8820 E. New Carlisle
New Carlisle, OH 45344
January 16, 2013
Congressman John Boehner
1011 Longworth H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
Congressman Boehner:
My name is Alex Wanamaker and I am a student at the Dayton Regional STEM School in Kettering, Ohio. I am writing to discuss a current issue in the world, Israel. When Israel was established after World War II in 1948, they faced a lot of challenges brought on by neighboring countries. In 1948, the day after they declared themselves an independent nation from Great Britain, they were attacked by all of the Arab nations around them during the War for Independence and years later they were attacked again during the Six Day War of 1967. The Israelis repelled both attacks and invaded parts of the countries that had attacked them. After the Six Day War, Israel offered to return all of the land they had occupied in return for only one thing: Palestine had to recognize Israel as an independent state. The Arab nations refused, and responded by writing the Khartoum Resolutions, uniting them against Israel. The U.N. then introduced Resolution 242, ordering an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Palestine. Since then, there have been many failed negotiations between the nations. In November 2012, Palestine became an observer state in the United Nations. Now, Palestine is asking to become a full member state in the United Nations, which means they would also be recognized as a sovereign nation. The United States should block the Palestinian bid for statehood in the United Nations. because Palestine should negotiate directly with Israel, not go to the U.N. to circumnavigate Israel, and because it will also show the United States’ continued support to Israel.
The US should block the Palestinian bid for statehood in the U.N. because Palestine should negotiate directly with Israel. They are trying to go around Israel in the negotiations to get things that they want, for example, Jerusalem and final borders that are favorable to them. Israel has offered to negotiate before but Palestine refused repeatedly. Some examples of this include The U.N. Partition Plan and The Khartoum Resolutions. The Khartoum Resolutions written in 1976, after the Six Day War, says, “[The reclaiming of land lost in the June 5 aggression] will be done within the framework of the main principles by which the Arab states abide, namely, no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it …,” which shows that Israel offered to negotiate with Palestine to decide on borders and the credibility of their existence as a nation and Palestine refused. Now, Palestine wants to negotiate, but they want to do it through the U.N. so that they get what they want without dealing with Israel. If they want to negotiate, they should negotiate directly with Israel so that both sides of the issue are represented. Some people say that the U.N. should settle this dispute, but if the U.N. decides on these issues, one side will still be angry and will ignore what the U.N. says. Other people say that Palestine and Israel will never get along long enough to reach an agreement, but eventually the educated people in their societies will realize that this fighting is useless and will work to end the conflict. This has happened in many countries; one is in Ireland. The conflict between the Catholics and the Protestants in Ireland is similar to the conflict in Israel and Palestine today. Both of these conflicts are politically and religiously motivated, both wars are wars based on people fighting for the right to exist as themselves. They both include groups that have been fighting for a long time and both sides have strong feelings towards each other but eventually, they must talk or they will both be destroyed, the fate Ireland managed to avoid during its conflict. Blocking the Palestinian bid for statehood in the U.N. forces Palestine to negotiate directly with Israel and will help develop future relationships and conversations between the two nations.
Another reason to block Palestinian statehood is to show our continued support of Israel and their moral values. Israel believes in freedom of religion just like the United States and has allowed people of all religions to travel to the holy city of Jerusalem. The ownership of Jerusalem has been a large part of this conflict, as both Israel and Palestine want the holy city for themselves. Another thing Israel believes in is the right to a safe home and community not under constant attack. We support them with about 2,692 million dollars in financial aid each year as they fight to stop terrorist attacks against America and Israel alike, to allow its citizens to have a safe place to live. By supporting Israel, we help establish our belief in individual freedom and equality for all people. It also helps our relationship with Israel, a country who helps to stop terrorist attacks on our home and supplies us with information and technology to help combat threats growing in the Middle East. Blocking Palestine from becoming a nation in the U.N. is another way we should support Israel and their values.
The United States should block Palestine’s bid to become a full member state in the U.N. because by doing so, it forces Palestine to negotiate directly with Israel and to show America’s continuing support of Israel. To firmly establish our position, we should pass a piece of legislation that publically declares where we stand on this issue and why, this way Palestine can know what we think and can begin taking actions to solve their conflicts with Israel by other means. Feel free to contact me at wanamaker.4@wright.edu if you have questions or concerns. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Alex Wanamaker