Enough is Enough

It is more than ironic that at the very moment when the US is pressing Arab States to take steps toward normalizing relations with Israel (including measures like: opening airspace to Israeli overflights, exchange of commercial offices, and issuing visas for business and cultural exchange), the government of Israel has taken new measures to further restrict the rights of American citizens visiting Israel and the Occupied Palestinian lands.

According to an August, 14 2009 Department of State Travel Warning, "In June 2009, the Israeli government began selectively limiting certain travelers to either the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza, or to Israel and Jerusalem."

As described by an advocacy group working on these issues, here's how the new policy works.

Israeli border officials have begun using a new entry permit stamped with the words "Palestinian Authority only." In addition, some foreign nationals have been issued 'Israel only' permits or have been required to sign a statement which commits them not to enter the Palestinian Authority (PA) controlled areas of the West Bank under penalty of legal action.

In response to questioning about these Israeli practices at State Department briefings, official spokespersons have responded that "we have let the Government of Israel know that these restrictions unfairly impact Palestinian and Arab American travelers and are not acceptable", and have added, on other occasions, that the US "regrets" and "disagrees" with these measures.

Having worked on issues relating to Israel's treatment of Arab Americans for over three decades now, I must say "not good enough."

I have received harrowing accounts of the impact of these Israeli policies.

• an American family with four children trapped in Gaza and unable to leave;
• other Americans who are in the West Bank, having entered through the Allenby Bridge, but because they hold non-refundable airline tickets departing from Ben Gurion Airport (purchased before this Israeli practice was put into place), are, therefore, unable to make their flights;
• a group of American women (not of Arab descent), whose husbands were attending a business conference in Amman, were detained, by Israeli border officials, for seven hours and subjected to rude and humiliating questioning when they attempted to cross the Allenby Bridge to see the Holy Sites in Bethlehem and Jerusalem;
• American-born Palestinians have been forced to surrender their US passports, on entry, and receive, against their will, a Palestinian ID document;
• numerous reports from American-born US citizens of Palestinian and other Arab descent are being singled out for prolonged questioning on entry and departure; and
• onerous and discriminatory visa requirements imposed upon Palestinian Americans which have severely impacted their families and businesses.

As I have long noted in my complaints to US officials, by engaging in such practices, Israel appears to have defined, for itself, three categories of US citizenship: American Jews, whom they see as having "birthright advantages"; most other US citizens, as long as they have no know identification with Palestinians, who are respected and protected; and then, finally, Arab Americans whose rights as US citizens Israel does not fully recognize.

In behaving thusly, and given the US failure to act decisively to put an end to this behavior, both Israel and the US are in violation of their obligations.

The U.S. passport, the prized possession of any U.S. traveler, says quite clearly on the opening page: "The Secretary of State of the United States of America hereby requests all whom it may concern to permit the citizen/national of the United States named herein to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful aid and protection."

There is also the 1951 Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation, signed by the U.S. and Israel, in which Israel agrees that U.S. citizens traveling there be permitted "to travel therein freely, to reside at places of their choice; to enjoy liberty of conscience...and to bury their dead according to their customs." The Treaty also prohibits "unlawful molestations of every kind," and guarantees U.S. citizens "the most constant protection and security."

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for the US Administration calling for a settlement freeze and encouraging Arab States to elaborate on their peace initiative in an effort to advance the peace process. I've made the case advocating such steps (and been criticized, by some, for doing so). But, I believe the first obligation of any government is to defend the rights of its citizens.

Put aside for a moment, if you can, both the fact that these Israeli measures only further contribute to the cantonization of Palestinian lands and also the ongoing humiliation, and worse, endured by Palestinians under occupation--this matter of Israel's discriminatory treatment of US citizens stands out for special consideration. I can only imagine what the US reaction would be if any other government in the world targeted any other group of American citizens with the same contempt Israel consistently displays toward Arab Americans.

That's why I say, "regrets are not enough." It is time for the US to act decisively and make clear that the rights of its citizens come first and must be guaranteed. Enough is enough.

 

Comments

[ChristinaZ]

06:09 PM on 09/01/2009

The State Department has worked with us for decades on this issue. An Arab American in Ramallah reminded us of the story of a delegation during the forties that urged President Franklin Roosevelt to push for an unpopular change. His reply? "Make me." In essence, he told the delegation to raise such an uproar, he would have no ‘choice’ but to make the change.

