Congresswoman Donna Edwards, who represents Maryland’s 4th District, held a community conversation on Israel and Gaza on Thursday, February 28, 2009, with five panel members who contributed information from their own expertise.
Edwards, who acted mostly as a moderator at the forum, chose to hold the event at Prince George’s Community College in Largo, Maryland, so it would accommodate a large number of her constituents. Edwards herself came into Congress in June of 2007, and still believes the crisis in Gaza is a very important topic to discuss, even with the news dominated by other crisis.
“There is never a time when you can put aside such a controversial issue, even when we are amidst an economic crisis,” says Edwards. There are many people who agree with Edwards, and around one hundred people turned out for the forum to voice their opinions.
Although Edwards encourages open dialogue, she warns that we must be “mindful of the fact that we have deeply held views,” and any discussion about Gaza should be conducted in a civil and open manner.
With the new presidential administration, congressional representatives are hoping for a stronger initiative towards achieving peace between Palestine and Israel. Edwards admitted that even though President Obama did not have a lot to say on the matter, he did say that in the coming months, he and his administration will “come forward with new ideas concerning the issue.”
On January 9, 2009, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly (390 to 5) passed a resolution during the Gaza attacks recognizing “Israel’s right to defend itself” , but there were some representatives who voted ‘present’, and only five members who voted against the resolution. Edwards was one of those who voted ‘present’, and at the forum she discussed her motives for doing so.
Edwards first saw the resolution the morning after the United Nations issued its own resolution regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In Edwards’s opinion, it was not the place of Congress to pass its own resolution the day after the UN took the initiative to do the same thing. “It was inappropriate,” she says. Yet the situation prompted Edwards to find a day or an evening to discuss the issue. Five qualified and diverse panelists were present: Amjad Atallah, Dr. Heather Hanson, Dr. Robert A. Pastor, Daniel Levy, and Mitchell Plitnick.
Atallah, Co-Director of the Middle East Task Force, New America Foundation, paralleled the Palestinian crisis to the Bosnian war. Because The U.S. government realized how much of an effort it would be to actually forcefully attempt to stop the genocide, it instead sent humanitarian aid, and former President Clinton secured a peace deal between the Serbs, Croatians, and Bosnians that encompassed political, social, and economic terms.
“We look at this conflict and see that it makes everything we do in the Middle East more difficult,” said Atallah. Waiting for the perfect Palestinian or Israeli government before achieving peace is a futile strategy, said Atallah. The two states do not have the capability to negotiate peace on their own, so the American government must stand up and play a true impartial interventionist role. However, because Israel is a strong financial and military ally of the U.S., impartiality is something that is almost certainly off the table. Atallah raised the question of the right administration and the necessary constituency support to end the occupation. This is something the American public, and the rest of the world, will have to wait to see.
Hanson, Director of Public Affairs of Mercy Corps in DC, presented the details of the infrastructure damage and lack of health care access Gaza is experiencing post-Israeli offensive.
“The recent military offensive has had a negative effect on the already precarious situation,” Hansen says. According to Hansen, 90 percent of the people in Gaza are reliant on food aid. The “psycho-social problems” the Palestinians are facing are at the top of the crisis and are much more severe. Hansen believes the U.S. government needs to find a way to aid the Palestinian people without strengthening Hamas, and it is a “complex situation for the policy makers.” However Hansen makes her best point by stating, “Humanitarian relief shouldn’t be used as a bargaining chip on the table.”
Pastor, Levy, and Plitnick all offered opinions of their own regarding issues on the Israeli perspective.
The forum hosted by Edwards conveyed strongly the overall message that there needs to be a cease fire that will endure, and practical solutions to immediate problems so that both Palestinians and Israelis can have security that is viable and sustainable.
The people in Gaza need the aid and alliance of the international community to rebuild from the destruction of the Israeli occupation. Americans needs to care enough about this deplorable crisis to lend a hand to their leaders who want to take the initiative to resolve the conflict, because “without that the future is bleak for both civilizations” said Edwards.
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