Jewish Voice for Peace

Obama, McCain: Don't Pander to AIPAC at the Expense of Peace

Almost 6,000 signatures and counting.

We are deeply concerned by statements that both Senator McCain and Senator Obama made at the AIPAC Conference. We ask that you sign our petition calling on Senators Obama and McCain to moderate their stances in the interests of a peaceful future.

Dear Senators Obama and McCain,

We were disturbed by your remarks at the AIPAC conference. We implore you to respect internationally recognized Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem, to hold not just Hamas but also Israel accountable for its use of weapons against civilian populations, and to support including Hamas in negotiations. We believe that both Palestinians and Israelis deserve to live in safe and secure societies. Please commit to working for justice and peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.

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We were particularly concerned with the following points:

Senator Obama declared that Jerusalem "must remain undivided."

We believe the future status of Jerusalem must be negotiated. Since declaring at the AIPAC conference that Jerusalem "must remain undivided," Senator Obama has backtracked and indicated he is open to a shared Jerusalem. We welcome his new statement, because the first one undermines the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that Obama promises to promote. Indeed, declaring Jerusalem as Israeli-ruled-only violates U.S. policy and international standards, ignores Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem and the more than 240,000 Palestinian residents there, while implicitly supporting Israel's continued land expropriation, demolition of Palestinian homes, and expansion of settlement building, such as the 900 tenders just issued to new housing for Jewish Israelis in East Jerusalem.

Both Senators McCain and Obama promised enormous sums of unconditional military aid to Israel.

We believe the U.S. must hold Israel accountable for using U.S. weapons against civilians. Numerous human rights organizations have documented Israel's use of U.S. weapons against civilian populations - from the basic maintenance of the Occupation of Palestinian Territories to the bombing of civilian areas in Gaza to the use of cluster bombs against Lebanese civilians in 2006. The use of weapons against civilians is in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act; even the U.S. State Department itself believed it likely that Israel's cluster bombs in Lebanon violated U.S. law. We implore the Senators to hold Israel accountable to U.S. law and prevent the use of our weapons against civilians.

Both Senators McCain and Obama continued to demand the exclusion of Hamas from the negotiating table.

We believe peace agreement cannot be achieved without Hamas at the table. While we, too, deplore any and all violence against civilians, we stand behind former President Jimmy Carter when he says that Hamas must be included in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. 64% of Israeli citizens want their government to speak to Hamas, the democratically elected leadership of the Palestinian people. Peace agreements are negotiated with enemies, not friends. For the sake of achieving a just peace, we ask the Senators to support the inclusion of Hamas in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.