Arab Americans must be the voice that ‘makes’ the State Department advocate on their behalf. If you, or someone you know, has encountered these arbitrary, miserable rules, has been denied entry, harassed, or mistreated, tell the State Department. Go to http://capwiz.com/arab/home

[BStrum]

01:49 PM on 09/01/2009

James Zogby should realize that Israel is a sovereign country and can set restrictions on foreign visitors based solely on its policies and security assessments. For example Mr. Zogby, in Sept of 2004 the United States refused entry to the country to Cat Stevens, a British Citizen who converted to Islam and regularly limits entry to a long list of people it finds undesirable. I think you will find that similar policies are common especially in the dictatorships that comprise the Islamic world.

Why is it theat when isreal introduces policies similar to their enemies they are critisized and those who wish them destroyed are pitied in their "humiliation".

I love to hear laments on Palestinian humiliation, I guess their proclivity toward wanton attacks on Jewish civilians makes them feel less humble. They sure did look happy celebrating in the streets and handing out candies on 9/11.

[FairuzGhowar]

12:49 PM on 09/03/2009

This is not about " Palestinian humiliation." Its about discrimination against US citizens based on their ancestry (ethnicity) or religion.

[misaacm]

06:27 PM on 08/31/2009

Perhaps a deal can be struck. The Palestinians stop supporting terrorism, and the Israelis stop treating Palestinians and their supporters as terrorists. As long as western groups like ISM help terrorists put bombs in restaurants (see ISM and the Dolphinariam), the Israelis will rightly be suspicious. When the terror stops, so will the suspicion.

[Michael Marinsky]

10:14 PM on 08/31/2009

You are being reasonable. What are you doing here? You should read some of comments directed at me. I'm getting it from both sides. My favorite is 'don't listen to him. He's playing good cop, bad cop.' I want to thank 'fredwenn' for that. Then, on the other side, the commenter 'TheLonelyGod' is angry with me for calling what the settlers did a pogrom.

To everyone: I'm trying to be fair to both sides. I repeat: when Arabs are not treated with dignity, it will haunt all of us collectively. You have been warned. And if anyone wonders, I am Jewish. The Israeli right wing, with their evangelical amen chorus, are steering Israel down the same road as South Africa, and I feel compelled to say something.

http://newyorkleftist.blogspot.com/2009/04/culture-of-persecution.html

[misaacm]

02:38 PM on 09/01/2009

It is important to add a little "reasonable" to these forums once in awhile. With the dozens of "poor, poor 100% victim Palestinian, everything is everyone else's fault " articles in the Huff Post, I try to keep the temperature down when I can.

[mommamia526]

04:00 PM on 08/31/2009

I agree! Enough is enough! Enough already with all the hoopla every time I want to board a plane. You see, I have two hip replacements, and walk with a cane. The alarms go off. Never mind that I always call beforehand that I will be coming, that I have letters for my hips (one for each hip!!) from the surgeon, and that I walk with a cane for good reason and that they may inquire there and there. Nooo!! Each time I have to be taken separately, go through extra screening and public humiliation, take my shoes off, even when I am wearing open sandals and bare feet, and it is all done in full sight of everyone! Eh, yeah! but it is not about me, is it? It is about terrorism, and attacks. Even though I am old, I look (and am) semitic, and even old women are engaged in wearing explosives. That, Mr. Zogby, is what one gets after sixty plus years of *fighting against da occupation*. I did not occupy anything, still do not, other than the seat or apartment I pay for. I, though semitic, have to go through all this nuisance, and so does everyone else. It is just, is it not, Mr. Zogby, when it happens to Arabs, or Palestinians, that is something very different. They are not like all the rest of us.

[BLBass]

12:35 PM on 08/31/2009

The simple fact is that Israel, America, and the Palestinian Authority are all guilty of mistreating certain of their own citizens as well as each other's. That isn't to say it happens all the time, but what bugs me is that it has become a default "leftist" position that Israel's actions of this sort are distinct from the other two. I'm fairly well convinced this is not the case, and it would be to the benefit of all humankind if our efforts went toward pushing those 3 (1 and 2 halves?) governments to (together!) raise standards of treatment and protection under the law for their own citizens and for others'. This kind of PA-only entrance permit seems completely outside international law, or certainly US-Israel agreements, and if there is any positive it may be that American outrage can be harnessed to truly impact Israel's government so that they begin to treat Israeli Arabs and citizens of the PA with dignity equal to other Israeli citizens. It's time to do as Zogby suggests and stand up for our citizens' rights, but that will only be effective if we tie together treatment of Americans with other human rights concerns -- including the political legitimacy of Hamas/Hezbollah and their repeatedly stated intent to destroy Israel rather than work constructively toward a state of peace between the peoples. These aren't easy problems but they must be approached as a whole, not as individual struggles.

