Arab-American leaders meet Bush administration over US policy in Middle East

A delegation representing 13 Arab-American associations met on Friday at the White House with officials from the US National Security Council and raised serious concerns about Israel's violations of international and US laws in its attempts to suppress the Palestinian uprising in the Occupied Territories.

The meeting, organized by Arab Anti-Discrimination policy and the Arab American Institute (AAI), stressed the outrage in the Arab and Islamic world over Israel's brutal actions against Palestinian civilians and the lack of an adequate response from Washington, says an ADC statement.

ADC President Hala Maksoud said "we strongly communicated that the United States needs to ensure that Israel stop gobbling up Palestinian land by expanding its illegal settlements, no matter what excuses are offered. "We also made it very clear that the future of peace in the Middle East depends on the United States doing everything in its power to bring the Israeli occupation, which is the cause of the conflict, to a quick and complete end as demanded by international law."

They told Bruce Reidel, Special Assistant to the President on Middle East Affairs objected to the spin that Secretary of State Powell put on the Mitchell Commission Report, downplaying the recommendation that all Israeli settlement activity be frozen as a key part of any plan to stop the conflict. The representatives of the Arab and Muslim communities in the US also demanded that the Bush administration not tolerate any growth, "natural" or otherwise, to Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land, and that Administration officials describe Israeli settlements in accurate terms which recognize their illegality under international law.

They also protested Israel's illegal use of US supplied arms, and underlined while the administration has said for some months that it is "investigating the issue," there is no doubt that Israel has been using US-supplied arms such as Apache helicopters and F-16 jets in violation of the US Arms Control Export Act, and demanded that the US suspend aid to Israel.

"Israel’s use of U.S. made weapons in this conflict is seriously damaging U.S standing in the region. Many regional leaders mince no words in citing their frustration with the failure of the United States to stem Israel’s misuse of U.S. weapons and note that our inaction is interpreted as tacit approval. Simply put, the U.S. can no longer separate itself from the horrible suffering inflicted daily by Israel’s misuse of U.S. made weapons. The investigation should be completed and we should enforce the law and end the shipments of weapons," said AAI President James Zogby.

US Administration officials often create a false equivalence between Israeli troops enforcing an illegal occupation and Palestinians struggling to be free, they said insisting there is no moral similarity between acts for liberation from the domination of a hostile foreign army and violence by a state designed to control and oppress millions of people outside its internationally recognized borders.

They further urged the administration to oppose all efforts in Congress to cut aid to Lebanon and strongly advocated the immediate lifting of sanctions against Iraq.