US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

Take Action: Thank Rep. Kucinich for His Statement on the Nakba

During an otherwise hum-ho Congressional “debate” featuring dozens of Representatives giving speeches and statements full of unadulterated praise for Israel and its achievements, one Member of Congress responded to our call to remember that Israel’s 60^th anniversary is also the 60^th anniversary of the Nakba, the forced exile of Palestinians from their homeland and the dispossession of Palestinians from their properties.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich delivered an impassioned and perhaps unprecedented statement in Congress in support of Palestinian human rights, which we reprint in full below.

Our letter of thanks to Rep. Kucinich reads in part, “Thank you for your profound commitment to human rights, for your recognition of the historical injustices that Israel has inflicted and continues to inflict on the Palestinian people, for your awareness that U.S. policy toward Israelis and Palestinians must promote “peace with justice”, and for your willingness to speak the truth when many of your colleagues in Congress would prefer to sweep it under the rug.” To read the entire letter, please click here.

Please take a moment to thank Rep. Kucinich for supporting Palestinian human rights by calling him at 202-225-5871, faxing him at 202-225-5745, or sending him an email below.

May 19, 2013

Subject:

Dear Rep. Kucinich

I would like to thank you for the statement you submitted for the Congressional Record on April 22 (Page: H2522) regarding your position on H.Con.Res.322, “Recognizing the 60th anniversary of the founding of the modern State of Israel and reaffirming the bonds of close friendship and cooperation between the United States and Israel.” Amongst dozens of statements from Members of Congress offering unadulterated praise for Israel and its accomplishments, your statement was the only one which recognized that the creation of the State of Israel entailed a profound loss for the Palestinian people. In your statement, you mentioned that the establishment of Israel was accompanied by the destruction of Palestinian villages, the exiling of Palestinian people from their homes, and the dispossession of Palestinians from their properties. You also documented that Israel has failed to live up to its obligation to implement UN General Assembly Resolution 194, which recognizes these Palestinian refugees' right to return to their homes. Your willingness to state what is true and what other Members of Congress prefer to ignore—namely, that Israel was created through the willful destruction of Palestinian society and that those made refugees by Israel's establishment have a right to return to their homes—is deeply important and courageous. Your statement also recognized that Palestinian citizens of Israel remain subject to discriminatory laws and that Israel's 40 year-old military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip is “brutal” and “unjust”, providing a much-needed counterweight to other erroneous statements from Members of Congress who insisted that Israel is a model for human rights, democracy, and pluralism. Thank you for your profound commitment to human rights, for your recognition of the historical injustices that Israel has inflicted and continues to inflict on the Palestinian people, for your awareness that U.S. policy toward Israelis and Palestinians must promote “peace with justice”, and for your willingness to speak the truth when many of your colleagues in Congress would prefer to sweep it under the rug.
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