[Michael Marinsky]

09:13 PM on 08/30/2009

I've been reading some of the posts here. This is what I've learned: Some, not all, Arabs mistreat Jews, and Copts are persecuted in Egypt. The Saudis live in the 8th century, and don't let Jews into their country. Women in Saudi Arabia are chattel like a cat or dog. The descendants of slaves in the States were terribly treated.

So, it is perfectly reasonable for settlers, and the Israeli right wing, to persecute Arabs. It is completely reasonable for settlers to commit pogroms against Arabs. Sort of evening the score. When evangelicals cheer this on, it's OK because they blessed it - right?

Whenever someone Jewish breaks a law, all he has to say is "Arabs do it, too." Someone Jewish commits murder, all he has to say is "Germans did it." Russian immigrants go in for crackpot politics, all they have to say is "look at what happened to us in the USSR," and they can go on their merry way, because, after all, look what they've been through.

You know, I'm going to try this. It sounds like a great plan. When I go to my in-laws' home, who are from China, and they serve shrimp and pork chops, I'm going to make a scene. I'm going to scream at my wife "Didn't you tell them about kosher?! Why are they insulting me?! You people hate Jews."

Thanks for the pointers.

http://newyorkleftist.blogspot.com/2009/04/culture-of-persecution.html

[Michael Marinsky]

06:36 PM on 08/30/2009

My grandmother was saved in a pogrom by being hidden in a trunk, in the attic. Have we learned?

Here is a pogrom against Arabs, by Jews: "Kedumim Council head Daniela Weiss arrived at the scene and was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer...a nearby olive grove owned by Palestinians was set on fire...Samaria Sub-District police arrested two Yitzhar settlers for suspicion of torching agricultural land belonging to Palestinians near the village of Ma'adama...Palestinians reported that settlers had set fields on fire near Nablus and Kedumim. "

Read it yourself: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3604494,00.html

Warning: this is going to haunt us, collectively. Stop this madness!! Tell evangelicals we will not be players in their sick theatre. Stop taking their money. They hate us. Evangelicals love Israel, but hate Judaism and Jewish culture.

[Freenation]

06:43 PM on 08/30/2009

was anything learnt fron huck.abee visit, none: is.raelis know very well what evangelicals end game is they are just going for a ride and playing poker game of who blinks first...

come on it is so obvious can anyone believe a person/group whose whole game is to get you converted or suffer the wrath? it is simple as nursey mathematics...

[blindlemon]

05:10 PM on 08/30/2009

Never trust any country that claims to be your ally and then spies on you.

Pollard.

[courtb]

08:52 PM on 08/30/2009

So nobody should trust the US? Our country is here to protect us and spies on us every single day...let alone what they do to the countries we are allies with.

[BubbaC33]

07:59 PM on 08/31/2009

Then the US is an an ally of any nation and most antions are not an ally of the US. It is foolish to think the US does not spy on European allies. It is even more foolish to believe those allies do not spy on us.

[louisamast]

04:03 PM on 08/30/2009

Thanks to American tax payers, Is_real has a powerful military and over 200 nuclear warheads. Therefore she is entitled to do whatever pleases her. What do Arabs have? A lot of money and have no clue what to do with it!
http://counterpunch.com/weir08282009.html

[PWM]

10:12 AM on 08/31/2009

I don't know if they have that many nukes, doubt they need that many.

[louisamast]

12:59 PM on 08/31/2009

Does the US need the 8000+ ?

[BubbaC33]

08:00 PM on 08/31/2009

You cannot say to a certainty that Israel has nukes.

[DirkNYC]

12:16 PM on 08/30/2009

I was in Israel in 2004 and was detained and questioned extensively four times. I can only imagine how harshly the arabs are treated.

[Patriot86]

12:38 PM on 08/30/2009

DirkNYC, were you one of those "peace protestors"? If you were a small country like Isreal and every country around has is it's charter to wipe you off the face of the earth, you may reconsider. Egypt did not want the Palestinians in their country and were shooting border crossers. The same thing happened in Jordan. The Palestinians are not welcome anywhere in the Arab world. They were given every chance to start and build their country. They choose death over life.

[kudzumaster]

02:06 PM on 08/30/2009

In other words, you support racism. Nice.

[DirkNYC]

01:35 AM on 08/31/2009

I was there as a traveller, just as I have travelled nearly 50 countries on 5 continents.

When were the Palestinians given a chance to build a country?

