AMA Urges US to Halt Relentless Israeli Attacks
Newark, CA: The American Muslim Alliance (AMA), a national organization focusing on Muslim electoral politics, has condemned the deliberate Israeli massacre of more than 225 Palestinians. The Palestinian death toll is expected to rise as more than 700 people including women and children are severely injured.
As reported by the Associated Press, the “first round of airstrikes on Gaza came just before noon. More than 100 attacks took place, continuing well into the evening … Israeli military officials said more than 100 tons of bombs were dropped on Gaza by mid-afternoon.”
What happens when an occupying army drops more than 100 tons of bombs on most congested areas? The AP reports: “Hospitals crowded with people, civilians rushing in wounded people in cars, vans and ambulances. "There are heads without bodies .... There's blood in the corridors. People are weeping, women are crying, doctors are shouting,” said nurse Ahmed Abdel Salaam from Shifa Hospital, Gaza's main treatment center.”
SEE: Israeli Gaza Strike Kills More Than 225 (NYT)
The AMA statement in part reads:
Hundreds of Palestinians who were killed and many more who were injured today by reckless Israeli bombing, both in life and death, signify the fundamental problem: Continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian lives and lands.
Having driven 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza Strip to utter despair by placing them under siege for almost three years, and by starving, humiliating, and degrading them to a subhuman life, the Israelis are now engaging in utterly disproportionate retaliation against those trying to draw attention to their plight. The American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) has correctly observed that various Palestinian groups “have fired largely ineffectual crude scrap metal projectiles against Israeli towns built on lands stolen from Palestinian refugees who are now forced to live in Gaza. Over the past six months, the crude scrap metal rockets have caused minimal damage and no casualties, until yesterday, when an Israeli man was killed.”
Israel’s nearly universal moral isolation evident by the disapproval expressed by the European Union (EU), Russia, the UN Secretary-General, the Arab League, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), other international bodies, and bulk of the world opinion, is being covered up only by the blatant and myopic support of the Bush Administration.
The fact that the Israeli military has used US supplied F-16 jet fighters, Apache attack helicopters, and other lethal weapons, will, unfortunately, only reinforce a negative image of the United States and further fuel anti-American sentiments in the Muslim world, especially among the young who constituted close to 70% of the 1.4 billion worldwide Muslim population.
President-Elect Obama, however, could turn the tide of world opinion in favor of the United States by playing a leadership role in finding a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Founded in 1993, the American Muslim Alliance (AMA) is a civic education organization seeking to organize the American Muslim community in the mainstream public affairs, civic discourse and party politics. AMA has 101 chapters.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
