they wanted: US complains

    Venezuela elected who they wanted: US complains

    Palestine elects who they wanted: US complains

    AN OPEN AND LEGITIMATE ELECTION OF GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP IS NOT AN ENDORESEMENT OF CHRISTIANITY, CAPITALISM, OR AMERICAN NEOCONSERVATIVE IDEALISM.

    When will the GOP ever learn.....

    Posted by BECAUSEISAYSO at 05/25/2006 @ 11:43am

20. Never...

    Posted by thejman at 05/25/2006 @ 11:51am

21. CPT,

    In no way, shape, or form, am I suggesting that the US must support sovereign governments that are hostile to US interests.

    Further, I do feel that the US should attempt to influence Palestinian foreign policy to the extent that it fosters peace and inclusion, and doesn't further destabilize an already unstable region.

    But, do you feel it's productive for the US to further destabilize a new, legally elected government, while inflicting widespread suffering on the Palestinian people through withholding of UN mandated funds, simply because their political leader's don't share GOP talking points?

    Posted by BECAUSEISAYSO at 05/25/2006 @ 12:15pm

22. nice to see that idiocy enjoys broad bi-partisan in the house of representatives-who-never-seem-to-represent-anyone-like-me

    Posted by ZERO 05/25/2006 @ 12:03am

    You are sounding like a Republican, ZERO. Just because they don't see it your way, the bill is "idiocy"? Try to remain rational, please! Don't become another Bill O'Reilly, please...

    Posted by ILOVEPHYSICS at 05/25/2006 @ 12:58pm

23. In no way, shape, or form, am I suggesting that the US must support sovereign governments that are hostile to US interests.

    Posted by BECAUSEISAYSO 05/25/2006 @ 12:15am | ignore this person

    So, you're just in favor of NOT not supporting them, so that it doesn't "destabilize a new, legally elected government, while inflicting widespread suffering"?

    Posted by Mask at 05/25/2006 @ 1:03pm

24. I see the election of Hamas as a positive development. the israeli gov't and their amen corner, the Bush mis-adminisration want to continue to negotiate with those who have no power, and refuse to negotiate with those that do. you have to negotiate with your enemy, only that will pay off. before they negotiated with the PLO, which could not control the suicide bombers, and didn't want to either. now they could negotiate with those that send the violence to Israel.

    Posted by JOHANNESROLF 05/25/2006 @ 10:23am

    Should we negotiate with Osama Bin Laden?

    We should not negotiate with nor fund directly (or indirectly) a terrorist organization which will not acknowledge Israel's right to exist, which desires to wipe out the state of Israel, and which will not renounce violence (esp. terrorist violence).

    There is some merit to the argument that the state of Israel should have been established in Europe. However, it wasn't. That ship has sailed. Israel is where it is, and now everyone in the Mid East, Europe and America has to deal with the cards that have been dealt.

    I see no reason to support in any way any group that affirms the destruction of Israel. Look, how many fucking holocausts does humanity have to witness before we stand up and say no more?

    All of you Neville Chamberlains out there who want to support Hamas, negotiate with Hamas, fund Hamas, I say to you that you are in the wrong. I go so far as to say it would be an immoral act to fund Hamas.

    The humanitarian aid I don't have a problem with, but I don't want our government negotiating with terrorists, no matter how many elections they've won...

    Posted by ILOVEPHYSICS at 05/25/2006 @ 1:08pm

25. If the majority of Palestinians want a stable Hamas government, let them fucking stabilize it. Don't stabilize it with my tax dollars.

    Posted by ILOVEPHYSICS at 05/25/2006 @ 1:10pm

26. Posted by ILOVEPHYSICS 05/25/2006 @ 1:10pm | ignore this person

    Holy Crap, me and ILP agree on something! Alert non-MS Media!

    Posted by Mask at 05/25/2006 @ 1:59pm

27. i think that with adroit diplomacy, contingent financial support, and a long term vision, hamas may be the BEST chance for peace in israel/palestine...

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/25/2006 @ 2:10pm

28. "Posted by BECAUSEISAYSO 05/25/2006 @ 11:43am

    When you accept someones checks you may be expected to adhere to their wishes at times.

    Same applies to nations....

    Posted by john maasch at 05/25/2006 @ 10:45pm

29. Plus an American Left willing to give them (the regime) endless benefit of the doubt, and any American ally threatened by them a doublely suspicious look.

    Posted by MASK 05/25/2006 @ 10:14am

    the world has been nice enough to gie the bush administraion the benifit of the doubt. Maybe we could return the favor to hamas.

    and let me make sure I understand this...

    you don't happen to like the parties in the multiparty elections held in gaza and the west bank so that's why they are analogous to the soviets?

    Posted by Will C. at 05/25/2006 @ 11:25pm