[batguano]

10:51 AM on 08/30/2009

Thank you James. Israel’s treatment of Arab-Americans, Palestinians, Lebanese or any other who dares to challenge the illegal expansionism and occupation enforced by brutality and wholesale killing, is designed to continue a state of conflict, behind which the Israeli state and it's extremists can further their goals of a Jewish state over all the Occupied Territories; Eretz Israel. A pattern of acts of extreme racism and theft is clear for all with eyes to see. Peace would threaten this premeditated plan that allows continued illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land, ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, water theft, olive grove destruction and theft (olives are essential to the Palestinian economy and culture) and numerous other acts designed to maintain the expansionism; this deliberate discrimination and political maneuvering is just another part of that effort. The facts are that the Israeli lobby in America is concerned with Israeli goals and not with American needs or security. Their ability to subvert both our domestic political process and foreign policy decisions is obvious. Our near $10 billion in annual "aid" to Israel to be used for war and death, and settlement expansion is an abomination. Every US elected representative is pressured to support any Israeli action or demand on threat of being targeted for defeat. It is near impossible for any US leader to assert American values or concerns in the face of this Israeli subversion. The Israeli extremist state is not a friend of America, only their own.

[dadw5boys]

10:32 AM on 08/30/2009

The Huff must be afraid to post what the average American feels about all these Religious nuts cases who keep asking our Government to take their side on things overseas.

WE DO NOT CARE !!!! Go play your silly Religous game and leave us a lone and DO NOT ASK FOR MONEY ANY MORE !

Welfare days are over whinning and creating problem are not going to increase forgein if we have anything to say about it.

The USA will get along just fine without either of your countrys !

[ltfday1]

09:19 AM on 08/30/2009

Jimmy Carter said it best, Peace, not Apartheid. That our government would permit any of its citizens to be treated as separate but unequal is abhorrent. That it does so with an "ally" to whom billions of our tax payers dollars are sent is not only hypocritcal but just plain wrong.

[BubbaC33]

04:22 PM on 08/30/2009

Go to criminal court in any jurisdiction and you'll find that there is a huge inequality in the US. Peopel with money are far more likely to be found innocent. Whites are less likely to be incarcerated. Check with banks, real estate and other areas of daily life. The US is hardly the home of equality you seem to think.

[blindlemon]

08:26 PM on 08/30/2009

Wonderful!
White is right, and might makes right, therefore you can do whatever you want to the poor, or dusky.....
Liberty. Equality. Brotherhood.
You are gonna hate the future.

[PWM]

01:12 PM on 08/31/2009

Does not change the fact that even the poorest American has more rights than the average Palestianian in the occupied lands.

[johnsopinion]

08:17 AM on 08/30/2009

Aren't ALL religions wonderful?

"It's OUR way or to hell with you!"
Uh, strike that.
"It's this way or you will go to hell."

[Jane Devin]

11:11 PM on 08/29/2009

Israel is a sovereign country -- it is not America Minor as so many people insist that it should be -- and they are allowed to create their own policies, just as other America does, just as America's other allies do.

Why call out Israel alone for what is perceived as impinging on the free travel of Americans? The last time I checked, most of the Middle East has some rather stunning policies where foreign travelers are concerned, particularly women, and I'm quite certain that the verbiage on our passports is the same.

[Morocco]

11:18 PM on 08/29/2009

I have never heard of Arab countries denying American Jews entry because they are from Jewish descent. So, you don't have a problem with a country that squeeze billions of $ from us and discriminate against a group of Americans because of their origin. Your bias analogy has no limits.

[ModernTimes1]

12:28 AM on 08/30/2009

"I have never heard of Arab countries denying American Jews entry because they are from Jewish descent."
In order to enter Saudi Arabia the visa application requires such information as: nationality , place of brith and relgion.
Jews born in Israel, who are citizens of of U.S. have zero chance of entry into Saudi Arabia.
Americans of ANY nationality who ever visited Israel ( stamp in passport) are automatically denied entry into Syria, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim counties.
citizens of ANY country with a name like Cohen is routinely denied entry into many Muslim countries.

Now you've heard it.

[bermanator]

06:36 AM on 08/30/2009

I'm an American Jew with Israeli entry/exit stamps on my American passport and I am thus barred from entering any Arab country other than Egypt and Jordan. You have no idea what you're talking about.

[Aussieposter]

11:59 PM on 08/29/2009

Because Israel is an American ally. Because as a democracy Israel should treat Jewish Americans the same way that it treats Arab American. Because the U.S. provides bucket loads of money to Israel and has paid for the right to call you out on this. How about showing a bit of gratitude